In message , Jeff writes

From an online dictionary:

I guess that it would be a fair assumption, bearing in mind the development
of
computers and, much later, the Internet, that your online dictionaries
originated
several decades after 1942, and long after the ignoramuses' error arose?


Well my UK 1956 Collins Dictionary says for 'antenna' noun...
(Wireless)...plural antennas.

So antennas was certainly accepted as correct in the UK in 1956.

Jeff

In the UK, I think it's only some of the more-esoteric scientific
research boffins in WW2 who would have used 'antenna' and 'antennae'.
The word 'aerial' was what was used domestically and generally in the TV
and radio industry. Certainly the electronics division of the company
EMI (Electric and Musical Industries) had an Aerial Section - and they
were responsible for the design, manufacture and installation of the TV
and FM aerials at many of the UK's transmitting stations (ERPs ranging
from megawatts to watts). The Marconi Company did most of what EMI
didn't do - and I'm sure they also called them 'aerials'.

These days, in the UK it is not uncommon for 'aerials' to be called
'antennas' by some communication companies - but it would be highly
unlikely for your average Joe Public to refer to any sort of TV or radio
aerial as an 'antenna'. Satellite antennas are, of course, called
'dishes'.
--
Ian