MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, JUNE 25/98 Index: I WAS THE RADIO OPERATOR; Part I, By Lt. Robert D. Gibson MEMBERS WRITE; SP-600, WW-II British Comm Web Site, WHATSITS; TSQ-14? Antenna Base? NEW MEMBER; Joe Morgan HUMOR; *********************************************** I WAS THE RADIO OPERATOR; Part I, By Lt. Robert D. Gibson Forward, The following two part series is a true story written by (then T/Sgt.) Robert D. Gibson. It was originally published in "Air Force Magazine" sometime during WW-II, and subsequently was published in a pamphlet by the Training Literature Division Scott Field Illinois "in the hopes that it might impart on the student radioman the great importance and responsibility that would be his as a flying radio operator". I reproduce it here, word for word, as it was written, for the same reasons, and to further enhance our knowledge of the events and procedures of the period. Also of interest is the stile of writing, terminology used, and the "Go Gettum Boys" sentiment the story obviously conveys. Dennis Starks; MILITARY RADIO COLLECTOR/HISTORIAN military-radio-guy@juno.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You Can't Ride the Beam in Combat, We flew against the Japs over Bali and Java. They chased us out of Singapore. We ran into them again flying ammunition from Northern Australia to Port Moresby. We were always outnumbered in those early days of the war and, all in all, we took quite a licking. But even then we were sure the Jap Air Force would get a good drubbing before it was over. My job was radio operator. And I know first hand that a radio operator is a mighty important man on every combat mission. If that sounds like bragging it isn't meant to be. I don't mean just me: I mean every radio operator. And I can show you what I mean. But that's getting ahead of my story--about seven months ahead to be exact. Back in November, 1941, we left the United States on what was to have been a three-week survey trip of the Ferry Command's southern route to Africa. Seven months and 696 hours of flying time later we arrived back in the United States by boat from Australia. Meanwhile, we had been in India, Singapore, New Guinea, Australia, Burma, Java and Bali. We were in Egypt when we first heard of the outbreak of war. Instructions came through to pick up Lieutenant General Brett in Cairo and take him to wherever wanted to go. And the only places he wanted to go were where the fighting was the thickest. Before I got into the Army I used to think that Generals stayed a comfortable distance away from the actual fighting. But after being with General Brett, I changed my mind. He is the "goingest" man I've ever met. We took the General to India and then to Australia where he left us and we went to Java. That's where the going really got tough. It's always tough taking a beating. But for the number of planes we had down there, we did a lot of agitating. As radio operator (I was a Technical Sergeant at the time), it was my responsibility to guide our plane in and out of the combat zones. The Dutch and British who were operating the anti-aircraft guns had very itchy fingers. If the radio man didn't send in the right recognition signals at the right time, he and his crew would probably be cited for valor, but posthumously. Some of the time, particularly when flying ammunition from Australia to Port Moresby, we flew without a navigator so we could get the maximum amount of cargo into the plane. It isn't cheerful flying without a navigator, but sometimes you just have to do it. And with air raids occurring very often, it was up to the radioman to determine whether we would be coming in under a bombardment. Ther were three signals we paid special attention to. One was QQW which meant that the sending station was having an air raid alert, The second was a QQQ which indicated that an air raid was in progress. And the most looked for was the QQZ, or "all clear". If the radioman wasn't on the beam all the time, he would be bringing his plane into his station with anti-aircraft firing at him from beneath and Jap bombers greeting him from above. Even with all our preparation and the constant watching of our assigned frequency, we got into a lot of trouble. I remember when we were trying to get from Rangoon, Burma to Bandoeng, Java. We told Batavia that we were on our way to Bandoeng. But when we got over Bandoeng we were met with some of the most terrific ack-ack fire we had ever experienced. Bandoeng didn't have a radio, no one had told them we were coming, they just weren't taking any chances. They let us have it. The only thing we could do was turn around and go back to Singapore. But that meant danger and it would probably have meant the end of us if I hadn't been luck enough to have picked Singapore's radio frequency before we left Rangoon. Actually, there was no official reason why I should have known Singapore's frequency but I had found out long before that you can't know too much when you're in the combat zone. Without those signals, Singapore would have brought us down so fast it wouldn't have been funny. Any unidentified plane, no matter what insignia, was fair bait. But to get back to the Japs and the reasons why we think we can take them. First of all, about the much talked about Jap Zero planes. I'd be a fool to say that