sailor
Agree your comments re donkey's plonk 100%.
They were an RAE invention (as was the angled deck and mirror of course) They existed when I joined at the end of '63. There were three units there Naval Air Dept (NAD), Blind landing experimental unit (BLEU) and Aerodynamics flight. They all collaborated where appropriate and NAD and BLEU especially so re lighting patterns. I think (very much not certain) that I once heard a boffin say the donkey's plonk originated with a BLEU guy. The BLEU guys were very much into lighting displays of how to help the pilot in the final stage of an approach.