Air navigation beacons9/9/2023 The design idea began during World War I when the aircrews returning from night raids above the enemy lines were guided home by powerful searchlights. In France a similar story unfolded as the French Aerial Navigation Service began to design its air routes. The American Airway Beacon The French Air Route System This lighted airway beacon system was used because radio, although already invented, was not yet in use in airplanes and would not come into use for several more years. Every third beacon had an emergency landing strip located nearby and the associated green lights. The first airway beacon was installed in 1923 and soon hundreds could be found across America spaced roughly 10 miles apart. The two route lights were red if there were no airfields nearby and green if there was an emergency landing area close by. These 500-watt route lights gave a 15-degree horizontal beam width. Two course lights were mounted on the tower just below each searchlight one pointed forward along the airway and the other pointed backward. For more on the American air route system see story in Keeper’s Log Vol. A small percentage of the beacon’s light was also reflected upward to provide close-range visibility. The beam was aimed 1.5° above the horizon. The beam from the airway beacon was a high-intensity beam of light with an approximate 5-degree wide beam width visible for 20 to 40 miles in clear weather. Each airway beacon consisted of a tower that supported a white rotating beacon searchlight with a 1000-watt lamp and a 24-inch diameter mirror. By the early 1920s the Department of Commerce decided that the best way to establish nighttime air routes across the country was through the use of lighted airway beacons. The US Department of Commerce created an Aeronautics Branch and daytime only flights began. In May 1918, the United States Government decided to set up an Air Mail Service. But, first we need to understand a little more about air travel in those days. Instead it is an example of one of the earliest and most powerful Airway Beacons ever built. It is actually not a true lighthouse at all. This story will describe this very unusual lighthouse in France and how it came to be. I became intrigued and started researching this light and its history. Some years ago Chad Kaiser of the US Lighthouse Society ran across a photograph of what was supposed to be the most powerful lighthouse in the world at 1 billion candlepower.
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