R.A.F. POOL EXPERIENCES

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 September 1940, Page 3

R.A.F. POOL EXPERIENCES

IDEAS FROM ALL RANKS. R.A.F. personnel of all ranks, fresh from operations, attend meetings which are now held weekly at the Air Ministry to enable the hard experience of war to be turned to the fullest possible use. At these meetings ideas and suggestions may be submitted by anyone present (writes Major G. C. Turner in the London “Daily Telegraph”). Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham presides, and this rn itself is a guarantee of the wideness of the field of which cognisance is taken, and of the freest discussion. No detail is too small for attention, and adequate records are made. Pilots, air-gunners, wireless operators, navigators, engine experts, maintenance men and others attend the meetings as opportunity _ occurs. Details which may escape a pilot, but yet may be of considerable importance to some other member 6f an air crew, in this way become the subject of prompt attention. They may, for example, relate to the accommodation provided for the gunner in a turret, some desirable improvement in the oxygen outfit, the position of an instrument, or any peculiarity in the operation of controls or in the behaviour of the compass when the machine is under fire or flying in the neighbourhood of big explosions. In fact, there are endless possibilities, and already useful ideas and suggestions have been forthcoming. Informality characterises the meetings. ' Steps are taken to profit immediately from any goo.d suggestion by reference to the aircraft constructor, the aero-engine maker, the operational staff, the maintenance department, or any other executive, as the case may be. The adoption of this method ensures that, despite the stress of war and the demands upon the time of all ranks, no detail of i hard-won experience shall escape.

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