did wwii planes have radios?

[lindenfoxcub]

I know they had radar, or the allies did at least, but I'm wondering since the cockpits were still open, and that's the way I have my planes in my story, if the noise of the engine would have defeated the purpose of a radio on board a fighter plane of that level of technology, or if headphones would be required to make it plausible for these planes

Comments

[janenx01]

I'm pretty sure planes in WWII didn't have radar. Radar was in existence at the time, but the necessary equipment wouldn't have fit on a plane.

[thejim]

Night fighters and some heavy fighters/strike aircraft certainly did carry radar arrays. The DH.98 Mosquito NF variants carried AI Mk. IV and Mk. V radars and the Beaufighter Mk. VIF carried the AI Mk. VIII array, for example.

[janenx01]

Excellent, thanks! I didn't know that. I thought the equipment was so big that it wouldn't have fit. Was it a common thing for fighters to have radar?

[thejim]

Most American, German and British night fighters and heavy/strike fighters carried a radar array in at least one of their variants. Here's a list of WWII night fighters and most of them had radar-equipped versions which were used quite regularly.

The Italians, Russians and Japanese tended to not have them as their research facilities were not as advanced as the others and, thus, their aircraft tended to be simpler than the other Allies or German aircraft. The Regia Aeronautica continued to use biplanes, for example, through until the end of the war!

[janenx01]

I guess I was thinking of the smaller daytime fighters. Well, I learned something new, so I can go to bed happy!

[thejim]

There you go!

Glad I could help :)

[janewilliams20]

Aha, our propaganda worked! Radar on planes was kept secret for as long as possible, and the cover story was that the pilots had very good night vision from eating lots of carrots. Yes, apparently people believed this :)

[janenx01]

And it's still working now, apparently.

Is that where the "carrots are good for your eyesight" thing came from? Or does that predate the war?

[thejim]

That's exactly where it came from :P

[janewilliams20]

Carrots really do contain vitamins that help eyesight is it D?), but they don't affect it as much as they're made out to. The big push then made them famous for it.

[zeecoldwater]

It's vitamin A, I believe, that's supposed to be good for eyesight.

[secondhand_rick]

Carrots are indeed good for the eyesight, though their fame comes from this cover story.

I'm not sure if it's apocryphal, but I also read somewhere that the German Luftwaffe Command, on gaining this particular piece of mis-intelligence, wanted to get their own pilots eating carrots in order to match the British at night. The German pilots were resistant to the idea, so their Command started spreading the rumour that carrots were good for sexual potency to encourage their consumption.