Hi all,
When did red flashing beacons on top of tall structures (e.g. water towers) become popular/widespread? I’m looking to add one to the watertower on my 1954 New Mexico layout, but I’m not sure if it would be prototypical or not.
Thanks in advance,
tbdanny
Those are aviation obstruction lights and are required by federal law. You might look around the link below to see if there is anything that would indicate when they were first required.
I can tell you that under current law, generally, unless the obstruction is 150 feet tall or near an airport, an obstruction light is not required.
Another kind of light in the U.S. is the Aerodome beacon. These would be found mostly on control towers, however if there is no tower that is tall enough, then the beacon is placed on the nearest tallest structure which could be a water tower or tall building.
If you want to get really creative, you make large letters that spell out the name of your town. These letters were placed on the side of a hill or on the roof of a large structure (e.g. warehouse, grain elevator, etc.) This was an aid for pilots to determine where they were. If the letters were on a hill or field, they were made with crushed rock or concrete. If place on a building, they were simply painted white or black.
Interestingly enough, the early pilots used the railroad tracks to determine where they were also.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t go back to the 1920’s. It was probably more necessary then, as planes flew lower (to use local landmarks to find their way) than they do now.
I agree since there was lots of plane crashes back caused by flying into or clipping a tall object with their wings…
Fifty or so years ago I happened on a book in my local library (Title has faded into the mists) which included, among other things, a long description of the Federal project to build marked (by large rotating beacon lights) airways along the most-traveled routes. The book was copyrighted 1924.
With the advent of radio direction finding, the (much more expensive) beacon lights on mountaintops and tall towers fell into disuse. It would probably be difficult to find evidence that most of them ever existed.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Airport Beacons rotate and have a green and white lens, not red.
Rick
Yes, IFR has two meanings, one of them is “I fly railroads.” [:)]
John Timm
I flew scene medevacs. I did follow roads and railroads from time to time, even in very bad weather.
The local airport still has their green and white beacon in operation. Also, there are some of those airway marker lights still in operation around here, often on the tops of ridges (not too many mountains right around me).
–Randy
When I was a kid in the early 1950s there was a flashing red light on a tower placed on a 100-foot-or-so tall hill about a quarter mile from a municipal airport. (Both the hill and light are gone now since a quarry operation mined the whole hill away, so it is perfectly flat there now.) There was also a flashing red light on a local 3800-foot mountain.
Mark
Rotating Beacons are on the highest object near the aerodrome. They have different lenses depending on the aerodrome. Green/White is for public airports, Green/Split White is for military airports, and private airports IIRC are Green/Green. They rotate at a specified rate. There is a table that the Aerodrome Manager uses to determine what all needs a red flashing light. It depends upon the height of the object and distance from the Aerodrome. An aerodrome is not necessarily an airport although it is usually an airport of some type. I suppose whever GoodYear Tires keeps their fleet of blimps, but that may not even have a runway, but it is probably still an aerodrome.
Paul
Dayton and Mad River RR
Interesting, I’ve often wondered driving home from work why the beacon for St.Paul’s Downtown Airport (which has both private planes and National Guard) is on a high bluff across the Mississippi, maybe a half mile or more from the airport itself.