they aren't any good--they gave us too much trouble for that. They climb at a terrific rate of speed and maneuver with precession. But a couple of burst and they fall apart... the Jap plane makers apparently don't have too much regard for their pilots. They were giving them practically no protection and very little fire power. The boys in the later model B-17s don't bother much about the Zeros. What's more, the Zeros don't mess around with the 17s. Those Japs look mighty good when they have you out numbered, but when you are strong enough to fight they often run like hell. Once over Java we were flying a heavily armored LB-30. Fifteen Japs came down us and our gunners opened up. All but three of them left in a hurry, and those didn't hang around very long. The japs seem to like being heroes but they don't like getting bullets tossed at them. The Zeros I saw were not particularly fast. One time in an armed B-24 on the way to Rangoon, we saw three Zeros about five miles away. Major Paul F. Davis for my money the hottest pilot in the Far East, pushed the plane down to tree-top level and we started running. They chased us for 50 miles and were still five miles away. Up in the high Altitudes, around 30,000, the Zeros don't have enough soup to make more than two passes at you. They don't like to dive because it's tough pulling their flimsy planes out. Over Bali one bright morning, a lot of Japs jumped one of our ships out of the sun. Just as one of them came in on their rear gunner, his gun jammed. So he fired his flare gun right in the Jap's face. They never saw one guy get out of a place in such a hurry as that Jap did. On another occasion, the blankets they had piled in the back of the ship accidently caught on fire. They tossed the burning blankets out of the ship and the Japs high-tailed it for home. They must have thought we had a new kind of secret weapon. One thing the Japs could do well was strafe our planes on the ground. In the early days, communications were pretty bad and we got a lot of surprise air attacks. It was especially bad around Port Moresby. That New Guinea town is located in a sort of valley with mountains around it. The Japs could come tearing over the mountains before we had an inkling that they were around and they'd give us hell on the ground. *********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; SP-600, Hey Dennis, Don't go pottymouthin SP-600 on the list...had 4...now three....look what this guy wants for cabinet. Ike For Sale: 1. Millen 92200 Transmatch -- $225 shipped Beautiful condition, inside and out. A couple of very minor chips to the rear of the cabinet. Inside is immaculate. Legal limit with room to spare .. 2. Original Hammarlund SP-600 Cabinet -- $130 plus shipping Beautify your SP-600! This is the ORIGINAL cabinet as supplied by Hamarlund, not a modern look-alike. Correct square vent holes. Professionally powder coated in a medium gray wrinkle. Missing the lid latch. The SP600 depicted on my web-site is in an identical cabinet. Grant Ed) I wasn't bad mouthing the SP-600(though I easily could), I was making fun of the ridiculous prices being asked for them(a very common receiver with numerous failings and only a couple attributes). The going price for a cabinet is about $100, what's a bit much in the above is the BS sales pitch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WW-II British Comm Web Site, Dennis, Below is an interesting web site for anyone with an interest in radio history and British sets. Suggest you include it with a group posting Bill Howard Centre for the History of Defence Electronics (CHiDE) Home Page http://chide.bournemouth.ac.uk/ CHiDE is a research centre in the School of Conservation Sciences at Bournemouth University in the UK. The broad aim of the Centre is to contribute to the study and public awareness of the history of electronics, and through this to the public understanding of science. *********************************************** WHATSITS; TSQ-14? Dennis, Have you ever heard of a Motorola AN/TSQ-14? Supposed to be a 3-30 mHz receiver (transponder). Saw it mentioned on a newsgroup. Ed Guzick --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Antenna Base? Got a question. I am looking for the nomenclature of an antenna base. If you look in Janes 1993-94 or similar under the RT-1393/USQ listing, there is a photo of antenna sections and a base. I have that antenna system, but noticed this week while participating in a NG exercise that ther is a mobile base for the same antenna sections. You wouldnt happen to know where to look for the part number or designation would you? They were using a Harris URC-119 in the back of a CUCV with a damned big impressive antenna coupler feeding this antenna. ( I may need to get some numbers off the mast sections....) Thanks Tom Norris *********************************************** NEW MEMBER; Joe Morgan My current interests are military radio equipment: 1) sophisticated HF equipment like Watkins-Johnson or Racal HF receivers or transceivers. 