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WWI German Airplane Telefunken Radio & Flieg Amplifier from 1916
Here is a very interesting radio set. The radio was taken from a WWI German airplane. It consists of a Fleig transmitter and receiver, a Telefunken three tube amplifier, and a Stöcker & Co transmitting key.
The J. d. Fleig, type D transmitter and receiver measures 15 x 16 x 7 inches. The receiving section of the radio is missing or was never there. (If anyone has information on the receiver chassis or knows where I can find one please let me know.)It was made in 1916. The Imperial War Museum in the UK has a good example of the J.D. Flieg type D radio set: see http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30005063 . The Telefunken “Gesellschaft f. drahtlose, Telegraphie” ("The Company for Wireless Telegraphy Ltd.") is a three tube amplifier Type EV 192b, Apparatus # 15469. It measures 11 x 11 x 3 inches. It is a resistance coupled amplifier and uses three EVE 173 tubes. At present I have only one EVE 173 tube and would appreciate help in securing two more EVE 173 tubes. The two about 2 inch long glass tubes are resistors. I am missing one of these and am looking for another one. The telegraph key was made by Stöcker & Co of Leipzig, Germany. This radio set may have been mounted in WWI German airplanes of the type Taube or Rumpler or Albatross. These were used as reconnaissance planes during the 1914-1918 war in Belgium and France. The radio set is described in the 1921 book Funkentelegraphie fur flugzuege by Erick Niemann pages 93-96. The picture below of the complete set with the batteries is from this book.
Where did this radio come from? The short answer is Belgium near the village of Houwaart. I asked the gentleman who sent me the radio how his family got it and he said, “I've been asking around, and actually, there are 2 versions of the story. But one thing is certain: the events happened in 1918, the last year of the German occupation of Belgium.” One version says that a German reconnaissance plane, type 'Taube' or 'Albatros' crashed near the village of Houwaart. The radio set was then rescued from the wreckage and put away unused for many years. The village was near the home of the man I procured the radio from. Another version tells of German soldiers, defeated, retreating on foot towards Germany because they realized the war was lost. They were desperately searching for food and were willing to sell whatever they had with them. In the village of Houwaart was one local store that sold almost everything: vegetables, meat, bikes, coal. The owner or his son was very interested in 'state of the art technology' in 1918 and that's why the Germans offered him the radio in exchange for food. The reader can choose which story seems most likely.

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Copyright 2003-2004 Howard Stone PhD.
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