I expect this company also produced the Chance lights used on airfields around WW2?
They specialised in Lighthouse lenses.
The factory site closed in 1981 but is to be developed as a heritage site but with mixed use.
http://www.cgwht.org/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-40887830
mmitch.
By: paul1867 - 27th October 2017 at 12:24
Chance Light and Airfield Beacons also presumably by Chance. The Chance Lights mounted on trailer, as at East Kirkby, or on the back of a truck and mobile to illuminate runways and work in the field after dark.
IWM C5658 ROYAL AIR FORCE: 2ND TACTICAL AIR FORCE, 1943-1945.
An interesting picture of a Chance light and an airfield beacon. I understood that airfield beacons could be different colours and flashed a morse coded letter(s) which would be the pundit code for military airfields, hence the name Pundit Beacon.
IWM CH6695 ROYAL AIR FORCE BOMBER COMMAND, 1942-1945.
Being used as a work light
IWM CH7921ROYAL AIR FORCE FLYING TRAINING COMMAND, 1940-1945.
Photographic night shoots are nothing new
[url=https://flic.kr/p/CJLEpW]IWM CH7211
The Hatfield beacon has been fully restored and is now displayed outside in a public area!
By: RJH - 26th October 2017 at 14:39
East Kirkby has a portable version.
By: RPSmith - 26th October 2017 at 02:07
There is a static tower version of a Chance airfield/aerodrome light at the Midland Air Museum – it was donated by Birmingham Airport about 30 years ago.
The bottom section is made up of angle iron on top of which is a circular steel platform (about 12 ft. above ground) and there is a steel ladder for access. The top section which held the lights and electrical gear is missing all of it’s internal workings and external glazing.
The reference to positioning at “the end of the runway” is, I think, inaccurate – as most aerodromes didn’t have runways at the time. I believe that 3 to 4 towers were spread out inside the airfield perimeter to throw light into the centre of the airfield.
Roger Smith.
By: mmitch - 25th October 2017 at 16:21
Geoffrey Wellum hit one learning to land his Spitfire at night. It needed a new wing! That thing looks like a lighthouse!
Thanks for the reference.
mmitch.
By: Old Fokker - 25th October 2017 at 07:23
Chance Brothers did indeed produce the Chance Light http://www.milweb.net/webvert/a1932
The company still exists, having demerged from Pilkington Glass in 1992. Their current factory is located in Malvern.
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October 24, 2017 at 7:06 pm
