WATCH AND WARD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 23, 27 January 1940, Page 10

WATCH AND WARD

SECURITY PATROLS. R.A.F. 'Planes Keep German Raiders At Home. ARDUOUS NIGHT FLIGHTS.. British Official Wireless. (Received 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, January 2G. Behind the Air Ministry reports of reconnaissance flights and •■'security • patrols" lie stories of arduous duties ' faithfully aceom- ■ plished. Neither is the word "security" misused. In a very short space 'of time after the discovery that the enemy were laying mines by means of aircraft,. a regular patrol system was instituted, after which but few. German minelaving expeditions set out for the English coast. Aircraft, when taking oil or landing, need lights to show the way, ; and the task of the Eoyal Air Force is : to sec that those lights are more often . off than on at German seaplane bases, i If the airmen can achieve this their ; journey through dark, cloud, fog and < rain has not been in vain. : Xicht after night the aircraft of a - bomber command set out to prevent the i enemy leaving their waterw ays. As ] they come down to a few "hundred feet above the sea a blackout is - enforced upon the German bases. If the mere 1 presence of British aircraft does not ( extinguish the lights a bomb or two is 1 alwavs found to be effective. The < patrol goes on even after all is dark, and if the. lights arc again switched on j the aircraft soon returns to restore the night. . ' Sometimes ships are seen, which, < when challenged., do not answer. Imme- 1 diately their position and course are 1 wirelessed to England. 1 If close investigation is needed, the ■' R.A.T". machines drop parachute flares j which illuminate the whole area "of the .. sea. Xor are the patrols_ unopposed. .. Intense anti-aircraft fire is frequent, and occasionally enemy fighters hang about the sky. , So goes on the incessant "wateli and ward," so is the safety of the __ sea preserved, not only for the Eoyal Xavy and the British merchant .service, but for neutral shipping as well. .