Cold War Pilots Light -- Still in production?

[Sub_Umbra]

I had one of these in the '80s and I never had a name or a number for it.

It is a 2AA light with a 222 bulb. The switch (#1) is momentary on with locked on if depressed and pushed into the groove. EDIT: momentary discription is wrong -- For CORRECT momentary discription SEE Lurker's post, below.

There is a lanyard hole on the switch.

There is a small sliding button (#2) that moves a piece of plastic in front of the bulb, changing the beam from white to red, for the most part.

The body is made of thin aluminum. I think it had a gold anodized finish, but it may have just been 'in the white'.

I had no idea of the origin of the design until I was studying old photos taken of F. Gary Powers gear when it was on public display in moscow in 1960. A light just like it was one of the items recovered at the U2 crash sight. I suspect it was 1950s AF issue.

The one I bought in the early 80s certainly was not surplus. It was newly manufactured.

It's really not much of a light but I was wondering if anyone knew where I could get one for nostalgia's sake. I thought if they were still being made I'd get one and put one of those Tektite LED 222 replacements in it and just...keep it around.

Anyone know where I can find one? Model numbers? Manufacturers?

Thanks

EDIT: Pointing to Lurker's post below for correct momentary discription.

 

[Lurker]

I bought one of those in an army surplus store in the 1980s. Mine was a little different in that the switch was momentary or constant on by screwing down a collar around the push button. Seemed like mine was brass or at least brass-colored. The rounded front and sliding red filter was the same and a very unique feature.

I don't know where to get one, but it seems to me that I have seen one for sale in the last couple of years, so they may be around. I would try online military surplus retailers and eBay under military collectables.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

[ QUOTE ]
Lurker said:
I bought one of those in an army surplus store in the 1980s. Mine was a little different in that the switch was momentary or constant on by screwing down a collar around the push button.

[/ QUOTE ]

Emphasis mine.

That actually rings a bell -- 20+ yrs is a long time.

[ QUOTE ]
Lurker said:
Seemed like mine was brass or at least brass-colored.

[/ QUOTE ]

In the days since I posted this, it's been nagging at me that perhaps it was just the head that was anodized and the body may have been left in the white.

If yours had the color change apparatus and it looked like my crude graphic I'd bet that it was the same light.

 

[Lurker]

Yes, it looked just like your graphic. I'm sure it was the same light. But you know how government contracting goes. It's possible that different manufacturers made these for the government at different times or that certain features or materials changed from contract to contract. In any case, it was a neat light. I remember mine being all one color (bronze) and very robust, but the switch got flakey after a while. It probably just needed cleaning. The little penlight bulb is pretty weak by today's standards, of course.

By the way, the push button that locks down by tipping it to the side -- that was a design I saw on a civillian penlight of the same era - the kind doctors carried in their lab coats. I think I got one from Radio Shack once. It had a shiny chrome-plated body and switch with a white plastic head.

 

[Mike 161]

Sub_Umbra;

After reading your post, I went and dug mine out; my light is made by "Tek-Lite," and is almost like the one you described. You change the color of the beam, by rotating a black plastic cap on the bezel. This light does not have a momentary switch on the rear; it just has a black plastic on-off slide switch on the side, near the back. It is a brass/gold color (it is light weight, could be aluminum), and has a clip and lanyard. I bought this at a surplus store in Pomona (CA) in the early/mid '80s. I would check military surplus stores in your area, and maybe even stores that cater to pilots (I believe one advertises on CPF). I don't know if they're still making them (as I understand, the military is now using lights like the SF A2 and Triton "Nighthawk.") A gun show might also be a good place to look, as you can usually find military suplus items at them.

My light appears to be "GI" (at least Mil-Spec); it's not very robust, and the light has to be tapped sometimes to get it to come on. My friend (who was in the Marine Corps at the time) carried one of these in the field. He later replaced it with a "Code-4 Junior" light (a 2AA light; you change the beam color by pulling the head).

Good luck.

Mike

 

[Sub_Umbra]

Thanks Mike.

 

[pilot4x4]

I bought one of those lights from Marv Goldens Discount Sales in San Diego. They are a pilot supply store. I have no idea if they have them now, it's been a few years since I've been in the store. I got mine in the early 90's. John

 

[Sub_Umbra]

Thanks, John.

I'm going to check them out.

 

[Maple_Syrup]

If Marv Golden can't help you out, you might try Sporty's Pilot Shop ... I think that they carry (or used to carry?) these.

Good luck!

 

[Sub_Umbra]

Thanks Maple. I've started sort of semi-systematically checking out places that sell pilots gear. It was kind of a dopey light 20 years ago -- it's hard to imagine a pilot buying one now, with all that's available. Who knows, I might get lucky. Thanks again.

 

[rgp4544]

I remember the same, it looks like an item that Sporty's had in their catalog back in the mid 1980's. Not certain but I believe the version Sporty's was selling had a brass case instead of aluminum. I haven't really looked in their catalogs since but I doubt they'd still be stocking them.

Richard.

 

[Maple_Syrup]

[ QUOTE ]
Sub_Umbra said:
It was kind of a dopey light 20 years ago - it's hard to imagine a pilot buying one now, with all that's available.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, I agree. Good luck, though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Bagheera]

Sub_umbra,

I got one, if you're interested drop me an email please.

Best Scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera

 

[capnal]

hey, Sub Umbra,
i didn't believe my eyes this weekend. Here in Fort Worth there was an estate sale for a man who had been a retired Air Force Colonel. They had a display case set up with some of his personal items. Among those items was an original light exactly like you had described here. I would not have know exactly what I was looking at had I not already been familiar with this thread. I read this thread the day you posted it, but this was the first sample I had come across in real life.

The bad news is that they had a $40 dollar price tag on this thing. That seemed REALLY high for me. However, as far as I could tell, this thing was really in mint condition. I passed on it, but after some reconsidering, I went back to the sale just a few minutes before they closed for that day (Saturday). I was going to try and offer them a reduced price, but someone had already bought it, for FULL PRICE!!

So, somewhere probably in Fort Worth is the new owner of an original pilot's light.

Thanks for the information, to help me have a heads up on an item like this. Just for my information, what is one of these worth? Was the 40 bucks too high, or was that about right? Are they super collectable?

 

[Sub_Umbra]

capnal,

Thanks for the input. To tell the truth, I'm no collector. I posted here because it seemed like the right place. I only want one because I used to have one that I always had in my kit at sea, as a spare. As I said, compared to todays technology it's a fossil. With what's available today, if I got into a plane and the pilot pulled one of those out of his kit, I'd brobably get out of the plane.

I have no idea what they're worth. I want one as a curiosity and its kind of a nostalgia thing. I got rid of mine before I saw the picture in the book that told me what it was. I've always been a Gary Powers fan, reading his book and all of the other books I could find about the U2 and his story. As you can imagine I was kind of bummed to find out that the light that I had owned for years and known nothing about; the light that I had gotten rid of was the same model he had with him on his fateful flight.

The feedback from this thread has been very interesting. I'm sure that I would never have heard another word about this light again had I not posted here.

I think that it's really interesting that when you went back, the light was gone. Whatever it's worth, it had value to him, too.

Thanks for the report,
sub