Aeronautics: Sky Lights

Over Manhattan and Brooklyn one night last week a strange new beam of light appeared in place of an old one which had vanished. The new one: an advertising searchlight designed by one Alfred Gauthier, to etch letters and legends in the sky even when there are no clouds to provide a background. The old one: the revolving beacon atop Hotel St. George in Brooklyn, erected three years ago by Sperry Gyroscope Co. to guide aviators and to advertise the hotel. Recently the Department of Commerce ruled that only beacons actually on an established airway might use white lights; all others must be red. The hotel placed a red screen over the lens of its searchlight, but the rays were so weakened that advertising value was nil. Last month the light was discontinued. Exceptions to the red-light rule: the Lindbergh Beacon atop Chicago's Palmolive building; the revolving light on Washington's Wardman Park Hotel.