ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN TRAINING

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 41, 12 November 1937, Page 10

ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN TRAINING

Fort Dorset Programme TARGET TO BE TOWED BY PLANE Since Monday preparations have beeu in hand for an anti-aircraft training programme which will be carried out from Fort Dorset next Monday and Tuesday. An Air Force machine from’Hobsonvllle air base has already done 10 hours’ flying in wireless communication with Fort Dorset determining courses and heights at which a target will be flown and fired on. The height of the aeroplane, its speed and course were transmitted to the ground base during the preparatory flights in order to give the antiaircraft officers an opportunity to test and adjust their equipment, which includes sound-detecting instruments. Meteorological observations are also to be made in the air for temperatures, wind and humidity, details of which will further aid the anti-aircraft gunners in their calculations. For this purpose an aeroplane with pilot and observer will ascend to a height of about 12,000 ft. Accurate observations are one of the essentials for successful shouting.

The I ‘drague,” sleeve or target -will take the shape of an enlarged windsock probably live or six times as big as the socks at Rongotai airport. It will be attached to about 7000 feet of steel cable and will be towed behind the plane at a distance of not less than half a mile. The target will be fired upon at heights up to 9000 ft. Before the firing of the guns they will be calibrated. Nothing elaborate is being attempted in the programme, which is purely to accustom and train the personnel of the Royal New Zealand Artillery to the use of the equipment. It will be the first time the equipment has been used at Fort Dorset.