is this a USN survival / rescue light?

[Comanche Todd]

found this at the flea market this morning for a dollar, it looks brand new?

the bottom is marked: USN, FULTON WAUSEON. O

and the switch is marked OFF / FLASH STEADY

it has a grey painted metal body and a baby pin attached to the side, and the dome / lens is plastic , it appears to take a D size battery.

I think this might be for downed pilots to attach to their survival vest?

what era is it from? is it WWII era ? Korean War? Vietnam war era ?

it's approximately 4" in tall

 

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[Montana Jim]

Prolly Navy, prolly aircrew, and prolly Vietnam era through the 80s...

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[diggummup]

Yeah Jim, I think your prolly right. 8)

 

[ivan salis]

yep - its a battery powered life jacket light -- we used to have similar ones but it had no "usn" on ours back in the early 1980's on merchant marine vessels (they did look rather old fashioned at the time honestly--- but they worked well )---seen them every week when we did our fire drills / battery check -- used a "d" battery ---top un screws to replace em -- they currently use strobe type lights or chem stick type light (the better shipping companies use the strobe type lights --- but alot of them are going for the el cheapo chem lights on the "survival suits" or "gumbies" as we call em--- because its cheaper (hey it not the president of the company floating around in the ocean praying to be found after all) Ivan

 

[Comanche Todd]

I found a photo of a group of WWII era flashlights, and I see one with a grey metal body that looks identicle to the one I have?

 

[packerbacker]

Yes. We used the same ones during Vietnam. They were pinned to the life jacket with the lens pointing up so it could be seen from the air.

 

[Montana Jim]

If it's the same thing - then I think you have one that might be that old too... certainly is a possibility.

Good job finding the pic!

 

[birdman]

We were still using those in the 90s on our kapok life perservers.

 

[ivan salis]

very old tec stuff it seems --

 

[Comanche Todd]

If it's the same thing - then I think you have one that might be that old too... certainly is a possibility.

Good job finding the pic!

a military collector informed me that mine is the early version circa 1943

the one in the above photo has a heavier duty safety pin [improved] mine is the earlier version with a light safety pin.