You can read more about radios on page 10 reference section.

As early as 1938, Supermarine had approached the Admiralty with a specifically designed Naval version of the Spitfire.

However, due to circumstances beyond their control, the Admiralty ordered the Fairey Fulmar as the new aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm. In February and May 1940 the Admiralty asked the Air Ministry for Spitfires but on both occasions they were turned down.

 The Admiralty's need for a capable carrier-based fighter to take up the task of combating Japanese Zero's or Messerschmitt  this need eventually led to the Fleet Air Arm being provided with a modified Spitfire  to take up the combat roll.

As far as I am aware every single Seafire ever produced was made at Westlands in Yeovil Somerset which still exists as a Hellicopter factory.

£850

This is a pretty rare find being an original radio operators/navigators table.

Its obviously not in the best of shape and needs some restoration, the honeycomb plywood writing table needs attention but this will make a worthwhile project. The table has an AS number indicating its made by Airspeed and almost certainly Airspeed Oxford. It still has the fittings for the headphone connection.

The Airspeed Oxford prototype first flew on 19 June 1937 . When it entered service with the Central Flying School in November of that year it became the Royal Air Force’s first twin-engine monoplane advanced trainer.

The first Oxfords were intended for all aspects of aircrew training including gunnery and had an Armstrong Whitworth dorsal gun turret fitted. The turret was removed from later versions and they were used mainly for pilot training. In addition to their main role as trainers Oxfords were used as air ambulances, communications aircraft and for ground radar calibration duties.

It saw widespread use as an advanced trainer in the United Kingdom, Canada, Southern Rhodesia, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East and in 1951 they received a new lease of life as Flying Training Command expanded to train National Service pilots.

£495

Buyers please contact me for a shipping quote

Very rare send/receive control lever from TR9 radio. Restored relic condition.

 Used in Spitfires and Hurricanes fitted with the TR9. Does not function for display only.

See reference section for radio info

Here is a portable RAF telephone exchange dated 1942. For use in the field. This unit is well used, in original condition and appears to be complete.

Also used by searchlight crews and observation posts during WW2.

Here we have a Wavemeter in beautiful condition and in original box. Also comes with Calibration chart, and a few original spare valves.

W1191 or W1191A

Ref No 10T/612

£495

In unopened packet. Several available.

5C/2839

£25

£350

A nice original example of a Type 4  10J/15 radio tuner used in the Spitfire, Hurricane and other Wartime RAF fighters.

£695

This really is a superb example of the R 1155 A radio receiver , this particular model being suffix A was only fitted to the Halifax Bomber.

I have never seen one in its original transit case and it appears to be completely original without any post war modifications by amateur radio hams. Please enlarge all the pictures to asses its excellent condition.

Shown above the Halifax Bomber.

The Halifax with the Lancaster shared the major burden of Bomber Commands night bombing campaign against Nazi Germany. Unlike the Lancaster, which only served as a bomber during the war, the Halifax was used extensively on other duties including glider-tug, agent dropping, transport, general reconnaissance and in Coastal Command. It was the second British four-engine bomber to enter service in WWII. The first Halifax to bomb Germany took part in a raid on Hamburg on 12th and 13th March 1941. Due to mounting losses of Halifax bombers they were restricted to less hazardous targets from September 1943. However, between 1941 and 1945 the Halifax made over 75,000 bombing sorties and dropped 227,610 tons (231,300 tonnes) of bombs, more than a quarter of all bombs dropped on Germany by the RAF. The Halifax was being replaced as a front line bomber in 1945 but it continued in service with Coastal and Transport Commands after the war. The last operational flight was made by a Coastal Command Halifax in March 1952 while operating from Gibraltar.

 A/M 10J/7

Here we have a radio tuner as fitted to Spitfires, Hurricanes and probably other RAF fighters.

It was made for use in RAF Fighters. It is good original  condition the buttons all work as they should and the lever switch moves. Fitted to the LHS of the Spitfire cockpit seen in situ below.

£325

This R 107 is a high grade general purpose HF communications receiver intended for use in vehicle or ground stations.
It operates with its own built-in PSU from 12 volts DC, or 100 to 250 volts AC, with an internally chassis mounted switch to change over supplies. An internal loudspeaker is fitted with sockets for headphone output.
It is a large and heavy set weighing in at 96lbs and measuring 24" x 13" x 17" deep.
Frequency coverage is from 1.2 - 17.5 Mc/s in 3 bands with operating modes of AM and CW. 

