I am working on a Dio of the D-Day deception dropping dummy para-infantry, part of operation Titanic. Some of the pictures of the buidings in some of the drop zones appear to be slate. I am looking for the approx. size of the tiles. Second question has to with lighting within the buildings, could I assume that some of the buildings would be similiar to early buildings in the US that added light fixtures? If that makes any sense.

Slate is EXTREMELY heavy... it is also much more expensive, so only the wealthiest people who could afford a better built structure would have slate. Instead, the working man would have had clay tile, wood shingle, or perhaps even a corregated tin sectional roof. that became quite popular in the late 20's and early 30's.

The wood shingles would look quite similar to slate after they had weathered for a few years... Still, there could be the odd exception, but I would think more of the dark clay tiles or wood would have been more prevelant.

As for electicity for lighting... this would have not been impossible for a rural area, but uncommon. Only in larger cities with more dense populations would there have been wide-spread electric lights. In a town of 10,000 - yes.. but even a few miles away would have been kerosene lanterns or perhaps gas lamps which were charged by a portable refillable pressurized container.

Those houses that DID have electricity often had exposed wiring strapped or stapled to the interior walls of the house, or to the rafters of the ceiling, dropping down to a light fixture or switch.

Any thoughts counter to this?