Airfield Beacons

Hatfield Beacon was returned to Hatfield on 28 November 2011. Subsequently, it has been fenced off and trees planted around it. So it appears to be well protected.

Here it is, located at the entrance to the University of Hertfordshire’s de Havilland Campus in Mosquito Way.

The footpath you can see in the photo has been removed and it is no longer possible to get this close to it.

Hatfield Beacon was returned to Hatfield on 28 November 2011. Subsequently, it has been fenced off and trees planted around it. So it appears to be well protected.

Here it is, located at the entrance to the University of Hertfordshire’s de Havilland Campus in Mosquito Way.

The footpath you can see in the photo has been removed and it is no longer possible to get this close to it.

Not having anything better to do this evening I’ve had a trawl through AIX’s ‘What Aerodrome?’ thread and found one solitary picture of what I remember as a pundit, mounted on a trailer. This shows one at Culdrose and is a small part of a larger photo, the item in question is parked beside the windsock over on the right. The one I remember at Northolt was like this, more boxy in appearance than the one in Jetprov’s picture and was painted standard airfield dark green.

[ATTACH]172356[/ATTACH]

Would this be RAE Bedford?

Not having anything better to do this evening I’ve had a trawl through AIX’s ‘What Aerodrome?’ thread and found one solitary picture of what I remember as a pundit, mounted on a trailer. This shows one at Culdrose and is a small part of a larger photo, the item in question is parked beside the windsock over on the right. The one I remember at Northolt was like this, more boxy in appearance than the one in Jetprov’s picture and was painted standard airfield dark green.

[ATTACH]172356[/ATTACH]

Would this be RAE Bedford?

I own a bit of the Beacon !!

Ive owned a small 2.5″ x 1 ” thick brass plate for many years, it was in a bag of plates i bought many years ago that were mainly from Hatfield, DH works etc,

I never realised the importance of this makers plate until now !!,

it reads on the back ,written in pen , “THIS IS VERY SPECIAL – FROM HATFIELD AERODROME ,

1931 BEACON MOTOR

CANOPY IS IN SALISBURY HALL.

on the front stamped very neatly is as follow !

” THE GAS ACCUMULATOR CO.(UK) LTD

LIGHTHOUSE ENGINEERS,

BEACON WORKS,

BRENTFORD,

ENGLAND.”

I guess this thick brass makers plate is as stated , the makers plate for the lighthouse engineers who made the beacon, or at least the motor/motors that drove it . ?? 🙂

I have no reason to doubt its aunthenticity , i bought it with a load of other plates, about 40 of them, data plates from vampires, tiger moths,mossie, various plates etc .. must say i am very chuffed to find out the reason why it was said in writing on the back to be special

if this is true, I find it quite astonishingly special 🙂

I own a bit of the Beacon !!

Ive owned a small 2.5″ x 1 ” thick brass plate for many years, it was in a bag of plates i bought many years ago that were mainly from Hatfield, DH works etc,

I never realised the importance of this makers plate until now !!,

it reads on the back ,written in pen , “THIS IS VERY SPECIAL – FROM HATFIELD AERODROME ,

1931 BEACON MOTOR

CANOPY IS IN SALISBURY HALL.

on the front stamped very neatly is as follow !

” THE GAS ACCUMULATOR CO.(UK) LTD

LIGHTHOUSE ENGINEERS,

BEACON WORKS,

BRENTFORD,

ENGLAND.”

I guess this thick brass makers plate is as stated , the makers plate for the lighthouse engineers who made the beacon, or at least the motor/motors that drove it . ?? 🙂

I have no reason to doubt its aunthenticity , i bought it with a load of other plates, about 40 of them, data plates from vampires, tiger moths,mossie, various plates etc .. must say i am very chuffed to find out the reason why it was said in writing on the back to be special

if this is true, I find it quite astonishingly special 🙂

Janie

Croydon had very sophisticated aerodrome lighting – I have attached copies of pages from “The UK Air Pilot” 1936 edition which gives details of the lighting arrangements in place at that time.

