World War II Carbon Arc Anti-Aircraft Searchlight battle of Los Angeles

A demonstration on how a W.W. II Carbon Arc Searchlight tracked aircraft by remote control as shown by R. Lee Ermey in his History Channel show
"MAIL CALL".
The demonstration takes place at the annual re-enactment of the Great LA Air Raid of 1942 at the Fort MacArthur Museum in San Pedro California in February 2006.
This is a restored General Electric Carbon Arc Anti-aircraft Searchlight from W.W. II that was restored in April of 2003. These Searchlights were used to spot enemy aircraft before the invention of Radar. During the war, Radar was perfected and Searchlights were no longer needed. Many of them were scrapped, and many became advertising lights. Searchlights were used by all countries that were involved in W.W. II. This unit was considered Top Secret and High Tech at the time. This is a demonstration of how the control station was used with the searchlight to track aircraft.
Rent this searchlight in Los Angles area go to http://victorysearchlights.com/
Visit the Fort MacArthur website at... http://www.ftmac.org/Events.htm
Get the entire MAIL CALL episode #93 at http://www.historychannel.com

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• battle
• of
• los
• angeles
• searchlight
• WW2
• ArmyAnti-aircraft
• history
• technology
• restoration W.W.II
• carbon
• arc
• distant electronic control
• Geat LA Air Raid of 1942
• Restored searchlight
• World War II
• Wwii
• Military
• Warfare
• California

[icunowlibra]

is this the sergeant in "full metal jacket"?

[bobz299]

@icunowlibra Yes it is the Drill Sergeant in Full Metal Jacket. R Lee Ermey. He is a retired U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor. Initially, he was only intended to be the technical advisor in "Full Metal Jacket", but Director Stanley Kubrick changed his mind after Ermey put together an instructional tape to convince Kubrick he was the right person for the role.

[YancyAdan]

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME

[icunowlibra]

@bobz299 He sure was the right persons for that role. Btw, Happy Christmas to you and your family.

[MrMegaFredzeppelin]

THIS IS AWESOME,I REMEMBER SEARCH LIGHTS IN THE 1970'S FOR ADVERTISING MOSTLY ON CAR LOTS OR GRAND OPENINGS,YOU DON'T SEE THAT NO MORE?

[PotatoGunsRule]

Hmm.....I'm tempted to go to that this coming year.