£495

Buyers please contact me for a shipping quote

TR5043

This is an extremely rare and sort after original and complete TR5043. This particular model was used by the RAAF.

The TR1143 was also a VHF set but the controller, although of the pushbutton type had the round type plug on the reverse. I understand that when the USA entered the war there came a need for common R/T between American bombers and their RAF escorts. I suspect that at this point the USAAF was introduced to the TR1143. They took this and created the SCR-522 (24v) and the SCR-542 (12v).

The TR5043 (SCR-522/542) was used in later Marks of Spitfire, Mosquitoes and both the P47 and P51 when the latter took over the USAAF bomber escort from the RAF. 

 Info supplied by Micheal Clark

See reference section for more details on radios and transmitters.

£75

This seems to be some sort of portable Microphone transmitter and receiver possibly for use in emergency. Made by Ultra Electronics Ltd of London W3. The aerial is stored in a container and is made of spring steel, when the cover is removed it flicks up.  I have never seen one of these before.

Type B174  10U/16870 the main unit has a crack in it but otherwise it is in good condition and appears complete. Its clearly designed to plug into some sort of radio unit..

Air Ministry marked. The aerial unit is Type 1308 A/M 10 AP/1560

The Company was started by Teddy Rosen in 1920 as Edward E. Rosen & Co. manufacturing high quality headphones. In 1923 the company moved to new premises at Harrow Road, London and in 1925 a new company Ultra Electric Ltd. was formed. Ultra introduced its first mains powered wireless set in 1931. After further expansion the company moved to larger premises at Erskine Road, Chalk Farm, NW3 in 1932 and also built a new 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m²) factory at Western Avenue, Acton, W3 in 1935.^[2] Ultra manufactured a wide range of domestic radio receivers including the Blue Fox, Lynx, Panther and Tiger models. In 1939 Ultra presented a television receiver to the market for the BBC High Definition Television Service which was transmitted on 405 lines from the studios at Alexandra Palace, north London.

During World War II the company diversified into building tails and bomb doors for the Short Stirling aircraft and clearly also continued to produce radio equipment for the RAF.  

This is a nice original aerial taken from a Lancaster. It is still mounted to the bracket that attaches to the aircraft.

 Almost certainly fitted to other types of aircraft although I was assured by the seller an author who has written books on the subject this was  taken from a Lancaster.

Here we have an original mount that was used to attach the aerial to the spitfire fuselage. It was fitted to the fuselage just behind the cockpit to allow the fixing of the aerial.

These are quite rare as they are made of wood so they became rotten.

  The aluminium has corroded, however, the rubber and the original wood still remain.

This was removed from a crashed aircraft at RAF Northolt.

Here is a box junction. It came with a sticker saying it came from a Manston Hurricane. I cannot prove this but it adds some interest to the piece.

Box Junction Type 17/A

A/M 10A/2649

10A = Miscellaneous radio equipment

£275

Very rare send/receive control lever from TR9 radio. relic condition.

 Used in Spitfires and Hurricanes fitted with the TR9. This one is unrestored condition does not function

See reference section for radio info

Here we have a radio tuner as fitted to Spitfires, Hurricanes and probably other RAF fighters.

 A/M 10J/22 dated 1945

It was made for use in RAF Fighters. It is in original  condition but the coloured lens is missing the buttons all work as they should and the lever switch moves. Fitted to the LHS of the Spitfire cockpit seen in situ below.

Here we have a GEE.

£195

Click on pictures to enlarge

This is a nice original Aerial taken from a Lancaster .

 Almost certainly fitted to other types of aircraft although I was assured by the seller an author who has written books on the subject this was  taken from a Lancaster.

Click to Watch this video clip showing this radio fitted in an Anson

The video clip was taken from The secret war series Video volume 1 Battle of the Beams.

Click on pictures to enlarge

This radio was requisitioned by the Air ministry early in 1940 it being the only commercially available radio receiver with a high enough frequencies to detect the German navigation radar beams. They were fitted in Avro Ansons enabling them to locate the direction of the beams.  A desirable piece of Battle of Britain History.

