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141:(Flak Searchlight) 34 and 37 used 150-centimetre (59 in) diameter parabolic glass reflectors with an output of 990 million candelas. The system was powered by a 24-kilowatt generator, based around a 51-horsepower (38 kW) 8-cylinder engine, giving a current of 200 amperes at 110 volts. The searchlight was attached to the generator by a 200-metre (660 ft) cable. The system had a detection range of about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) for targets at an altitude of between 4,000 and 5,000 metres (13,000 and 16,000 ft). The system could be made mobile using two sets of
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Typically, one 200 cm searchlight was employed with three 150 cm searchlights. The 200 cm searchlight was deployed at the center of a triangle formed by the 150 cm searchlights. The smaller searchlights deployed at a distance of about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) from the larger
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In order to reach bombers now flying at increasingly higher altitudes, more powerful searchlights were needed. In 1943, the first 200-centimetre
Scheinwerfer-43 searchlights, with 2.7 billion Hefner candlepower (2.4 gigacandela) were delivered to troops. Powered by a 120-kilowatt generator, these
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Early war tactics for the searchlight deployment had the searchlights forward of the Flak guns in a "zone of preparation", laid out in a grid with 5 kilometers between each light. Sound locators deployed with the searchlights helped them find targets, later these were replaced with radar systems.
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The searchlight was controlled in azimuth and altitude by two, hand-operated cranks. The searchlight operator also had a foot-switch that operated a lamp on the generator. He could use this to send simple Morse signals to the generator operator, requesting, for example, more or less power. The
93:, and it had a detection range of about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) for targets travelling at an altitude of 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). With the beam dispersed, this reduced to about 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi). It required a crew of three and could be transported using a single axle
30:, it resumed in 1927. At the outset of the war, searchlights were combined with acoustic direction-finders, with the direction-finders guiding the searchlights to the right part of the sky, where they swept until they found the target. Later in the war, the searchlights were
97:. One of the crew operated the searchlight, another operated the generator, and the third was the section commander. Naval versions of the searchlight included a shutter, to allow them to be used for Morse signaling.
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Typical tactics were to sweep the search light in an S-shaped pattern along the targets' expected course with the beam dispersed, once the target was detected, it was then tracked using the focused beam.
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In
September 1940, excluding units emplaced at naval facilities, Germany had 2,540 searchlights (60 cm and 150 cm). During the war, this number grew rapidly — by February 1944, the
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The 60 cm searchlights were not powerful enough to reach the allied bomber streams later in the war, so were typically employed organically with 20 mm and 37 mm low-level flak guns.
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searchlight included a sophisticated system to control the carbon arc lamp, extending the carbon electrodes to keep a constant arc distance as the ends of the electrodes burned away.
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Sixty-one special fixed quadruple 150-centimetre mounts were produced in an effort to extend the range of the 150 centimetre searchlights, however these proved unsuccessful.
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central "master" searchlight. The master searchlight would find the target, and the 150 cm lights would cone the target, providing solid triangulation.
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The 8 kilowatt, direct current generator that powered the searchlight was driven by a six-cylinder, BMW engine, of a type used in pre-war cars.
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were used to detect and track enemy aircraft at night. They were used in three main sizes, 60, 150 and 200 centimetres. After the end of the
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These were developed in the late 1930s, with a 60 centimetres (24 in) diameter parabolic glass reflector and was powered by an 8
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The searchlight could be traversed 360 degrees and elevated from -12 degrees through the vertical to -12 degrees on the other side.
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A few obsolete 110 centimetre searchlights and captured French 200 cm and 240 cm searchlights were also used.
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units, one for the searchlight and one for the generator. It required a crew of seven to operate it.
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searchlights could detect targets at distances of up to 13 kilometres (8.1 mi).
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of the
Luftwaffe General Staff reported that stocks of floodlights were as follows:
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TM-E 30-451 Handbook on German
Military Forces, 15 March 1945, US War Department
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26:, German development of searchlights was effectively stopped by the
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369: – Feature of the Nazi Party rallies in Nuremberg
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generator. The lamp output was rated at 135 million
130:Militärhistorisches Museum Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow
62:A searchlight deployed at a coastal battery, 1943
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34:. The searchlights used extremely high-powered
322:Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre (2016).
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303:Military Intelligence Service (1943).
236:150 cm quadruple Flak floodlight
346:Anti-aircraft artillery, Ian V Hogg,
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172:Obsolete and captured searchlights
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137:Developed in the late 1930s, the
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332:from the original on 2021-12-21.
325:The WWII 60cm German Searchlight
127:34 searchlight displayed at the
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305:"German Antiaircraft Artillery"
74:A searchlight displayed at the
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250:200 cm Flak floodlight
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222:150 cm Flak floodlight
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180:German searchlight inventory
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208:60 cm Flak floodlight
17:German searchlights of the
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78:in the Netherlands, 2012
49:German 60 cm searchlight
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383:Anti-aircraft weapons
186:Quartermaster General
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28:Treaty of Versailles
143:Special Trailer 104
76:Overloon War Museum
367:Cathedral of Light
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95:Special trailer 51
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139:Flakscheinwerfer
125:Flakscheinwerfer
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36:carbon arc lamps
19:Second World War
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24:First World War
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159:200 Centimetre
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115:150 Centimetre
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32:radar-directed
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42:60 Centimetre
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388:Searchlights
341:Bibliography
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328:. Youtube.
377:Categories
280:References
393:Wehrmacht
285:Citations
361:See also
330:Archived
123:A 150cm
91:candelas
87:kilowatt
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273:13748
203:Total
197:Mobile
133:, 2003
267:11257
264:Total
259:2262
231:7311
228:1636
225:5675
217:6376
211:5582
200:Fixed
348:ISBN
270:2491
214:794
194:Type
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