LONDON BLACKOUT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 201, 3 June 1940, Page 3

LONDON BLACKOUT.

WHERE IT BREAKS DOWN. Information about a series of observations of the London black-out made from the air by Royal Air Force officers was given recently, says-“ Hie limes. It has boon determined that London can never lie completely blacked-out, but that if the regulations are complied with the black-out can he so good that it would be impossible for enemy pilots to ascertain their exact position. Consequently only the widest indiscriminate bombings would be possible. Contrary to popular belief the streets cannot be distinguished from any great altitude oil moonlit nights. Before the new motor-car headlamp masks were introduced it was possible to see the whole length of thoroughfares like the Edgeware Road. The side lights of motor-cars can actually be seen from the air from greater heights than the masked headlights. The flashes from tramcars and electric railways catch the eye of the ob-

server overhead, hut it is stated that they would be of little use for guiding pilots to the city. One observer described London from the air during the black-outs as resembling the vault of the heavens on a starlit night with “a few diamond necklaces scattered about.’ The diamond necklace effect is given by the railway marshalling yards. Pedestrians’ torches could he seen from considerable heights when flashed above the horizontal; but the chief offender is domestic lighting. Houses which back on railway lines, where wardens and police have difficulty in controlling light, are in many parts inadequately blacked-out. A Royal Air Force officer described this as “deliberate” disobedience of the t-ions, and said that it was extremely prevalent. Railway signal lights, in spite of the effect they have whe?i viewed from the ground, cannot be seen from the air from any great height. The object of. the black-out is to cut down the lights of large towns so that their outlines are indeterminate. Relaxations, which had been arrived at by trial and observation from the air, have probably reached their limit for safety,