WHOSE MISTAKE?

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 144, 15 December 1942, Page 3

WHOSE MISTAKE?

INFORMATION OF RAID

AIR.ASPECT OF E.P.S.

TRIAL

Referring: to the recent E.P.S. trials in the Wellington district, the Chief of the Air Staff (Air Commodore R. V. Goddard), who is also Air Officer Commanding /R.N.Z.A.F., said today that it appeared from comments he had seen in the Press that some aspects of ! air defence, both active and passive, were not as well understood !■ as they deserved to be.

"Just as the active land defence. of New Zealand is the responsibility of the General Officer Commanding, so the active ,air defence of the Dominion is the responsibility of the Air Officer Commanding. Civil air defence is complementary to the active. air defence," he said, "and the E.P.S. organisation is dependent upon the Air Force organisation for air-raid information, through the Regional, Commissioners at the main Air Defence Operational Headquarters. .. "If then, as has been reported, the Wellington District Controller obtained air raid information which put his civil'defence organisation into a state of immediate readiness some hours before there was any prospect of a bombing attack," said the Air Commodore, "there- was clearly a mistake somewhere. That' mistake evidently consisted in air raid information having been issued'to the District Controller unwarrantably by a headquarters having no responsibility for so doing. "It is for the Regional Commissioner, who is quite independent of any,military authority, to assess for himself, on the advice of the District Air Commander, all the information, available regarding enemy movements. When he considers fit, the Regional Commissioner issues his warning.

"On Sunday morning," the Air Commodore stated, "the correct procedure was apparently forestalled by another authority. Neither the E.P.S. organisation nor the Air Defence organisation was accountable for this."" " i REALISTIC TOUCH. On this occasion, the Air Commodore continued, the raid was over long before the "All: Clear" was sounded. The delay in sounding the "All Clear" was, ho doubt, to permit, of fully exercising the,E.P.S.- organisation in its multifarious duties in dealing with many "incidents." Realism could have been added by .making successive raids with bombers,, but this was unwarrantable from. two.points of view*—first, economy of aircraft and fuel; second, to avoid unnecessary disturbance. "This exercise," he said,, "was essentially for the-E.P.S.. It is not part of the role of the Air' Force to simulate largescale, raids on our cities over a period of hours."

; "Talking of realismi" said the Air Commodore, "I, have heard complaints that there were no fighters in evidence on Sunday morning. lam glad to deal with that point! The best place. for fighters to attack is not right over the target. That is the place for the antiaircraft gunners to come into action, and they did. If the Air Commander brings the fighters over the anti-air-craft defences he may have to order the guns to cease fire. It would be unhealthy for our fighters to ! operate amongst our/own bursting shells.

"No, the place for .our fighters is miles away from the target. Our fighters are interceptors. .

"Those who wcre-disappointed not to see them will,. I think, be encour- • aged to know that our fighters made their interceptions successfully, many miles before the bombers reached Wellington. This was, of course, due to our detection and control organisation. Later our fighters attacked again the 'surviving' bombers after they withdrew from Wellington." A COMMON THOUGHT. Air Commodore Goddard remarked that he was not really surprised that there should have been criticism about the absence of fighters. It is very hard for people on the ground to remember that the piece of sky they can see is relatively very small. "Seeing is believing, and if one does not see air combat, one is apt to suppose that the bombers got off 'scot free.' That was a common thought during the Battle of I Britain."

Asked whether he considered that the exercise was successful, Air Commodore Goddard said that he could not express an. opinion of the E.P.S. aspect. Sunday morning may not be the best time for training the general public in the drill for taking shelter "But that, I believe, was not the main purpose of the E.P;S. authorities on this occasion. Anyway," the Air Commodore concluded, "the exercise from the Fighter Control point of view, was successful, and some useful lessons in other directions were learned."