Topic: Chance lights/floodlights

[glassobsessed]

I keep buying odd books in charity shops, odd because I would rarely choose to buy them from new and usually a subject matter that would not be first choice either. However, many have been fascinating and informative.

The latest is Spitfire by Jeffrey Quill (ISBN 0-09-937020-4), Quill was a test pilot in the late 1930s who tested and helped refine various aircraft. In the book he mentions landing in the dark on a couple of occasions (pages 71 & 128) where he was aided by "Chance lights", in the index they are referenced as Chance floodlights.

I wondered if they were floodlights that illuminated the (grass) landing field or were they the sort of lights that guide an aircraft towards the start of a runway?

John

[David E]

Chance made floodlights, runway lights and searchlights. I'll post a link later to Flight magazine that has a great archive.

[glassobsessed]

Thanks David, with that info managed to find these in no time.

Adverts:
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1938/1938%20-%200134.html?search=chance%20floodlights
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1%20-%200256.html?search=chance%20floodlights

Nice photo of a floodlight: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1930/untitled0%20-%201082.html?search=chance+floodlights

Artificail daylight (I like the description): http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1932/1932%20-%200620.html?search=chance%20floodlights

Both references in the book look to be floodlights then, with hindsight especially the first "...four large Chance lights which (in those days) were situated round the perimeter...

[David E]

Glad you found them John - sorry I forgot last night and went ploughing on with the book... 

The floodlights used the same principles as Chance used for the lighthouses, in that a parallel beam of light was emitted.

There is another Chance product:
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1939/1939%20-%201203.html?search=chance%20runway%20light

This is the contact light that was embedded into the tarmac to provide a runway strip. There must have been thousands produced, so if anyone finds one, I'd be interested! Sadly (or safely, depending on your point of view), they now use high intensity strobes for detection. I think the earliest advert from Chance in these archives is 1929 (11th July) where an aerial photograph of an airport illuminated at night is shown, up till the 1950s when the lighthouse division was sold off. So it appears they got involved at quite an early stage.

[glassobsessed]

Please don't fret David, once I read your reply I realised where to look. If I had thought a bit more about where online to search I may have found them sooner.

I bet there are a few of those lights still in operation somewhere in the world... If I buy a floodlight or two I will be in touch! Maybe not as far fetched as it sounds - I saw a searchlight (but not Chance made) for sale last year, it was probably at Newark.

[David E]

There are still a lot of Chance-equipped lighthouses, but I doubt that many is still fully operational using the old optical glass. I know a few are still used purely to keep the cogs turning.

I also keep coming across those large brass & copper light fittings with optical glass - yes at Newark too (me and PC are often there) - but rarely Chance. However, I do already have a few pieces of glass with acid-etched marks, such as C.B. Ltd.