Battle of the beams

Churchill ordered a flight to try to detect the beams.  Avro Anson's were equipped with an American Hallicrafters S-27  (then the only known receiver capable of receiving the 40 MHz signal)  The Anson was far from ideal being slow, cold and extremely noisy. It was the only aircraft capable of carrying the radio set and the motor-generator set required to power it that could be spared. The motor-generator was required because the S-27 was a mains powered set but the Anson only had a 28 volt DC electrical system.

 The German Lorenz directed an aircraft down a line, so two crossed beams could be used to fix a single spot. Several systems based on this idea were studied through the 1930s. Lorenz had a range of about 30 miles, enough for blind-landing but not good enough for bombing raids over England.

 In addition the beams of Lorenz were deliberately set wide enough that they could be easily picked up at some distance from the runway centre line, but this meant their accuracy at long ranges was fairly limited. This was not a problem for blind landing, where the distance covered by the fan-shaped beams decreased as the airplane approached the transmitters, but for use in the bombing role this would be reversed and the system would have maximum inaccuracy over the target.

Lancaster R 1155 Radio Receiver 1 (No 11 Pg 1 Rad)

Fitted to Lancasters and other RAF wartime bombers. It is in nice original condition.

Corrected by a visitor Thanks Rob

Just thought you would like to know that the complete R1155A receiver listed on your radio page was only used during the war inside Halifax heavy bombers (denoted by the type suffix 'A' on the serial plate).

A Halifax bomber

Lancaster

£250

Overseas buyers please contact me for a shipping cost.

Aerial Change Over Switch/Rebecca (No 6 Pg 1 Rad)

SWITCH UNIT TYPE 78A (24 VOLTS)

A/M 10FB/366.

DUAL INPUT AND TWO DUAL OUTPUTS MARKED "LONG RANGE" AND "HOMING". THIS IS PART OF A UNIT CALLED "REBECCA / EUREKA” USED IN WORLD WAR 2 AIRCRAFT AS A NAVIGATION AID

Two available

£175 each

Overseas buyers please contact me for a shipping cost.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Part numbers shown under

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

The early Spitfires used the TR9 radio set these were replaced with VHF around the time the Battle of Britain ended

Above a MK II Spitfire you can see the wire from the areal, to the tail the two parts available attach to the areal mast and the tail.

Click to see this is Gunsight's

Handley page Halifax Trim(Page2 cont)

A really nice and extremely rare wheel for a remote D.F. loop drive (aerial). Would be located in the Wireless Ops position, of the Halifax. A/M crown so manufactured before 1944.

A/M 10J/10595

For sale in the controls section click here

Click on the picture's to enlarge.

Here is an aerial used on Lancasters and possibly other RAF wartime heavy bombers, it is quite long measuring 1.19 m.

Seen in situ below fitted to a Lancaster

Here is a classic 1154 radio used in Lancasters and other heavy Bombers. This one is clean and externally complete although there appear to be components missing internally and the top plate is missing. The printed sheet on the front is not original. Still a great display item.

A/M 10D/1587

Out of stock more wanted please contact me

Seen in situ in a Lancaster upper right  please click on the picture to see in detail.

10D/11500

Out of stock more wanted please contact me

Boxed unused radio jack for connecting the flying helmet to the radio intercom system used in practically all RAF WWII aircraft.

Dated 25th June 1945

A/M 10H/2205

Here we have a Radio Testing Set as Used by the RAF. It was used to tune and Calibrate all aircraft radios used by the RAF.

The Catch on the front of the box is missing

Testing Set

Telephone W.T.A MK II Receiving

This has a RAF reference number 2501

This is Manufactured by S.G.Brown Ltd

Out of stock more wanted please contact me

This is a  Spitfire aerial mast. Strangely these are made from steel with a wooden insert. Complete with its wooden insert in excellent serviceable condition

Out of stock more wanted please contact me

This is a  Spitfire aerial wooden insert in excellent serviceable condition

Out of stock more wanted please contact me

Here we have a radio remote control unit for the TR9 as fitted to Mk I and MK II Spitfires and Hurricanes. It needs some restoration work as the levers are seized. It is also missing the knob that attaches to the front I have one of these and it will be supplied with purchase. Would make a nice project for someone and needs a bit of time and patience rather than specialist knowledge and tools. This is an extremely rare piece being in use for only a very short period during the Battle of France and Battle of Britain.

