US WWII/Korean War BA-279/U Dry Cell Radio Batteries

[Panzerfaust]

Picked up 7 of these BA-279/U Dry Cell Radio Batteries and just wondering what era and what radio these would have gone with?  Many thanks!

 

 

[SGM (ret.)]

I suspect that by now you have an answer, but just in case you don't (or for anyone else wondering), the BA-279/u was used in the PRC-8, -9, and -10 radios.

You can find the battery listed as the power source on page 1, para. 4.a. of TM 11-612.  There's also a lot of other info about the battery in the TM, to include a schematic on page 33 (gives voltages to the different terminals).

More info on the radio sets can be found here:

 

Radio Nerds:: AN PRC_8 (*) Radio Set

 

[Panzerfaust]

8 hours ago, SGM (ret.) said:

I suspect that by now you have an answer, but just in case you don't (or for anyone else wondering), the BA-279/u was used in the PRC-8, -9, and -10 radios.

You can find the battery listed as the power source on page 1, para. 4.a. of TM 11-612.  There's also a lot of other info about the battery in the TM, to include a schematic on page 33 (gives voltages to the different terminals).

More info on the radio sets can be found here:

 

Radio Nerds:: AN PRC_8 (*) Radio Set

 

 

Hello Sir,

Thank you for the information!  Another question is are these WWII or Korean War?

[SGM (ret.)]

Only have a couple of minutes right now to answer, but the publish date on the earlier version of the TM 11-612 is 1951, so almost certainly not WWII but fielded in time for the Korean War.

Having said that, most of the Korean War was fought on the US side with WWII-legacy equipment.  The latest and newest equipment was generally fielded first to units in Western Europe and strategic reinforcement forces stationed CONUS.  Only in the final stages of the Korean War was the newest equipment used (for example, the M46 tank didn't make it to Korea until near the end because the first ones were sent to Europe).

I suspect that the PRC-8, -9, and -10 only made it to Korea towards the end.  However, that's a question that does require more study.

[Panzerfaust]

On 2/4/2022 at 8:29 AM, SGM (ret.) said:

Only have a couple of minutes right now to answer, but the publish date on the earlier version of the TM 11-612 is 1951, so almost certainly not WWII but fielded in time for the Korean War.

Having said that, most of the Korean War was fought on the US side with WWII-legacy equipment.  The latest and newest equipment was generally fielded first to units in Western Europe and strategic reinforcement forces stationed CONUS.  Only in the final stages of the Korean War was the newest equipment used (for example, the M46 tank didn't make it to Korea until near the end because the first ones were sent to Europe).

I suspect that the PRC-8, -9, and -10 only made it to Korea towards the end.  However, that's a question that does require more study.

 

Hello Sir,

 

Again many thanks for the comments and your knowledge on the subject.

 

Regards,

Drew

[SGM (ret.)]

You're welcome, Drew.

As I was surfing around on the interweb this morning with my morning coffee, I tried to find the official fielding date for the PRC-8, -9, -10 radio.  The best I could find is an estimate based on the serial number of a radio for sale on eBay.  That example is a US manufactured set with the S/N 571 and a contract date of 1952.

This would probably date the earliest sets to 1951 (which matches the earliest TM date).  Again, possible and maybe even likely that some of these reached the Korean War in time for the end.  However, clearly too late for WWII.

The PRC-8, 9, and -10 sets were intended to replace the WWII SCR-300 backpack set (the original "Walkie Talkie." The hand-held SCR-536 being called the "Handy Talie").  Interestingly enough, during WWII, the designation of the vehicle mounted SCR-300 set was changed to VRC-300 in keeping with the 1943 JANS system (JETDS in 1947 with the creation of the USAF). 

 

However, in its ground-mounted, man-portable version, the SCR-300 designation was used until the PRC-8 family replaced it in service.  It's quite likely that both the SCR-300 and the PRC-8 family radios were used in Korea at the same time.  The PRC-8 family soldiered on into the '60s until replaced by the PRC-25 (later PRC-77) of Vietnam War fame.