Or close the wall up with our English dead.

Military Wireless Museum



LEFT: Inside the radio room of the British RAF Lancaster Bomber, as used during WWII. The picture shows the location of the R1155/T1154 receiver transmitter. The power suppllies, rotary generators in the air, were located below the operators table. The famous Bathtub key was afixed to the bench on the right (bit of a problem if your left handed !) and in various units an Indicator for the various Radar or radio based aids was located to the right of the receiver. In the Halifax bomber the receiver was actually mounted on its side due to limited space it its radio room.
Lanc Lanc3
RIGHT: Another inside shot the RAF Lancaster Bomber, WWII, radio room. Again the R1155/T1154. Note the flare pistol in forground. The holder exited the plane underneath.

Same location shot but this time LEFT: inside a Canadian built Lancaster Bomber, WWII, its radio room using the Bendix TA12/RA10 configuration
rcaf
4 Units used inside the old Lanc, left to right, ASV radar, H2S radar, and two Gee sets, all awaiting restoration and eventual operation !! (I hope)
bunker3
H2S, radar in Lancasters
The indicator with PPI and the attached height unit. I believe they were black in RAF use and blue in Coastal Command use.
h2sa h2sb

I had the opportunity recently to visit two Lancasters, both non operational unfortunatly,one actually was 6 ft underground ! One was in Holland, the plaything of Jan and Paul Bodifee, the other in the UK lovingly created by Norman Groom at the Pitstone Museum.
The Radio rom
Dutch a/c Fig 1
The Pilots view
Dutch a/c Fig 2
The H2S setup
Dutch a/c Fig 3
The G set
Dutch a/c Fig 4
The Radio room
UK a/c
Fig 5
Pilots view
UK a/c
Fig 6
The H2S set
UK a/c
Fig 7
The G set
UK a/c
Fig 8


Me in the UK Lancaster mock up, I could almost hear the engine noise!

A Lancaster Story ......
A story near to H2S, but nothing to do with Radio/Radar. WW11, I was at Waddington working on Lancs, Ground Wireless Mech. Two Aussie Squadrons, 463 and 467, did not use H2S but the Blister was outside the A/C and the housing was inside the A/C. Lancs had a blind spot to enemy A/C attack between the tail guns and the mid-upper. There was a cone they could not reach and the H2S blister was at the apex. So the Aussies took off the blister, removed the housing and fitted the resulting hole with a removable hatch. A single 303 gun was mounted on a swinging arm on the port side and a small seat fitted between the end of the bomb bay and the hatch. There were footrests each side of the Hole. When the need arose the mid-upper gunner manned the position. No 'chute, strapped into the small seat, feet jammed in the foot rests. He swung the gun over and the attacking Aircraft got it. The manoeuvre was so successful that Jerry stopped attacking Lancs if there was no blister. So the Aussies just removed the blister only. Frank Hastings GW0BPV




Pictures inside the Halifax office, there it is a double decker with the radio room under the pilots seat and even the receiver has to be mounted on its side due to lack of space.
rear
radio roomFig 1
mid view
Halifax Fig 2
radio's
Halifax Fig 3

Before & After, a restorers tale:
Before and after shot of one of the units here, the good looking unit, an Indicator Tpe 95, was in the same state as the one next to it but after a bit of TLC you can see the difference I think ?
The Gee receiver, R1355 now, before and after a touch up.
g_b4&after gee22 gee12

Lots of Gee now
sixgee

Other radar, navigation and DF items.


CARPET. Radar jamming system used by British and the USA.
This is CarpetII, British, used in Lancasters and the like.

CARPET2

...................Carpet II video

Carpet III, US version, bigger, heavier etc....
CARPET3RX apq2x
The APR-4 receiver is another one of those long-lived designs, beginning life before the war as the General Radio P-540 test receiver. It used five different plug-in units with a motor driven sweep ability to cover 38 to 4,000MHz, making it extremely versatile for its time.
APQ-2 "Rug" jammer. This was one of the earliest jammers, as evidenced by its miniscule 5 watt output, and covered the frequency range of 450MHz TO 720MHz in a single band. The initial target was the German Wurzburg fire control radar, which had been going through a variety of modifications to extend its frequency range, though the APQ-2 was later used in the Aleutians to counter new Japanese radar developments.
(info from AAF-RADIO website)

"Carpet2", the jamming unit for tackling German radars. The unit as it arrived, before cleaning etc.
carpet
car1
car2 car3
car4
car5
car6

apx4set geerx blackgee

ind1 ind2

geeiff h2sset intercom

loop1 loop2 loop3

outermarker lightsw

By way of a distraction. My shack...... I think not but I'd love it, hi. This vintage radio room mock up is located at the very good HMS Collingwood Museum
shack

Send an e-mail to: Ben Nock, G4BXD
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********* Pictures by G4BXD are G4BXD copyright ********