We recently received a donation of a fairly complete Type 544 Oscilloscope from the estate of  Julie Rampke. It was acquired from Tektonix by Collins Radio under a USAF contract.  It also was apparently subseqently under use and serial numbered by the Naval Weapons Laboratory (NWL). The oscilloscope was complete with plug-ins, Scope-Mobile, and documentation. We did not have a Type 544 in our collection so it is a nice acquisition.

The Type 544 is a 50 MHz oscilloscope introduced in 1964 and in production until 1973. We call this a "barn find" as the cosmetic condition is a bit worse for wear.

Regardless of the cosmetic condition, it is operational as a testament to the reliability of these vintage instruments.

The USAF contract number AF19(628)-4351 (or 4851) shown is circa late 1960s.  We cannot verify the date of the USN acquisition.

The Contractor, Collins Radio received the contract from the USAF 628th Contracting Squadron (CONS), most likely as a Research and Development contract. The 628th CONS still exists and is part of the 628th Air Base Wing located on Joint Base Charleston although we don't know where it was in the late 1960s. We suspect the equipment ended up at the NWL as part of a joint R&D effort which Collins likely had involvement with.

STRATCOM is painted on the rear of the instrument. STRATCOM is short for what was then the Strategic Air Command.  We suspect the oscilloscope configuration was originally procured as part of  test equipment used in a USAF missile defense system then transferred for joint  missile development by the USAF and USN at the  USN NWL.

The documentation includes the Technical Order for the Type B and Type 1L10 plug-ins. The two CA plug-ins on the bottom of the cart do not appear to be part of this configuration.

It's always interesting to find some of the history of products donated to the museum. We likely will leave it in this condition.