How did aircraft find a carrier in the dark?

What happened if an aircraft's watch was not perfectly synchronized with the carrier's rotating night beacon?

The beacon still brought the aircraft into the carrier's general recovery area, where timed light buoys dropped astern could provide a visible trail for the final approach.

Royal Navy night recovery did not depend on a pilot navigating directly to a dark, moving flight deck. The rotating narrow-beam beacon guided an aircraft into a broader basket around the carrier, so a small timing error did not necessarily prevent recovery. The carrier could also drop chemically timed light buoys that remained visible for roughly thirty minutes and marked its recent track. Together, the radio aid and the illuminated trail created successive layers of guidance for returning crews.