NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS REPORT

NBS PROJECT

0201-20-2300 June 1*+, 195*+

NBS REPORT

33*+8

Instructions

for Operation

of

Landing Signal Officer

Lighted Suit Equipment

by

T. H. Projector

Naval Aircraft Lighting Group

Photometry and Colorimetry Section

National Bureau of Standards

Washington 25, D. C.

Sponsored hy

Bureau of Aeronautics

Department of the Navy

Washington 25, D. C.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

The publication, re Approved for public release by the

unless permission!!

25i D. C. Such per

cal ly prepared If t

Director of the National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST) on October 9, 2015

in part, is prohibited

andards, Washington

port has been specifieport for its own use,

Instructions for Operation

of

Landing Signal Officer (LSO)

Lighted Suit Equipment

1. INTRODUCTION

The equipment described in this report was developed

at the National Bureau of Standards in collaboration with

Naval personnel to facilitate night landings of aircraft

on carriers. It provides the LSO with a set of lights for

his suit and paddles so designed that the signals presented

to the pilot of an approaching aircraft are conspicuous,

easily interpreted, and as nearly like daytime signals as

possible. The equipment replaces the standard equipment

consisting of fluorescent strips attached to the LSO *

s

suit and irradiated by ultra-violet projectors placed on

the deck in front of the LSO. The development of the equipment was an outgrowth of several previous experimental

efforts to improve night landing operations through the use

of lighted wands, mechanical lighting devices, and miscellaneous lights attached to the suits and paddles.

The equipment consists of a set of lighted strips and

paddles, a control box, and interconnecting cables. The

strips are designed to be snapped on to the LS0 ? s suit.

The light is provided by small light fixtures, each employing a type 32 ? aircraft lamp, that are clamped on to rubber

strips, on the periphery of the paddles as well as on the

suit. The control box has a master switch for turning the

equipment on and off and two selector switches for adjusting

the intensity of the lights to suit the prevailing conditions.

Figure 1 is a photograph of the complete equipment

assembled for use. Figure 2 is a photograph showing the

appearance of the lighted equipment at night.

2. INSTRUCTIONS FOR OPERATION OF THE EQUIPMENT

The equipment as delivered is assembled as follows:

1) The control box is located at any convenient point

behind or at the deck edge side of the LSO platform.

2) The 10-foot power cord is connected to the control

box at one end and to any convenient source of 28-volt power,

AC or DC, at the other end. The installation activity must

provide the necessary connecting device for attachment to

the 23-volt supply. Both the connector and the supply must

be capable of supplying 8 to 9 amperes to the equipment.

The power cord may be cut short if desired.
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3) Each paddle is furnished with a 14-foot length

of connecting cord permanently attached to it, and the

cords are equipped with connectors which are plugged into

the control hox as indicated.

4) A twelve-foot connecting cord, with connectors

at both ends, is used to provide power to the light strips

on the suit. One end of this cord is plugged into the

control hox as indicated.

5) A branch connecting cord consisting of an input

connector to be attached to one end of the cord mentioned

in 4), and four output connectors to be attached to the

four lighted strips on the suit is snapped onto the right

shoulder of the suit so that the input connector points

rearward over the shoulder and the output connectors

point down over the chest. Two snaps (male) of the type

used for the fluorescent strips on the present suit must

be installed on the suit to accomodate the branch connecting cord.

6) The four lighted strips are snapped onto the suit

in the same manner as the fluorescent strips, the two long

strips vertically on either side of the chest and down the

legs, and the two short strips horizontally on the upper

chest and along the sleeves. All the strips are 3 inches

wide, and are thus wider than the vertical fluorescent

strips and narrower than the horizontal fluorescent strips.

However, the horizontal strips can be snapped to the suit

with the fasteners already attached to the suit. It will

be necessary to install an extra row of snaps (male) on

the suit for each vertical strip. For each vertical strip

the extra row should be 3 inches on centers outward from

the inner existing row of snaps. The lighted strip sets

are furnished in one size only. It will be found that with

medium to large LSO suits the strips may not reach to the

ends of the legs or sleeves. It is recommended that they

be installed from the chest out or down so that the ends

of the legs or the sleeves are unlighted. The strips

should b e installed so that the ends with the pigtails

and connectors are on the chest. The connectors at the

end of the pigtails are plugged into the output connectors

of the branch connecting cord. The excess length of pigtails

should be tucked under the strips as indicated in Fig. 1.

The equipment is now ready for operation.
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7) All the light fixtures are furnished with

yellow filters except those mounted in reverse in the

corners of the paddles, which have green filters. The

green-filter fixtures serve to insure identification

of the Ucut** signal by the pilot.

8) The light fixtures consist of two parts, an

upper part containing the lamp and the color filter,

yellow or green, and a lower part containing the lamp

socket and two chisel-pointed prongs which puncture the

rubberized strip and make contact with the power lead

wires imbedded in the strips. The lower part also has

two bosses which mate with matching notches cut in the

strips, serving to insure proper contact between the

prongs and the imbedded wires and proper entry of the

upper half of the fixture into the lower half. In

disassembling a fixture from the strip, the lower half

is held firmly while the upper half with the filter is

unscrewed from it. In assembling a fixture to a strip,

the lower half is first set in place, using the bosses

and notches for correct location, and then the upper

half is screwed into it. To determine when adequate

contact has been established, it is desirable to install

fixtures with power connected.

9) The lamp is held in place in the upper half of

the fixture by friction. While it is possible to remove

the lamp from the fixture this will be found difficult.

Since the lamp costs 80$ or more of the cost of the

lamp-fixture assembly, it is recommended in general

that the entire fixture with lamp installed be replaced

when necessary rather than the lamp alone. All light

fixtures, including spares, are furnished with lamps ready

for installation.
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Naval Aircraft Lighting Group

National Bureau of Standards
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t . i\-, rrraft Lighting Group