5 ms·

I once heard an interesting story from an older lady - during WWII, she and a group of other women were enlisted to take shifts standing up in a watchtower (in

I once heard an interesting story from an older lady - during WWII, she and a group of other women were enlisted to take shifts standing up in a watchtower (in Des Moines, IA, of all places), scanning the horizon for invading airplanes. Apparently, this was common all over the country.

dhimes 10y ago
In the Boston are the towers are for looking for German boats (including surfacing Uboats). Many are still standing. Some are famous. https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/08/29/turning-world-war-watchtower-into-guesthouse/nzda91VfrUN7ep2E9jrs7H/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/08/29/turning-worl...
jonah 10y ago
And on the West Coast, massively powerful searchlights were scanning for Japanese planes[1]. The pre-radar location and tracking methods are fascinating to me. This guy[1] restored one and uses it as an advertising searchlight. I got to talk to him at length a few years ago - fascinating. It has a 800 million candle power beam. [0] http://www.skylighters.org/howalightworks/ http://www.skylighters.org/howalightworks/ [1] http://www.victorysearchlights.com/ http://www.victorysearchlights.com/
- Qworg 10y ago
  Those two sites were one reason I built my own carbon arc spotlight. =)
  - jonah 10y ago
    Neat! Did you write up your project?
    - Qworg 10y ago
      We were written up as project 10 (HackSignal) in this book: Hack This: 24 Incredible Hackerspace Projects from the DIY Movement by John Baichtal http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00602MH08/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_udp_api_4nM.xbW4Y3XHA http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00602MH08/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_udp_api_4... We never finished our write up. :/ Half done here: http://www.hackpittsburgh.org/wiki/index.php?title=HackSignal http://www.hackpittsburgh.org/wiki/index.php?title=HackSigna...
nickhalfasleep 10y ago
It was a real thing, I have some of my grandmother's documents from her service. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_Observer_Corps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_Observer_Corps
s_kilk 10y ago
And in Britain, women operated the anti-aircraft emplacements along the coast: http://ww2today.com/27th-december-1942-the-life-of-an-ats-ack-ack-girl http://ww2today.com/27th-december-1942-the-life-of-an-ats-ac... Known as "The 'Ack Ack' Girls".

dhimes 10y ago

In the Boston are the towers are for looking for German boats (including surfacing Uboats). Many are still standing. Some are famous. https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/08/29/turning-world-war-watchtower-into-guesthouse/nzda91VfrUN7ep2E9jrs7H/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/08/29/turning-worl...

jonah 10y ago

And on the West Coast, massively powerful searchlights were scanning for Japanese planes[1]. The pre-radar location and tracking methods are fascinating to me. This guy[1] restored one and uses it as an advertising searchlight. I got to talk to him at length a few years ago - fascinating. It has a 800 million candle power beam. [0] http://www.skylighters.org/howalightworks/ http://www.skylighters.org/howalightworks/ [1] http://www.victorysearchlights.com/ http://www.victorysearchlights.com/

Qworg 10y ago
Those two sites were one reason I built my own carbon arc spotlight. =)
- jonah 10y ago
  Neat! Did you write up your project?
  - Qworg 10y ago
    We were written up as project 10 (HackSignal) in this book: Hack This: 24 Incredible Hackerspace Projects from the DIY Movement by John Baichtal http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00602MH08/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_udp_api_4nM.xbW4Y3XHA http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00602MH08/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_udp_api_4... We never finished our write up. :/ Half done here: http://www.hackpittsburgh.org/wiki/index.php?title=HackSignal http://www.hackpittsburgh.org/wiki/index.php?title=HackSigna...

nickhalfasleep 10y ago

It was a real thing, I have some of my grandmother's documents from her service. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_Observer_Corps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_Observer_Corps

s_kilk 10y ago

And in Britain, women operated the anti-aircraft emplacements along the coast: http://ww2today.com/27th-december-1942-the-life-of-an-ats-ack-ack-girl http://ww2today.com/27th-december-1942-the-life-of-an-ats-ac... Known as "The 'Ack Ack' Girls".