US Signal Corps SCR-299 HALLICRAFTER & CO Spare Parts Crate ?

[Dos]

Good day to you all,

I've recently acquired two crates with 12 drawers each. I've bought them for personal storage use and decoration in my house. I did not research them beforehand and thought they were Dutch Army crates used for storage and spare parts of equipment from the 70's or 80's. I cleaned the wooden crates mildly and used some Paraffin on the drawers to slide them more easily. They have some markings on them and did some research. The brand on these crates is "The Hallicrafters & Co" with some other markings in the wood and with paint: CY-64/U, 9 and 25. The drawers have some beautiful finger joints. This company was founded in Chicago 1932 and made amateur radio receivers. They became more known for their equipment that was used by the US Army Signal Corps Unit SCR-299 in WW2. My crates have no badge on them that states this, but found a similar one for sale that has one on it. I wonder if these were used as a spare parts crate for the Signal Corps equipment? I have not find any photos that prove this. Please share them if you do recognize these crates! I also made some close up pictures of the hinges and carrying handles. Does anyone recognize these to maybe date it by this method? I know the later models of army crates have different hardware on them.

A video with some interesting information on Youtube: "The voices of victory" presented by The Hallicrafters & Company.

Hallicrafters Shortwave Radio; Winning WWII With Technology (1944) - YouTube

I'm very happy with them since they look nice and can be to good use!

Any opinions, Help on what they are or when they were built are much appreciated! Thank you.

-Dos













A similar crate for sale on ebay, but with a identifying badge on it (Images can be clicked):

[08SMLE48]

Found on a google search that one of these was posted on another forum. They suggest it is for spare parts for a AN/MPQ-10 radar. The AN/MPQ-10 was the first dedicated counter-fire radar specifically designed to track artillery and mortar shells. It was used in the early to late 50s before being replaced by the AN/MPQ-4.
This makes sense to me as it looks similar to the design of a box I saved from my old radar shop that was gonna be thrown out. I’ll post a couple pics of it when I get a chance.
Hope hope this helps and nice find!!

[Dos]

Thank you 08SMLE48,

I will try to search some more with the AN/MPQ-10 and AN/MPQ-4 terms. If this is the case these crates would have been used in the Korean War. It appears it was used for the SCR-300 radio and also for the AN/MPQ-10(A) and BC-1000 radar sets. Can anyone confirm this?

I found a link to a list with the id's and short information of equipment. CY - Case - RadioNerds This case is also listed, CY-64/U General Storage Chest, abt 20x20x20" 65 lbs.

The link below are some other forums post i found, Unfortunately the pictures are gone.. Can you confirm these are the ones you found? If not, please share the other forum post.

storage cabinet - G503 Military Vehicle Message Forums

latches/hardware for CY-64/U storage chest - G503 Military Vehicle Message Forums

Very curious to see your pictures!! Many thanks.

[08SMLE48]

Dos , yep that’s the one I looked at.
The Q-10 radar was used in Korea and the Q-4 was used in Vietnam. So this crate could have been used in either or both conflicts.

[Dos]

I got some help from the US Military Collectors forum. I thought i should post it there too since it is not World War II related, but just after that time frame.

These chests are part of the AN/TRC-8 radio set and some other equipment that is used in the Communications Center of the Platoon Headquarters.

These were used and build from 1945 till the late 60's. So yes, Korea and Vietnam War.

Some links to the Army Field Manuals and Technical Manuals:

http://www.koreanveterans.org/docume...ANY%201968.pdf

Google Books

There are even some images available that show the contents it had from the Accessory Kit No. 1 & 2. I will post them here for future reference with the links provided to the manuals.

Very cool!