Well, my old Varsity and Hastings Pilots Notes confirm that both were fitted with resin lights, and Identification Lights. I mention the latter merely to confess that I had no idea of their use either, other than that implicit in their title. The Varsity Notes merely mention where the RL light switch is. The Hastings Notes are more forthcoming; "The three resin lights in each wing tip are controlled by an on/off master switch and a GREEN-CLEAR-RED selector switch.". BTW the Downward ID Lights para says; " The three downward identification lights in the fuselage nose are controlled by a switch on the coaming panel. Red, green or amber can be selected and, by pushing up the small lever on the morsing switchbox, the selected lamp can be used for morsing". It infers that the "colour of the day" and the associated code word could thus be displayed, but such techniques were long abandoned by my time (>1962) together with whatever one used to do with resin lights. Regarding the name, many components were then known by the manufacturers tradename (ie Graviner switches, Decca navigator, etc), though I've never heard of such a company as "Resin".
PS Have just dug out my old AP129 vol2. Under Night Formation it reads; "If dim/bright navigation lights are fitted, the dim setting should be used but,when available, resin lights are much better". So that appears to define their use and their properties, ie they were very dim and thus did not dazzle when in formation at night. It appears that the colours were somewhat variable from the blue of Mossies through to "traffic lights" on Hastings! Could the name be a reference to the dimness of a light shining through resin?
PPS Or how about simply REStricted INtensity lights?
Last edited by Chugalug2; 29th Mar 2009 at 19:35.
Reason: Added AP129 excerpt