Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 185:
Description
WWII US Army Air Forces Type A-1 Aerial Delivery Container Identification Lamps, a pair with amber and blue lenses, Standard Aircraft Products, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, Spec. No. 94-32355, Mfrs. Assy. Part No. A-300, order numbers (535) 43-11061 AF and W535AC27747 (7976) Offered here is a matched pair of Type A-1 lamp assemblies for aerial delivery containers, one fitted with amber domes and the other with blue, each still carrying its original printed manufacturer’s label affixed to the black molded body. No separate published biography attaches to these production items; their story is told through the specification and contract order numbers stamped on the surviving labels, which securely place them within the wartime supply chain of Standard Aircraft Products of Dayton, Ohio, under contract to the U.S. Army Air Forces. Developed for USAAF and Airborne troop-carrier operations, the Type A-1 was a dual-ended, color-coded identification lamp designed to be affixed to A-4 and A-5 aerial delivery containers dropped by parachute to forward units. Rigged with an automatic pull-switch lanyard tied to the cargo chute’s static line, the lamp illuminated the instant the canopy deployed, so that by the time the container reached the drop zone in darkness it was already glowing – amber, blue, red, green, or clear according to the nature of its contents – allowing paratroopers and glider infantry to sort ammunition from medical supplies from rations without striking a light or breaking blackout discipline. Small and unglamorous as they are, lamps of this type were a working part of the aerial resupply chain that fed Allied airborne forces across the ETO and PTO and the jungle drop zones of the CBI theater, a detail confirmed in period supply and airborne equipment records though not tied here to any specific documented drop. Each lamp presents a black molded composite body of tubular section, structurally sound and free of cracks, fitted with a ribbed transparent dome lens at either end – one lamp amber, the other blue – each showing only light surface clouding and minor handling scuffs with no major chips. The original printed identification label remains affixed to each body, legible despite toning, edge wear, and traces of adhesive residue, reading
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