Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

AT THL FOURTEENTH AIR FORCE HEADIJUARTERS IN CHINA, THla AMERI- CAN AIRMAN OPERATES RADIO COMMUNICATION SERVICE WITH RCA TRANSMITTER AND RCA RECEIVER. RCA TRANSMITTERS IN CHINA Ten Radio Conimunicaliom by Truck and Ox-cart Play TEN RCA radio transmitters, transported over trackless wastes of China by truck and ox- cart, and often operating from caves and temples, are credited with carrying the burden of American airforce ground communications on that Asiatic battlefront from the arrival of the Flying Tigers in 1941 until the present, it has just been disclosed. The outstanding performance of military radio equipment was re- vealed by Major Charles H. Whit- aker, communications officer of Gen. Chennault's 14th Airforce on his return to the United States after 26 months of service in the Orient. The radio equipments described by Major VVhitaker were manufac- tured by RCA Victor Company of Canada, Limited, for the Royal Canadian Air Force through whom it was made available to the Chung- king Government. The transmitters are pioneers in the radio warfare against Japan. Major Whitaker said, for they were obtained to serve the original AVG —or Flying Tigers—in 1941. They provided the eyes and ears of the American Volunteer Group until 1942 when the regular Army Air Force took over operations, and have continued to give reliable serv- Units Carried Across Trackless Wastes Major Role in War Against Japanese. ice ever since. The sudden thrust of the Japa- nese at the Malay Peninsula and Burma changed original AVG plans with the result that the Flying Tigers became engaged in the re- treat through Burma, successfully withdrawing their precious com- munications system with them into China. "There was lots of good equip- ment out there," the communica- tions officer related, "but the AT-3's I radio transmitters) had an adven- turous and outstanding service rec- ord. Much of the time they were Gen. Chennault's sole means of communications. Supplies were so precious that replacement parts were only made when something went dead. The AT-3's never let us down. "I understand they were first un- loaded at Rangoon in the fall of 1941. The fighting started soon after their arrival. The AVG's clung tenaciously to them all during the fighting retreat up the Burma Road. In this ordeal they covered more than 2,000 miles of the world's roughest travel. Trucks banged them over that winding, heavily l)ombed road and when the road changed to a miry, jungle track they were carried by ox-cart. "Here is an idea of the travel hazards experienced by the AT-3's and their receivers, the RCA AR-77 sots: ".A truck loaded with radio and other supplies had to ford a flooded jungle stream on a flim.sy cluster of logs which operated as a native ft Try. In midstream the truck rolled a bit. threatening to capsize the whole business. The driver madly tossed anything and every- thing into the river until the raft- ferry righted itself. When he checked the cargo he found, much to his chagrin, that he had tossed some valuable receivers into the drink. He almost cried over it. But he kept the rest of the stuff rolling on to its destination." Arriving in the China war thea- ter, Major Whitaker continued, the <'(|uipment became "stations" link- ing up the air bases. One AT-3 and one or more AR-77's comprised a "station" with a National 100 bat- tery receiver to backstop the equip- ment in the event of power failure, he said. The usual place of opera- tions was a natural cave or a native temple. The officer said these "sta- tions" survived the rigors of the elements with little damage. "One set I know operated in a l)oarded-up cave for a period of 18 months with the only equipment casualty being a resister which went bad from corrosion," he re- called. When Jap penetration endan- gered the safety of the station and it had to be shifted, the communi- cations officer declared, the operator and his two Chinese assistants merely tossed the equipment on a truck and started across country to a new spot designated by headquar- ters. The only insulation provided on these rough journeys was that of a mattress covering the truck- body's floor. The AT-3 is powered 300 watts for 'phone and 400 watts for c.w. (telegraph). Their normal operat- ing distance was from 700 to 800 miles. However, one of the AT-3's. according to an AVG operator, kept contact with Corregidor about 2000 miles away in the last hours before the Philippine Fortress' capitula- tion and the AR-77 received the operator's final message from the beleagured station. [RADIO AGE 29]