60-inch searchlight on display, Army Day, Hawaii, 1935.
Searchlight and sound locator being deployed during 3rd Army maneuvers, aka “The Louisiana Maneuvers,” May 1940.
The beams of three 60-inch antiaircraft searchlights undergoing a test in forming a defense pattern in the sky above the main works of the General Electric Company at Schenectady, NY, The date is December 19, 1941, 12 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The crew of a heavy .50-caliber antiaircraft machine gun are ready to fire as their searchlight tracks a target flying overhead during a training exercise. ACME News photo dated 6 January 1943.
Parts I and II of a 1941 training film demonstrating basic setup procedures of a WW II searchlight battery, comprising a “section” of 10 men. Once radar sets became available during the war, replacing sound locators, a section expanded to 13 men.
Setup procedures.
Engaging a target.
Coast & Stateside Defense Role
Multiple exposure of a searchlight beam sweeping the sky as part of the defenses of Los Angeles, California, early 1942, a time when fear of a Japanese attack directly on the west coast of the United States was tangible.
