Field phone and switchboard inter-operability

[Mike K]

Most of the WW2 era British pattern field telephone equipment was also manufactured outside of Britain. Australia and Canada ( and N.Z. ? ) built copies of the field phones D mk V and switchboards.

I have a Aust. made Telephone F , have also seen L phones . Here, the Postmaster General (PMG) , operated the govt. owned communications network, the PMG operated their own factories where many thousands of wartime field phones were manufactured. The PMG ran just about everything, from the telephone system to amateur radio licensing and exams.A friend did his radio tech. apprenticeship in the PMG during the 1960s.

Used to buy D mk 5 phones for $10 but the recent prices have been going through the roof, up to $200. Just recently I spotted two "A" remote control units at $125 each, Aust. built for the W.S. 11.

I've seen many Australian built field sets that were supplied with a die cast alloy case, over time, the alloy corrodes into a white powder substance. Don't know if the alloy cases were also seen in other countries ?