[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

This is an item I had reached the point with searching for that I had decided had to be replicated. Then, a few weeks ago, in casual conversations with a friend in Ontario, he turned one up in a cables bin full of bits and bobs.

You do find the occasional little gem tucked away. WS52 parts are extremely scarce in the UK, though the odd item turns up. The Netherlands had rather more equipment abandoned and sold as surplus than the UK.

There is no wear or signs of usage at all on this one and all indications are it was very early production of the 52-Set. The yellow ID sleeve identifies it as a “LEADS, AERIAL No. C6”, with “CMC 115-549” and temporary VAOS Number “ZA/C 00102” added for good measure. It eventually became known as “LEADS, Aerial 16-inch No. C1” with an assigned VAOS of “ZA/CAN 4266”.

That looks completely new and post-WW2 production, particularly with the shiny insulation and bright yellow printed ID sleeve instead of "yellow" varnished cambric. It's more like the 1950s "Larkspur" cables, and may have been ordered as a replacement using the original specification documents.

This, along with a number of other small cables/connectors for the 52-Set, were HT Cables that utilized a stranded, copper core wire, 7mm rubber sheathed automotive spark plug wire. When I first saw a photo of this item, I immediately thought the brown colour was to blend the cable in with the top of the Carriers No. 4, which was painted No. 2 Brown. My friend laughed and reminded me that early in the war, everything that was commercially available, and could be put to war production use was diverted to do so. Automotive ignition wire of the day came in black rubber, brown rubber and even a tan clothed loomed version, and probably other variations. Pure chance this brown cable ended up being used for early 52-Set items.

I have a set of aerials on the wooden board winders that have _white_ rubber insulation. Most of the UK rubber insulation was black rubber, though I've got a white aerial base spacer (as well as a green-painted plywood Canadian one with glued on cork gaskets, plus the later or postwar(?) stamped and seam-welded steel types). Anything that was available could get used.

A couple of other early features are evident on this cable also. The plug end of the cable uses the early pattern 1-inch long plug. In use, these proved to be too short for the Operators to safely insert into the Sender Socket, or the output socket on the Coils, Aerial Tuning No. 2 A, so a longer version plug was introduced partway through the 52-Set production run to solve that safety problem.

David

I suspect the longer knurled section was to provide a better grip when pulling it out with wet/muddy hands. (You wouldn't be touching it if the set was live!)

Chris.