Hampden Landing Lamp Control

Actually, after going through the text more closely, I see that the lever is a Bowden Control Lever which when fully forward depresses the beam. Thanks again for this info.

Thanks very much James – some insightful info, I now understand the principles involved with the landing light. Much appreciated.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Stirling!

more – some pics of aircraft with landing lights on….. The first one is a nice and clever shot I think.

Hope you can read these… Your lamp is possibly among this lot!

James

“pneumatics” – I am getting old then….

Anyway here are some bits….. I’m gutted that the first picture is out of focus, it is one with the aircraft off the ground.

Just to elaborate on what James said, the Stirling landing lamp was lowered/raised using pneumatics. There is also a separate lever that controls the headlamp dipping which is teleflex controlled, both are mounted on the stbd side of the throttle box

John

Thanks James – looking forward to the further info – all very interesting stuff!

Hi

I can answer from a Stirlings point of view, and sort of generically too a little. The landing light was big, around 350W I think, just like a car headlight. It could be rotated up and down so that on landing the pilot would have a better view of the ground and could judge his height better, given that it may be pitch black!

The light would be adjusted on take off to a few simple ‘rules’ so that it would be in the right position for landing.

I assume that your light may have had a spring at the lights end of the cable such that as the handle was pulled or released the angle of the light could be adjusted and latched into place or allowed to spring back into the closed position. (My guess). The Stirling had two different landing light arrangements over the years and used hydraulics to adjust the lights position (er, I think, getting old now!). The Stirling also had a ‘back-up’ lamp in case one failed.

Some one will probably answer in detail but if you get the AP for the aircraft all should be revealed.

I’m not at home now but if there are no better answers I’ll attach some pictures and text from another AP which talks about landing lights and has a couple of actual photos showing the view with the lights on etc.

Cheers
James

think of it like a car head light dipping control!

Many aircraft (even modern ones) have landing lights that sit flush with the wing whilst in flight then pivot downwards for landing – maybe this lever controlled that function?

I’m assuming that. The control is on the port side of the cockpit and the lamps are on the port wing. It seems that the big lever pulled a cable, and that this position was maintained by a ratchet (the small lever).

Err the landing lamps in the wing?
Cees