P51 D Antenna Wire

Attached is a page from a Nov 1942 USAAF document specifying the radio fits for aircraft going overseas. effective 1 Jan 1943. Obviously the P-51 is not listed, but it shows the requirements for the 8th AF.
So, the 8th AF wanted LF receivers in its fighters, and stateside fighters pretty well had to have them for control tower communcation and navigation. As for the Merlin P-51, some in Europe almost certainly had them and some probably did not.
In Korea, the used the BC-453 LF set from the SCR-274-N rather than the Detrola or BC-1206-C; the radio can be clearly seen perched up atop the VHF set in the bubble canopy. The BC-453 is a much much better receiver.
If anyone wants any photos of a Detrola 438 or BC-1206-C let me know; I have four of them - and one even works!

I just looked at the Squadron books on the 20 FG, 325th FG and 357th FG. The 20th and 325th books show both Mustangs with the antenna wires and Mustangs without. The 357th book does not seem to show any with antenna wires but almost all of the color artwork shows the wires.

So clearly they came both ways. This may have depended on the FG, the use of the particular aircraft and the time period in the war.

Matt308 said:

I've often asked the question and have never received the answer, but suspect that many wire aerials might have been for HF transceivers. HF has ability to propogate by bouncing off of the ionosphere and thus can achieve MUCH greater beyond-line-of-sight comm.
As the war progressed and technology marched on, VHF likely became more efficient. Perhaps this is the reason that mast mounted (blade type) antennas became acceptable for most european operations. For pacific operations, HF likely continued to be necessary due to long distances involved.

Click to expand...

No perhaps,you have,as the saying goes,hit the nail on the head and have come to the correct conclusion for exactly the right reasons!
Cheers
Steve

The USN used VHF very extensively in the Pacific in WWII. But by late in the war their F6F's and F4U's were equipped with BOTH VHF and HF systems, made possible by the design of the ARC-5 sets. By 1944 they used the LF receivers in their fighters only as required to ferry them to the combat areas and then yanked the LF sets when they got to combat and put in HF receivers. They would have 5 VHF channels and 1 HF channel.

First of all all P_51 Ds came from factory with the both the detrola or copy and the SCR-522 command sets. Most European commands pulled the lf receivers because of either not needed for combat operation or possible for pilot safety during bailout. THe detrolas were used for ferrying operations.
Two A slightly different v shaped wire was MN-26 equiped Mustangs ie CBI and photo recon aircraft.
Third the vlr mustangs used in in Pacific and the D-30 used a blade antenna under the engine for both SCR-522 and ARC-3 radio sets. THe twin blade anteenas on top were used for radio homeing sysstem