2) large dish to use as radio telescope Joseph Morgan morganjw@email.msn.com *********************************************** HUMOR; An old Jewish man was once on the subway and he sat down next to a younger man. He noticed that the young man had a strange kind of shirt collar. Having never seen a priest before, he asked the man, "Excuse me sir, but why do you have your shirt collar on backwards?" The priest became a bit flustered but politely answered, "I wear this collar because I am a Father." The Jewish man thought a second and responded, "Sir I am also a Father but I wear my collar front-ways. Why do you wear your collar so differently?" The priest thought for a minute and said "Sir, I am the Father for many." The Jewish man quickly answered, "I am the Father of many, too. I have four sons, four daughters and more grandchildren than I can count. Still, I wear my collar just like everybody else. Why do you wear it your way?" The priest who was beginning to get exasperated thought and then blurted out, "Sir, I am the Father to hundreds of people." The Jewish man was taken aback and was silent for a long time. As he got up to leave the subway train, he leaned over to the priest and said, "Mister, maybe you should wear your pants backwards. -------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU MIX VIAGRA AND ROGAINE? ANS: HAIR LIKE DON KING'S. --------------------------------------------- ------------------------- Fireman & His wife A man who worked for the fire department came home from work one day and told his wife, "you know, we have a wonderful system at the firehouse: Bell #1 rings and we all put our jackets on; Bell #2 rings and we all slide down the pole; Bell #3 rings and we are on the truck and ready to go! From now on, we're going to run this house the same way. When I say Bell #1, I want you to strip naked..... When I say Bell #2, I want you to jump into bed..... When I say Bell #3, we're going to screw all night!" The next night he came home from work and yelled "Bell #1." The wife took off all her clothes. "Bell #2." The wife jumped into bed. "Bell #3." They began screwing. After a couple of minutes, the wife yelled "Bell #4." The husband asked "What the hell is this Bell #4?" "MORE HOSE" she replied, "YOU'RE NO WHERE NEAR THE FIRE!" ----------------------------------- ------------------------------ There once was a young woman who went to confession. Upon entering the confessional she said, "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned." The priest said, "Confess your sins and be forgiven." The young woman said, "Last night my boyfriend made mad passionate love to me seven times." The priest thought long and hard and then said, "Take seven lemons and squeeze them into a glass and then drink the juice." The young woman asked, "Will this cleanse me of my sins?" "No, but it will wipe that smile off of your face." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Did you hear they finally made a device that makes cars run 95% quieter? Yeah, it fits right over her mouth. How do you know when a women's about to say something smart? When she starts her sentence with "A man once told me...." How do you fix a woman's watch? You don't...there's a clock on the oven! Why do men die before their wives? They want to. Why do men pass gas more than women? Because women won't shut up long enough to build up pressure. One golfer tells another: "Hey, guess what! I got a set of golf clubs for my wife!" The other replies: "GREAT trade!" What do you do when your wife comes out of the kitchen to whine at you? You make the chain shorter. What's worse than a Male Chauvinist Pig? A woman that won't do what she's told! Why did the woman cross the road? Who cares! But what was she doing out of the kitchen??? I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her first name was Always. It's not true that married men live longer than singlemen. It only seems longer. Losing a wife can be hard. In my case, it was almost impossible. Wife: Let's go out and have some fun tonight. Husband: Okay, but if you get home before I do, leave the hallway light on. Husband: Put your coat on, love, I'm going to the bar for a couple of hours. Wife: Are you taking me out for a drink? Husband: Don't be silly woman, I'm turning the heat off... Why do Japanese Sumo Wrestlers shave their legs? So you can tell them apart from the feminists. I haven't spoken to my wife for 18 months--I don't like to interrupt her. What do you call a woman who has lost 95% of her intelligence? Divorced. Why do women like intelligent men? Opposites attract. Most accidents happen at home. And the men have to eat them! Some mornings I wake up grouchy...and some mornings I just let her sleep! What do you call a woman who has lost her mind? A widow. A man is incomplete until he is married. After that, he is finished. Bigamy is having one wife too many. Some say monogamy is the same. Scientists have discovered a food that diminishes a women's sex drive by 90 percent.... Wedding cake!!! Marriage is not a word, it is a sentence - A Life Sentence!! Do you know the punishment for bigamy? Two mothers-in-law. *********************************************** (The preceding was a product of the"Military Collector Group Post", an international email magazine dedicated to the preservation of history and the equipment that made it. Unlimited circulation of this material is authorized so long as the proper credits to the original authors, and publisher or this group are included. For more information conserning this group contact Dennis Starks at, military-radio-guy@juno.com) ***********************************************