engineering

Lindbergh Beacon

Lindbergh Beacon is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lindbergh Beacon rather than just read about it. In short: The Lindbergh Beacon is an aircraft beacon atop the Los Angeles City Hall, operated nightly from April 26, 1928, until just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was restored to its original condition in 2001, and Los Angeles magazine described it as "a tiara of light atop our beautifully restored Los Angeles City Hall." City officials now occasionally put the beacon into operation for special occasions such as the y…

Key takeaways

Lindbergh Beacon belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lindbergh Beacon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lindbergh Beacon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Lindbergh Beacon is an aircraft beacon atop the Los Angeles City Hall, operated nightly from April 26, 1928, until just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was restored to its original condition in 2001, and Los Angeles magazine described it as "a tiara of light atop our beautifully restored Los Angeles City Hall." City officials now occasionally put the beacon into operation for special occasions such as the year-end holidays.

History In an article of September 1, 1927, during construction of the hall and less than four months after the historic solo trans-Atlantic flight of Col. Charles Lindbergh, the Los Angeles Times marked the beginning of the Lindbergh Beacon project with:

In recommending the installation of a great beacon light at the summit of the new City Hall tower—as a tribute to Col. Lindbergh—the board of directors and air transportation committee of our Chamber of Commerce have hit upon a striking and practical device for honoring the nation's flying hero in a way that beyond a doubt. The beacon began operation on the first night of the City Hall's three-day dedication gala of April 26–28, 1928. In two articles during April 1928, the Los Angeles Times indicated that:

People in Los Angeles and vicinity are going to have an opportunity next Thursday to see what a light of 8,000,000 candlepower looks like lensed down [sic, actually a mirror] into one brilliant beam. The Lindbergh Beacon on top of the new City Hall tower will be flashed on by President Coolidge ... by pressing a telegraph instrument in the White House. The Times recounted that:

For thirty minutes the building was kept dark as the beaming beacon turned silently on its pivot and cast the message of Los Angeles' civic progress and development as an aviation center in a circle 120 miles [190 km] in diameter. Only six months after the Lindbergh Beacon began operations an associate of Lindbergh was quoted, indirectly, as saying that the beacon was "a great mistake" and that rotating beacons should only be used near airports. In May 1931, by order of the Department of Commerce, the rotating white beacon was replaced with a directional red beacon pointing to the nearest airport. Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor the City Hall's beacon was turned off and continued dormant until after the war. It was briefly reactivated in 1947 and then removed and put in storage. Beginning in 1992 the red Lindbergh Beacon was put on display at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, LAX. Beginning in the late 1990s, the beacon was restored and reinstalled as part of the City Hall's $299 million renovation and seismic upgrade. In September 2001, with the building work compete, it was planned to relight the beacon but the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington delayed the reactivation until later in the year. During December 2001, the Lindbergh Beacon's white beam again swept across the city.

Early aids to navigation Between 1923 and 1933, as an aid to aerial navigation, the US Post Office and the Department of Commerce constructed a nationwide network of airway beacons. These beacons provided a rotating white light which appeared to flash one tenth second every ten seconds. Just below the white beacon a set of red or green course lights pointed along each airway route. The original white Lindbergh Beacon rotated six times each minute like the white beacons of the federal network. As restored, the white Lindbergh Beacon rotates at ten times per minute. The characteristics of the second red beacon atop the City Hall may or may not have matched the characteristics of the national network's red course lights.

Commemorative plaque Los Angeles City Hall's 27th floor observation deck has a bronze commemorative plaque titled "The Lindbergh Beacon" that reads as follows:

The beacon on top of the Los Angeles City Hall was turned on by President Calvin Coolidge from the White House during the City Hall dedication ceremonies April 26, 1928. The light was gratefully dedicated to Charles A. Lindbergh for his contribution to the advancement of aviation and in commemoration of man's first transatlantic solo flight from New York to Paris on May 20, 1927. Press Photographers Association of Greater Los Angeles. The plaque must have been put in place after this professional group was founded in 1936.

Huell Howser's television programs During the period 1992–2001, the television personality Huell Howser broadcast, on PBS, three programs related to the history of the Lindbergh Beacon. Each successive program built on the previous programs.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lindbergh Beacon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lindbergh Beacon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lindbergh Beacon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lindbergh Beacon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lindbergh Beacon

In research: Lindbergh Beacon appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lindbergh Beacon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lindbergh Beacon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1928 establishments in California, Beacons, Charles Lindbergh, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lindbergh Beacon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lindbergh Beacon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lindbergh Beacon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lindbergh Beacon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lindbergh Beacon in simple terms?

Why does Lindbergh Beacon matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lindbergh Beacon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lindbergh Beacon.