Floodlights around the boundary, neon lights marking the main landing strip and a Chance Air Light on Hangar No.1

As a child in the 50’s I remember being fascinated by this light, flashing CO into the night. In the mid-60’s, I would often climb to the top of the, then defunct, beacon and have my lunch whilst watching the world go by below. For a long time I had the red obstruction light in my garage but it fell off the shelf one day and smashed. Really annoyed me that did.

RB

Note the makers name.

John

These may be of interest.

John

Who decides whether an airfield has a beacon or not? I guess the military ones are compulsory,

You would think, but St Athan dosen’t have one at all.
It must come down to categorization somehow.

Ithink that St Mawgan had a three letter morse code, it was red. Spent long enough looking at it on night shifts, might have been SMS seem to remember it was close to SOS!

the cloud height measuring set up I recall was one fixed vertical beam, and a point on the ground from which one measured the angle. Simple triangulation gave the height. Actually there was a cheat sheet, reading heights against angle.
Thought I’d better get that one in before Resmoroh corrected me.

Odi’s is near the tower and flashes out the morse of Odi…. additionally over the other side near the taxiway where the gliding club used to be ( when I was there) was the cloud height measuring set up that was two set apart, a vertical beam and one that ran up and down it to form an angle and hence give you the cloudbase height at night… One of those not in use was at Cranfield too, beside what was the old Rogers aviation hangar.

Peter V – Nice one!
You’ll next be bringing up “Chitty Wallah”, “Punkah Wallah”, “Dobhi Wallah”, and/or even “Kharzi Wallah”!! Tks for taking me back 60-odd years!!
Rgds
Resmoroh

From what I can see an IBN is just the fancy modern terminology for a Pundit.
Incidentally, Pundit is a Hindi? word meaning “wise man”. So a Pundit is a wise man, because he knows where he is.

Who decides whether an airfield has a beacon or not? I guess the military ones are compulsory, but do you know if is it just the owners’ choice for the civilian ones?

Airfield Indent Beacons

Evening All

Whilst not quite relating to either Pundit or chance lights, below is the current list of all those airfields in the UK that possess an IBN (Ident Bcn)
The list is actually quite suprising !

(Taken from an official document at work during my lunch break)

Andrewsfield AF Green
Barkston Heath BA Red
Birmingham BM Green
Benson BO Red
Brize Norton BZ Red
Cranfield CD Green
Church Fenton CF Red
Cambridge CI Green
Cottesmore CM Red
Caernarvon CN Green
Culdrose CU Red
Coningsby CY Red
Denham DN Green
Elstree EL Green
Fenland FE Green
Farnborough FH Green
Gloucestershire GO Green
Southampton HN Green
Humberside HS Green
Haverfordwest HW Green
Oxford / Kidlington KD Green
Kinloss KS Red
Leicester LE Green
Leeming LI Red
Lossiemouth LM Red
Linton on Ouse LO Red
Lyneham LY Red
Mona MA Red
Manston MN Green
Marham MR Red
Middle Wallop MW Red
Northampton / Sywell NN Green
Northolt NO Red
Nottingham NT Green
Netheravon NV Red
Odiham OH Red
Peterborough / Conington PB Green
Portland PO Green
Shipdam SA Green
Scilly’s Isles / St. Mary’s SC Green
Shoreham SH Green
Sleap SP Green
Swansea SX Green
Shawbury SY Red
Thruxton TX Green
Unst UT Green
Yeovilton VL Red
Valley VY Red
Waddington WA Red
Wolverhampton Business Airport WBA Green
Manchester Woodford WF Green
Wittering WJ Red
Wycombe Air Park (Booker) WP Green
Warton WQ Green
Wattisham WT Red

Just in case you think I’ve made a typo error – NO!! Wolverhampton Business Airport (or Halfpenny Green to older readers) really does have a three letter IBN code – making it the only one in the country

Hope you find this of use even though it is slightly off thread ?

Tony H
78 Sqn Ops
RAF Benson

Ah missed that, it’s gone back home then, great news!

It will be visible from Mosquito Way.

Yakrider, can you say where the beacon was being taken to?

Pagen
refer to post #60 from Janie

Yakrider, can you say where the beacon was being taken to?