LONDON AIR RAIDS.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18397, 2 June 1925, Page 11

LONDON AIR RAIDS.

IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP BOMBING. (raosl OTO ' OWK COBMSPOItDEHT.) LONDON, April 21; The idea that wo could stop* an enemy from bombing London was a myth, declared Air Vice-Marshal Sir W. Sefton Brancker in his London Society lecture on "Impressions of London from the Air." . Sir &efton Brancker said. it was hard to see London from the air. He had flown aver it many times, but it. waa "only on very rare occasions tha't ho had seen any considerable proportion <of; it. Visibility here was extraordinarily, bad. Wo had tho worst (visibility of any-city in the world. There waa a short foreground of streets, an occasional background with glimpses of the Thames, «a certain number of church spires and chimneys. .It was hard to fix upon any particular street Or building... As . to landmarks those that had struck him wero, first and foremost, the Crystal Palace, Alexandra Palace,- whioh was a, good second, and Hampstead. Another outstanding landmark, was the big ejectrical works at' Chelsea. \ From the military point of . view. London was extremely easy to find with modern means of navigation, but,, having found it, it was difficult to locate a definite objective. We had made great strides in aerial navigation since the war. The idea that we could stop people bombing London was a myth. During the war .we always looked to fine weather as the • Sign, of the raid. During the next war they would find that periods of bad weather would be selected as the times for 'approaching London and bombing it. It~ was'ex* tremoly hard to stop bombing, a fact which might act as an incentive to the stoppage of any war in tho future. It was said that Croydon was too far out for its purpose, but it had the great advantage in visibility, which was the keynote of regular and safe transport. The future of the air port of London was an. interesting problem. He 'had no doubt thait we should 6oon get to a state of technical development which would enable us to use Hyde Park with perfeot safety, but he could not see the British people consenting to its being given up to such a purpose. A platform on the top of Waterloo Station was a practical proposition, but the titae was not yet quite ripe. It would oost something like £3.000,000 or £4,000,000, and he did not think the present volume of traffic would justify such an expenditure. He was not at all sure that that would not be the solution in London —a superstructure over someplace such as a big railway station. Tne money spent on Croydon (vas not wasted.