INCENDIARY BOMBS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1937, Page 7

INCENDIARY BOMBS.

Huge Fire-Fighting Service Planned by Britain. 200,000 MEN NEEDED. British Official Wireless. (Received 1.30 p.m.) RUGBY. February 23. Emergency fire brigade organisation against air attack with incendiary ltombs, was the subject of a statement by the Home Secretary, Sir John Simon, in the House of Commons. The organisation suggested will involve the accumulation in peace-time of large stocks of emergency fire-fighting appliances. It is estimated that 200,000 physically fit men will be to carry out the Government's plan for supplementary fire-fighting services. They will need to devote two or three evenings weekly for three months for training and will each receive a grant of £3, plus £5 for equipment.

VERGE OF PANIC. Do Experienced Flyers Become Careless? RECENT BIG CRASHES. VANCOUVER, February 18. Big aeroplane operators are disturbed to the verge of panic by a succession of major crashes on the Pacific Coast during the last 60 days, costing a total of 40 lives. Experts cannot decide whether pilots become careless after years of safe operation, but the fact remains that investigators for the Federal Air Service decided, in four out of five recent crashes, that there had occurred unexplained errors judgment by pilots famous for their skill. The crash of United Airline's huge luxury air liner in San Francisco Harbour is explained only by the conclusion that Pilot Thompson, with more than a million miles' experience, suddenly lost himself, making a fatal mistake which cost 11 lives. Two previous crashes were caused by snowstorms and fogs around Los Angeles. Millions of gallons of oil have been burned lately in smudgepots on countless fruit farms in Southern California, causing a stinking artificial fog, permeating everything in Los Angeles and its environs for days. The Western Express 'plane from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City early in December, with seven aboard disappeared into the mountains and no trace of it was ever found. In Montana, two skilled pilots, one stormy night, landed at Helena, and allowed their passengers to alight. Then they pushed on westward, determined to deliver the mails. That night there had been a change in the radio beam arrangements, but unfortunately these pilots started on their fatal trip unwarned. r Suddenly they called. Tliev were unable to locate the beam, and frantically demanded help f roln the control station. For an hour they wandered in a snowstorm, unable to find an area where beacons could aid them. When the last of their fuel was going they crashed > into the mountain side.