I see from the War Diary of 3 Parachute Squadron RE that the 'Thomas devices' on the containers worked well. Who knows what the Thomas device was and how it worked? Any illustrations would be welcome. Mike.
Idler, Appendix to diary for D Day. 'My stick commander Lt. Lock and the SSM set about collecting the stick and the containers which were well concentrated and illuminated by the Thomas device which worked well.' Mike
There are two possibilities here but no indication of when they were tried: From The Second World War 1939-1945: Army: Airborne Forces: The 'final design' is certainly more of a 'device' than lights on four sides of the container... The other place to look might be the Combined Operations Bulletins.
6th Airborne Division's CRE Lt-Col. Lowman said the Thomas "...device showed up under two and three feet of water." AVIA 21/138 Thomas container location device: tests 1944
Saw this Mike There was a lighting system used on the CLE for identification during night drops consisting of 4 small lamps mounted on a frame and powered by a battery. There were also experiments with smoke generators to highlight containers in the daytime. Most were painted in light colours, such as white, to aid recovery. Container Light Equipment (CLE) | ParaData Not sure if this American device is what they are talking about, Info says it was also used by British forces https://spitfireparts.co.uk/shop/ol...mbly-identification-aerial-delivery-container
Thank you all. This looks like the Thomas device then. I do not know if the CLE is the item in the photograph. It does match the description in Temujins link and he is usually right. Mike.
This is a page from a AATDC catalogue from 1950 showing the two methods of container location devices. The Thomas device was contained in the tube attached to the container with the opening shock of the container's parachute causing it to slide out and spring open. the triangular shape ensured that however it landed there would be one flag upright. There was also a light on the end of each arm. The other method using a lighting baffle between container and crash head survived in Service longer.