I have recently been told this one was fitted to a Hurricane due to the attached bracket.

Seen below in situ in a MK I Spitfire

Out of stock more wanted please contact me

Radio Control Box (pg 1 rad)

Wartime 10A/14983 unit 10AB radio/radar control box. The looks to have a fitting for an antenna and so I would suspect it has something to do with tuning the antenna. Wartime issue with nice brass plate and kings crown would be for use in heavy bombers such as the Lancaster.

Out of stock more wanted please contact me

Pre war 1930s Morse Key 2 (pg 1 rad)

A nice original Morse key in good condition. This piece was found on many RAF WW II aircraft and this particular all metal model was fitted to Pre war aircraft such as the Gladiator. In the Spitfire it was fitted to the RHS of the cockpit but these were generally the Bakelite version. The Lancaster had two fitted to the main instrument panel. This early model is made of alloy.

Out of stock more wanted please contact me

 Radio receiver fitted in B17s and B24 Bombers good original condition. The B17 receiver you have listed is a Marker Beacon Receiver and is used by bombers to find their way back to the point of origin when flying back from a mission. Info supplied by Spitfire Spares customer.

Seen under in situ in a B17

 Identification Light Morse Key 1 (pg 1 rad)

A nice original identification morse key in good condition. In the Spitfire it was fitted to the RHS of the cockpit.

The Lancaster had two fitted to the main instrument panel. This is the second pattern Bakelite version.

Click on pictures to enlarge

Out of stock more wanted please contact me

RAF Signals Museum: There was a need for increased frequency stability for the TR9. Frequency drift resulted from vibration and temperature changes during flight. In April 1937, crystal control was applied to the TR9; that was then designated the TR9C. Later, to facilitate transmissions for Direction Finding (DF) purposes within a flight of aircraft while still allowing R/T contact to be maintained, a second frequency channel was provided on the TR9; that became the TR9D.

By the end of 1940, 41 fighter squadrons were completely re-equipped with VHF equipment. The AOC-in-C of Fighter Command gave instructions for the remaining squadrons in the Command to be 'changed over to VHF R/T' (sic) by 1 March 1941.

TR9D Radio set (pg 1 rad)

This is the ultimate in aviation history when it comes to radio.

I have recently found this superb TR9D in complete condition. I cannot be stressed to highly how very rare these sets are and in 15 years this is only the second set I have seen. The internals are present although I am unable to test this radio.

On aircraft containing a TR9 set the aerial would be strung between the aerial mast and the tail plane.

 The TR9 would have started its operational career  fitted to either  the Gloster Gladiator which entered service in 1937 the very last of the RAF Bi planes

 or in December 1937- No. 111 Squadron at Northolt takes delivery of the first Hawker Hurricane fighters these aircraft took part in the Battle of France.

 Note the aerial wire denoting that this aircraft has a TR9 fitted

 In 1938 the Spitfire entered service with No. 19 Sdr at Duxford who fought in the Battle of Britain.

 Note the aerial wire denoting that this aircraft has a TR9 fitted

TR9

The RAF was using TR9 sets in fighter aircraft including the Spitfire to provide an air-ground and air-air R/T communications. The TR9 was an AM (i.e. not FM) set.

There was an electro-mechanical controller in the cockpit to operate the set using Teleflex type cables.  

 The TR9 (HF) set fitted to aircraft during 1932 and 1933 gave increased range over that obtained previously - 35 miles air-to-ground and 5 miles air-to-air being obtained.

There is a reference to the need to make interceptions at ranges greater than the 35 -40 miles R/T range of the TR9. In January 1937 a requirement for a range of 100 miles with aircraft flying at 5,000 feet had been set out. In the meantime, 'the range deficiency of the TR9 was overcome by using mobile ground R/T relay stations, sited 30 or 40 miles forward of the sector RT station'.

Out of stock more wanted please contact me

Here we have a RF tuning unit for a WWII GEE radar system, fitted above the navigators table on WWII bombers such as the Lancaster and Halifax. This unit is a type 26B with a rare vernier drive tuner.

Ref No 10D/13032   &   10DB/8653