Signals Production Branch History May 1, 1942 - August 31, 1943 Continued
PART 4 Relations with Manufacturer of Communication Equipment (Cont'd)
Standard Communications Receiver:
One of the first jobs undertaken by the Inter-Service Committee on Design was the approval of a Receiver for general communications work, which would be standard for all Services.
Late in the summer of 1942 the Committee prepared a specification covering the desired equipment and this specification was sent to all radio manufacturers in Canada with an invitation to submit a design.
The invitation was accepted by only two firms. R.C.A. Victor Company proposed their Receiver Type AR 88 which had just been designed by their United States affiliate, R.C.A. Victor, Camden, N.J. Canadian Marconi Company submitted their Receiver Type CSR 5.
In November, 1942, the committee sat to compare the two receivers with the specifications. They finally decided on the type AR 88 with slight modifications.
Orders began to come in for the AR 88 receiver before the end of 1942. By the end of August, 1943, R.C.A. Victor Company had orders totalling approximately 5400 Sets from Canadian Army, R.C.A.F., B.A.T.M., British Army, and New Zealand.
The original delivery forecast for this receiver was July, 1943. Design modifications instituted by R.C.A. Victor (U.S.) delayed the final ordering of materials to the extent that no sets had been delivered by the end of August. Deliveries did commence in September.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Navy had placed orders for the type CSR 5 Receiver instead of the AR 88. Between March and August, 1943, this Service ordered a total of 740 Sets. New Zealand also placed an order for 100 of the Sets.
At the end of August, 1943, no CSR 5 Receivers had been delivered, although original forecasts were for July. The latest forecast for start of deliveries is December, 1943.
Wireless Equipment for Mosquito and Lancaster Aircraft:
Contracts for production of this equipment is Canada were let to Northern Electric Company by the Aircraft manufacturers during the summer of 1942.
Complete equipment for a Mosquito aircraft, as supplied by Northern Electric Company, consists of a radio receiver, a radio transmitter and a radio compass, together with a large quantity of auxiliary apparatus for operating the main components by remote control. All this equipment is of a design developed by Bendix Aviation Radio Corporation in the United States. Northern Electric Company were called upon to supply, in addition to this equipment, interconnecting cables for other wireless equipment which is installed when the aircraft reaches the field.
The Bendix equipment for the Lancaster aircraft is similar to that used in the Mosquito aircraft except two transmitters are installed and a larger quantity of auxiliary apparatus is required. In addition, Northern Electric Company were called upon to supply another wireless set of the transmitter-receiver type, of British design, and provide harness for installing it in the aircraft.
Source: This article is a 99% verbatim reproduction of a photo-copied document found at the Military Communications and Electronics Museum, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and supplied by Chris Bisaillion, VE3CBK. (We say "99% verbatim" because, initially, attempts were made to correct some spelling and textual form, attempts quickly abandoned to preserve the original wording, spelling etc.) This document, dated October 15, 1943, is entitled History, Signals Production Branch, Department of Munitions and Supply, May 1, 1942 to August 31, 1943. Unfortunately, no similar document has been located beyond the October 15, 1943, date, and therefore information beyond the scope of this paper extending to the end of hostilities (or beyond) is not available.
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Signals Production Branch History Part One
Signals Production Branch History Part Two
Signals Production Branch History Part Three