lighthouses?

What happened to lighthouses during WW2? Were they left operating?

 

From what I have read they were turned off and only turned on by arrangement to assist as "friendly" vessels passed through the area.

John

 

The lighthouses at Portland Bill were used as billets for Naval Officers during the WW2 years, although this ceased for a period when Portland became a major target for the Luftwaffe.

 

The Trinity House Film was really interesting. Thanks for that.

Geoff

 

Were Trinity House lighthouses switched off during World War II?
The lights on many lighthouses and lightvessels were extinguished during the Second World War, but not all lights were extinguished outright. Trinity House worked extensively with the Admiralty to decide which lights should be merely dimmed, so as to aid navigation for Britain's merchant and fighting ships.
Trinity House Pilots worked throughout the nights to get ships into safe ports, and Trinity House Tenders worked to help clear minefields, evacuate the occupied Channel Islands and take part in the events of D-Day.
Many lighthouses on enemy flight paths were painted with camouflage paint. Many Keepers on Lighthouses, and crewmen on Lightvessels lost their lives, and are commemorated on a memorial in Trinity Square in London.
http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/news_info/press-resources/faqs.html

 

CL1

Thanks for answering the question.

 

Don't forget that these devices served information to both sides.Obviously decisions to extinguish were made by around the British Isles if the balance of information was in the enemy's favour..

Reading about the clandestine operations by MTB into Brittany,there are cases mentioned where fine tuning of navigation was done by getting a fix of lighthouses that the Germans had left in service.

The Lighthouse Directory is hive of information throughout the world and includes every lighthouse in European waters.Its a US website.

Go to http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/

Picked up a superb print of Finistere lighthouses while on Ushant...framed it and it would grace any room ..never seen one covering the UK

 

good day researchingreg.nov 28th 2013.04:29.re:lighthouses?a very interesting post,i agree with horsapassenger#2 turned on by arrangement.and some great clips on other posts.thank you for posting regards bernard85

 

Lighthouse at War

The History of the lighthouse

 

I was looking into the bombing of the East Dudgeon lightvessel the other day which had prompted outrage in Parliament. The eight crew survived the attack which sank the vessel on 29/1/1940 only for seven to lose their lives when their lifeboat was wrecked during the night.

The lightvessel had been caught in a planned sweep of the east coast by 18 HE 111s of KG26, but the Kreigsmarine were evidently more pragmatic about the targeting of lightvessels than the Luftwaffe were.



Were Trinity House lighthouses switched off during the Second World War?

BFI Screenonline: Men of the Lightship (1940)

January 2020 – Wreck of the Week

 

The US Coast Guard dimmed most lighthouses during the war to avoid silhouetting ships and removed a few lightships. Radio beacons continued to transmit normally. Most coastal light stations had lookouts during the war in addition to the keepers.

U-boat KTBs mention American lighthouses as position references.

My favorite cameo in the Christopher Nolan Dunkirk movie was the lighthouse in the background of some scenes.

 

Lighthouse East Anglia Lincolnshire/Norfolk 1940 after Dunkirk.
67th Field Regt OP
1st British Infantry Division

Anyone recognise it, is it still there today.


Photo courtesy of The Mennell Family

 

How much the world has changed in the last 20 years.
I have copies of photos members of the 67th Field Regt when in the area. Holbeach and Gedney I used to work in food packaging machinery visiting Geest Industries in Spalding, Tinsley Foods in Holbeach St Marks and the Potato Marketing Board at Sutton Bridge. Then down to King Lynn to the Findus Freezer Plant having lunch at Tesco.
I thought that I would locate where the photos were taken. Many of the places are recognisable by memory but I can't find them at all on satellite view.
The roads have all changed and the area much built over. Many of the treelines were very distinctive.
Photo of Lt later Major David Shepherd MC I think this was at Gedney Dyke.

Courtesy of the Shepherd Family Collection