Radar recessed into leading edge of wing?

[dell30rb]

https://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-sale/20528271/1964-beechcraft-s35-bonanza

Looking at this ad for a 1960's Bonanza, I see they advertise that it has a color RCA radar with the antenna recessed into the leading edge of the wing. I see what looks like a radar screen in the panel, and no radar dome/pod on the wing.

Never heard of or seen one of these before.

 

[N747JB]

I think removing it would save a good 20 lbs!! I doubt it has much power, even twins with radar mounted in the nose are pretty weak, and this one is OLD! But, a good looking Bo!

 

[Zeldman]

Man, I really like those old Bendix radar units. Great for up to 30-40 miles for thunderstorm avoidance. Instant read back, not minutes old returns.

Nice looking Bo that is prime for a panel up grade.

 

[James_Dean]

The phrase "tits on a bull" comes to mind.

 

[dell30rb]

I think removing it would save a good 20 lbs!! I doubt it has much power, even twins with radar mounted in the nose are pretty weak, and this one is OLD! But, a good looking Bo!

That's kindof what I was thinking... if those radars were any good then new singles like Cirrus would have them. A good modern stormscope/nexrad is the next best thing.

 

[NoHeat]

There are plenty of Beechtalk posts regarding this in-wing RCA "Weatherscout" radar.

They are not very encouraging. Typically they say they don't trust it much, because it doesn't penetrate very deep into rain, so you can't see what's beyond the first band of precipitation, and this causes pilots to get into trouble.

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[Rockymountain]

Those in-wing radars are mostly for entertainment purposes only. Neat concept, but just too weak to be useful. The only thing worse than no information when navigating around thunderstorms is bad information. ;-)