WW2COS, The B-17 “City of Savannah” Operates in Remembrance of Pearl Harbor

Posted by KF4LMT on December 7, 2011 · 1 Comment 

Guy McDonald, K4GTM and I decided to operate WW2COS, the amateur radio station aboard the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum’s B-17 the “City of Savannah” today in remembrance of the 70th Anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II.  We got the station on the air just before 10:00 AM and operated until 5:00 PM, making a total of 89 contacts with amateur radio operators in the United States and Canada!  Of the four special event operations that have been operated from WW2COS, Guy says this one was the most successful one yet in terms on number of stations worked.

Guy, K4GTM at the mic during today's Pearl Harbor Special Event

For those not yet familiar, the amateur radio station is on board the B-17 at the radio operator’s position.  The position is equipped with a working BC-348 World War II era receiver and there are also tuning units and a transmitter that are not yet restored but are planned as a future project.  Amateur HF operations are currently done with a Kenwood TS-480 that is built into the radio operator’s position, power is provided by a battery hidden in the B-17′s cockpit.  The antenna is a G5RV that is strung between two light poles outside of the museum.

We arrived at the museum just after they opened the doors at 9 AM, set the station up, and got on the air just before 10 AM.  We started out on 40 Meters and before breaking for lunch around 11:30 AM we already had 27 contacts on the log sheet!  After a good lunch at Miss Sophie’s restaurant in the museum lobby, we went back to the bomber and switched to 20 Meters where we remained for most of the afternoon except for the last hour when we switched back to 40 Meters.  We tried 15 and 10 Meters but weren’t able to make any contacts on either band. Special thanks go to Larry Van Horn, N5FPW and Jere Connan, KT4ZB for spotting us on the DX cluster. No doubt Larry’s spot in the morning and Jere’s spot in the afternoon helped us get some more attention.  It should be mentioned that the City of Savannah is still in the restoration process and as we operated, there was restoration activity going on around us.

We worked a total of 89 stations over the course of the day. Considering we were operating on a work day during the hours most folks are working, it was great to log 89 stations!  Included in those 89 contacts were stations from 21 states:  Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and Kentucky.  We also worked a number of Canadian stations from Ontario.  A number of Museum-to-Museum contacts with other museums that were operating Pearl Harbor Day Special Event Stations were made:

• VA3CWM, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario
• W5BII, the USS Orleck, DD-886 in Lake Charles, LA
• W2W, the National Electronics Museum in Baltimore, MD
• W5KID, the USS Kidd, DD-661 in Baton Rouge, LA
• W5LEX, the USS Lexington, CV-16 in Corpus Christi, TX
• WW2OK, the USS Batfish, SS310 in Muskogee, OK
• WW2LST, the LST-325 in Evansville, IN

We also spoke with a couple of students from the Eisenhower Middle School Viking Radio Club, KF5CRF in Lawton, OK.  It’s worth mentioning that more than a few of our contacts were veterans, including at least 3 World War II veterans.  One of the World War II veterans – George, W9PJN was a B-24 crewman, so it was great to be able to talk with him from the radio operator’s position of a B-17!

Looking back from the radio operator's compartment toward the tail of the B-17

Looking forward from the radio compartment through the bomb bay into the cockpit

It was an honor for both Guy and I to operate WW2COS today in remembrance of those who died at Pearl Harbor and to honor the survivors of the attacks on Pearl Harbor.  We thank all those who took the time to answer our CQ calls and spend some time on the air with us.  We have lost all of our World War I veterans and our World War II veterans are disappearing now at a higher rate; it’s important that we remember and honor the sacrifices that they made.  Our little radio event today was just a small way for us to do so, thanks to everyone for helping us out!

Filed under Amateur Radio, B-17 City of Savannah, B-17G, Mighty 8th Air Force Museum, Military, Pearl Harbor Day Special Event