AIRCRAFT TRAP

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 31, 18 January 1933, Page 5

AIRCRAFT TRAP

A NEW SEARCHLIGHT. PROTECTIVE DEVICE. A radically new idea in searchlights, which, it is claimed, can trap hostile aircraft in a few minutes, has just been demonstrated at Fort Totten, NewYork, by its inventor, Colonel A. M. Jackson, commanding officer of the 62nd United States Coast Artillery. By means of a series of mirrors in a frame in front of the searchlight lens the high-intensity beam is broken up into nine or more separate beams, thus greatly increasing the area lighted up. To quote a recent Press bulletin: “None of these beams will interfere with one another, yet the entire area is illuminated evenly. Strange as it may seem, previous attempts at training several searchlight beams at a target in the sky have actually shielded the target, because searchlight, beams are opaque. This cannot happen with this army officer’s invention which, it is claimed, can quickly locate enemy aircraft and, due to its design and the large area covered, can prevent the escape of the hostile aircraft regardless of the pilot’s trickery or movements. A battery of these new-type searchlights placed at strategic positions could protect the entire area of New York City or any other place Experts claim that it is the first major advancement in anti-aircraft protec tion. This searchlight could, of course, be used for any other type of work as well as anti aircraft.” “A TEST.” The “New York Sun.” in an account of another demonstration, within the city itself, says: “Hundreds of thousands of NewYorkers saw a f»p shaped scries of searchlight bcame cast into the skv

from Bryant Park and disclose a squadron of army aeroplanes making a muck attack on the city. “The occasion was the first public demonstration of an anti-aircraft device recently invented by Colonel A. M. Jackson, commanding officer of the 62nd Coast Artillery at Fort Totten. “It consists of a series of twelve reflectors which break up the single high-intensity beam of an ordinary 809,000,000-candle-power anti-aircraft searchlight into twelve separate beams, thus greatly increasing the area lighted up. ‘ ‘ Four of the huge searchlights w-erc used. Their beams were cast across Bryant Park into the reflectors, which sent 48 shafts of brilliant light two miles into the sky. By rotating the reflectors various patterns were obtained as the aeroplanes from Mitchell Field came across the city and were revealed by the lights.”