Bill M wrote:

On the antique radio forums we make a point of driving home "replace
those go***mn paper caps because they are never good". You've been
around, Dave, You should know better!

I take your point, Bill, and I once agreed completely.
I've come around to a different attitude when it concerns
military radios with a historic angle. I now try to maintain
the original parts if I can satisfy myself that they are serviceable.
These guys were all tested and had been running without trouble for
some time. Of course, they are going to fail eventually.
I've just come to that point where "change as little as possible
and still bring it to life" has become my stand on these
rigs. I probably should have lowered the B+, as I've done
with other radios, which has helped preserve their original parts,
but I got cocky and overconfident on this one. It was
just pure luck and the grace of God that we didn't lose
an IF transformer. I could have replaced it, but it would
have meant working until dawn, instead of just until 1 AM ;-).

Thanks for the well-wishes. We're planning on doing another,
similar event in a year or so. The museum curator, Mr. Rigg,
was very enthusiastic about our efforts to preserve and
operate the equipment and says he's going to "draft" me to help
restore a B-24 they have. Yikes! ;-).
73 Dave S.