This is a Hallicrafters S-40 from 1946/47, made in Chicago, Illinois. I've had it stashed away for about ten years and thought it was time to let it see the light of day. A Hallicrafters S-19 'Sky Buddy' has recently arrived, so it now has a compatriot.
Once the Dynatron is finished I think I'll give this an overhaul. I need to find a wave-change knob as the original had gone AWOL when I bought it. I keep an eye out on the USA ebay, but nothing so far. Any suggestions as to where else to try please?
It's single conversion, with a frequency range of 0.54 to 43 MHz over 4 wavebands. The IF is 455 kHz. Designed by Raymond Loewy Associates. Amongst other things, Loewy designed the Coca-Cola bottle and the Greyhound bus, as well as the Shell and BP logos.
My interest in Hallicrafters receivers began when I used to be a volunteer at the Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, York. I was involved with the archives, displays and restoration of the control tower. The then president of the museum was Wing Commander Robert Sage (Ret). He had joined the RAF in the 1930's as a 'bright young thing'. He had some fascinating stories to tell, but the one that interested me the most was 'bending the beams'; countermeasures against the German Knickebein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Beams. I can't remember exactly now, but I'm fairly certain that Robert was the pilot of the Avro Anson used to detect the beams using a Hallicrafters S-27. If he wasn't the pilot he was certainly deeply involved and he had an S-27 used in the beam detection. I think this receiver may have been given to the museum on his death.
I'd like to find an S-27 but I've yet to see another in the flesh.
Keith