[maple_leaf_eh]

I recall the door seals on the modern MLVW SEV boxes was a series of little fingers that were not unlike the conversation about, except not a continuous strip but 1/4" fingers perpendicular to the motion of the door. Same thing only different.

Likewise, the red light on/off switch was high up on the box like you've illustrated. The switch was different, just a spring finger that was closed when a door latch (a big interconnected set of latches actually) pushed it closed. Turn the door latch without thinking about the light colour, and there was enough of a closure seal to get the lights switched over before the door swung open.

But .... getting back to the repurposing suggestion, why not? The idea of wartime production was to use available commercial or industrial products that were suited. So a plunger light switch mounted in the door frame isn't far off.