by PresTx82 » Sat Jan 22, 2011 6:05 pm
I finally received my Coleman 200A Airfield Infrared Lantern.
What I have found interesting and disappointing is that the Coleman Museum in Wichita, Kansas has limited information on the history of many Coleman products. Taking into account that the primary purpose of Coleman products is camping, maybe this isn’t so unusual. The only time you find good historical stories is when one of their products were used during war time except this one. The museum website is minimal with only one picture.
The only historical data that I have been able to find on Coleman is on the Coleman website itself, but nothing on the Infrared Lantern. I did send them an email regarding the lantern with negative response. The Coleman Company may not have any information on this lantern as they did not produce the modified version. The US Army purchased the 200A lanterns from Coleman in their normal condition and then applied a modification kit to them. Coleman at the time most likely wasn’t aware of the modification as they shouldn’t, because of the classified nature of the lantern’s modified intended use. Army personnel would attached the after market modification apparatus and spray paint the lantern black from its original red. The Army frowns on bright red objects in war time! I’ve made a request to the US Army via the Freedom of Information Act to see if I can obtain more historical information. I hope to discover what the lantern was actually referred to as (e.g., infrared lantern, airfield lantern, etc.). The army modification kit should have a nomenclature on it.
I conducted numerous web searches to discover anything tangible on the lantern without much success. I did however make contact with Terrence Marsh who has been said to have done some research, and has documented the number of lanterns known to exist. He was only able to briefly describe to me the intent for the lantern’s use by the US Army. Currently, there are 16 known lanterns in private collections with myself being the 16th.
I was also able to contact a current lantern owner and was given an interesting article that was written by none other than Terrence Marsh. In it he describes in detail the military uses and how the lantern’s modification was conceived and prototyped.
From what I have been able to discover several of these lanterns had been held in military surplus warehouses for some years, then released and sold at auction. My particular lantern was initially purchased at such an auction by an agriculture teacher who utilized these lanterns to heat chicken brooding houses. The man I purchased mine from had in turn purchased it from him. He used it more or less as a heat-lantern. With the army modification removed, it’s a plain 200A lantern.
I have attached some pictures below of this lantern. I am missing a lower metal circular disk that is supposed to be attached to the two prongs you see jet out to the side of the lantern. All in all this is in good shape. Plunger good, tank in very clean condition. A few dents, dings and scrapes which are normal for it’s age. It’s dated June 1959.
Interesting enough. One sold on ebay “todayâ€
Mark
El Paso, Texas