Question about Corsair wing lights, not wingtips

[Woody V]

Here I go overthinking stuff again, but can anyone point me to a detailed drawing of the formation light assemblies located on the wings? Just a guess on my part that the whole assembly was installed after the plane was painted, since it doesn't seem logical to mask them off. 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Woody V

[Juggernut]

Do these help?

 

 

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REFERENCE:  Air Corps Library, F4U Corsair Aircraft Drawing Repository, Accessed 9-10-2023 @ 13:40 EDT.

[MikeMaben]

Not sure what you need Woody ...

 

[TAG]

On 9/9/2023 at 9:41 AM, Woody V said:

Just a guess on my part that the whole assembly was installed after the plane was painted, since it doesn't seem logical to mask them off. 

Hi, Woody

 

I'm assuming from your slightly cryptic query that you mean the formation lights would be installed after the outer wings were painted, correct?

 

If that is indeed your question, in my opinion the answer is no, they were installed before the outer wings were painted. Remember, about half of the outer wing was covered in fabric, so installation of any electrical system would be very cramped indeed, nigh on impossible if the fabric was stretched taut and doped in place. Looking at some references, here's what the outer wing looked like in primer, the wiring and the bulb (and cover) are apparently already installed before the fabric and consequently paint.

The outer wings were subcontracted to Briggs Manufacturing, who supplied them painted and ready to be attached to all three Corsair manufacturers: Vought, Goodyear and Brewster. Here's some period photos of the Briggs factory floor.

 

Here's some photos from the line, notice that regardless of which variant, the wings were delivered pre-painted by Briggs, including national insignia.

 

Note the formation lights are already installed in the pre-painted outer wings.

 

Here's a modern resto wing being fabricated, formation lights seem to be installed already.

 

Hope that helped answer your question?

 

Cheers,

- Thomaz