All-Aircraft-Simulations
Nav Lights in WWII - Printable Version

+- All-Aircraft-Simulations (https://allaircraftsimulations.com)
+-- Forum: Announcements & General Discussions & Hyper Lobby (https://allaircraftsimulations.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=264)
+--- Forum: General Discussions. (https://allaircraftsimulations.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=298)
+--- Thread: Nav Lights in WWII (/showthread.php?tid=67758)


Nav Lights in WWII - santobr - 08.01.2010

Some one knows if was there intermittent navigation lights in aircrafts from WWII?
And, if there was, what is the equivalent from IL-2? The green, the red or the white light?

Thank you.

- caldrail - 08.01.2010

In the introduction to Air Publication 1579A (Pilots Notes for the Hampdem I Aeroplane) it says...

A 12 volt, 500 watt generator on the starboard engine, charges a 12 volt 40Ah accumulator, mounted on the starboard side of the fuselage forward of the rear upper gun station, providing for lighting and power services, and another 12 volt Ah accumulator forward of the D spar, providing for engine starting. The lighting services comprise indicating lamps for the alighting gear, and lamps for navigation, recognition, formation-keeping, landing, inspecttion and signalling, together with interior lighting and lighting for bomb sights and reflector gun sights.

Section One, paragraphs 33, 34, & 35 describe the controls.

So yes, a well equipped aeroplane of technically advanced design in this period did use such lamps, though I suspect the use was limited since it also showed the enemy where you were. I understand one of the hazards of the RAF night bombing raids were crews swanning around the target admiring the fires, oblivious to other bombers passing over the target.

This was true of modern RAF aeroplanes. I don't know how much use of lights was made by other nations (other than America). The green, white, and red lamps have been a standard fitment to aircraft operating in darkness for a long time and are used to determine which way the other aeroplane is facing, in order to prevent night time collisions.

- aviatorsneah - 08.01.2010

i'd say the bulk of "modern" aircraft during WW2 used nav lights, although obviously not all the time. Green on the right wing tip, red on the left, and sometimes a white on the tail. This is to not only show a position of another aircraft, but more so to see it's orientation (whether its coming to or gowing away from you). Americans used formation lights as well on their aircraft, usually on the underside, that consisted of red, green, and amber lights. The various colors could be turned on for signaling at night while in formation. Not lights, but same idea, I read that the Me262 and later Dora-9s had flare dispensers on the bottom of the fuselage for the same purpose?

heres a description of Nav light usage i made up real quick. This is what you'd see in the darkness:

[Image: navlightdesc.jpg]

- George Formby - 08.01.2010

S~
Pilots of the war theaters, used nav lights to initially form up on their leaders, but ran without em once there. They sometimes used the glow of the exhaust once formed up as a refrence point for formation flying (during early morning or late evening)

- santobr - 08.01.2010

Wow! Thank you very much, caldrail, aviatorsneah, George Formby.

Could you tell me what nav lights in IL-2 could be intermittent in real aircraft from WWII era?
Red light, green light, white light? All?

- aviatorsneah - 08.01.2010

no, nav lights came on all at once with use of a single switch...and are steady burning, not flashing. i think thats what you mean by intermittent. :???:


found this interesting page where you can buy original vintage RAF aircraft lighting....you can see what they looked like. red, green, white, blue, and about halfway down the page are the red, green, and amber formation lights that you'd see on the undersurfaces.

http://www.spitfirespares.com/SpitfireS ... hting.html

amber white red formation lights on mustang (under wingtip):
[Image: mustang0024.JPG]

- santobr - 08.01.2010

aviatorsneah Wrote:no, nav lights came on all at once with use of a single switch...and are steady burning, not flashing. i think thats what you mean by intermittent. :???:

Yes, it's exactly what I mean.

So, the conclusion is...
There isn't nav lights flashing in WWII era, right?

And, beautiful image.

- aviatorsneah - 08.01.2010

correct, no flashing

- santobr - 08.01.2010

Ok.

Thank you very much. Big Grin

- F22-Raptor-2006 - 08.01.2010

aviatorsneah Wrote:no, nav lights came on all at once with use of a single switch...and are steady burning, not flashing. i think thats what you mean by intermittent. :???:


found this interesting page where you can buy original vintage RAF aircraft lighting....you can see what they looked like. red, green, white, blue, and about halfway down the page are the red, green, and amber formation lights that you'd see on the undersurfaces.

http://www.spitfirespares.com/SpitfireS ... hting.html

amber white red formation lights on mustang (under wingtip):
[Image: mustang0024.JPG]

Not quite sure what u mean by formation lights but I'm pretty sure those under the wings are for the engineers on the ground so they know what status the plane is in.

- aviatorsneah - 08.01.2010

F22-Raptor-2006 Wrote:Not quite sure what u mean by formation lights but I'm pretty sure those under the wings are for the engineers on the ground so they know what status the plane is in.

:lol: :?: never heard of that before....theres even a switch panel from a b17 for these lights (also called IFF lights) for sale on ebay....they were used as communication in a formation. notice on the panel and previous picture they could be RED, GREEN, AMBER, or WHITE, RED, AMBER, or probably other combinations. The panel on ebay has no white switch installed:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/WWII-B-1 ... 10001r8518

"Original WWII replacement Friend or Foe Recognition Switch. Used in most WWII Aircraft for recognition and signal. The Red, Green and Amber Lights were located on the bottom of the aircraft. The colors would be changed for different missions."

more: http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aviati ... -2309.html

more (text from ww2aircraft.net post on identification lights):

[size=150]"Aircraft Recognition Lights

- KG64_Cnopicilin - 08.01.2010

Some interesting stuff here. Thanks for posting so much information.