Lookout in the Blackout. Until your eyes get used to the darkness, take it easy

Britain's best night-fighter ace was nicknamed "Cat's Eyes". The papers were given a simple explanation: he ate a lot of carrots.

Artist: Pat Keely
Series: Lookout in the Blackout
Themes: blackout home front

United Kingdom, Second World War. Artist Pat Keely, Ministry of Information.

Two more sketches from the "Lookout in the Blackout" series: a cat peering out of the dark, and a man in a hat stepping from the light into darkness. One slogan: "Until your eyes get used to the darkness, take it easy." In the margin of the cat sketch Keely pencilled another version: "You cannot see in the dark — take it easy!"
When the night raids began in autumn 1940, cat-like vision was expected of pilots too. The night fighter John Cunningham shot down one bomber after another, and the press called him "Cat's Eyes". The official explanation was carrots. The real one was a secret airborne radar. Whether the Germans believed the carrot story is unknown. The British did: the Ministry of Food advised eating carrots to see better in the blackout.

Semper Idem · today’s parallel

It isn't only eyes that get used to the dark. In November 2022, after waves of Russian strikes on the power grid, Ukraine set up more than 4,000 "Invincibility Points" — light, heat, water, connectivity and first aid, free and around the clock. In 1940 the British learned to live with the blackout; Ukrainians learned to live with scheduled power cuts.

Context

United Kingdom, Second World War (The National Archives dates it 1939–1946). Artist: Patrick Cokayne (Pat) Keely (1901–1970). Two original sketches from the Ministry of Information's series on safety in the blackout: a black cat peering out of the dark (with another version of the slogan pencilled in the margin), and a man in a hat stepping from the light into darkness.

The blackout was introduced in September 1939, and road deaths rose sharply. The posters asked people not to hurry until their eyes adjusted to the dark. "Cat's eyes" also became a military legend: the RAF night ace John Cunningham was nicknamed "Cat's Eyes", and his successes were publicly put down to carrots, while the airborne radar was kept quiet.