CORPS OF OBSERVERS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 234, 15 September 1934, Page 6

CORPS OF OBSERVERS

British Organisation

WATCHING FOR AEROPLANES

M iles away from the aerodromes of the highly specialised lighter squadrons I have witnessed one of the most interesting, not to say dramatic, scenes connected with the air exercises, writes Major F. A. de V. Robertson in the. “Manchester Guardian.’’ The stage is a country meadow on a summer night not far from a picturesque village in Kent. The sky is largely overcast with clouds, but every now and then a reddish moon partially breaks through and looks like a conflagration in the sky. The red glow of a brazier leads m« to a corner of the field, where a little group of some dozen men is gathered under a hedge. A rude sort of wigwam has been erected for shelter if it should rai'i; just a canvas covering over a framework of poles which does not look as if it could accommodate more than half of the party. The men are all in mufti, but each wears a handsome blue and silver badge in his buttonhole which bears the device of a coast watcher of Elizabethan days lighting a warning beacon on the approach of the Armada. POSTMASTER AS LEADER. The men of the group are typical specimens of village life. The leader is the local postmaster, a jolly personage of generous girth, and very much a live wire. Others seem to represent local business interests. One might be a mechanic. Another, maybe, a representative of “the gallant squires of Kent.’’ All are cheerful and jolly, and all are keenly intent on the business in hand, which is to listen for raiding aeroplanes and to send off the promptest reports of any engine heard overhead. This, in fact, is one of the posts of the Air Defence Observer Corps. Little enough is heard of this remarkable body of men, for they do not cpuMl Press publicity, and still less is seen of them, for they work in the darkness and in secluded spots. It had taken me no little trouble and a fairly long drive, to make this visit, but the interest well repaid the trouble. My credentials were examined before I was admitted to the circle and when they were found satisfactory I was made warmly welcome with true Kentish heartiness. The men at first concluded that I had come from Manchester to find them, and were highly flattered by the interest shown in them by the “Manchester Guardian.’’ The Observer Corps has not been given sound locators, but each group has a simple instrument for taking a bearing on any aeroplane which they may see, and when the only indication is the noise of engines each man gives his impression of the direction, and the view of the majority is usually not far wrong. While I talked to them the ominous sound was heard above the clouds, but the observers, with tnetr local knowledge, decided that it was only the late air mail to Holland which always passes over them at that time. But it was interesting to note how, as soon as the noise was heard, all the cheery conversation and chaff stopped instantaneously, and every man became keen as mustard on his job. PROMPT REPORTS. This organisation of the Observer Corps is quite amazing in its efficiency and its simplicity. The idea of the corps originated with General E. B. Ashmore, who commanded the air defence of London in 1918. The men are sworn in by the police as special constables, but their duties are all under the Air Ministry. The observers receive no pay, and their equipment and their instructions are of the simplest. They hear or see an aeroplane, estimate its direction and height with their instrument and immediately report to their centre. Recruiting for the corps is easy. Men, often old soldiers, come forward readily and once they have joined they enter into the work with the utmost enthusiasm. The amazing thing to my mind is that they get so little practice. In the week before the air exercises each year they go out for two nights and aeroplanes are speciallysent up for them to practise upon. When the exercises begin the observres go on duty for three nights from 6 p.m. until midnight. The only reward which the men get is a 5/- ticket to the R.A.I-. display at Hendon each year. How it comes about that with so little practice they can do their work so w'ell is remarkable. Yet it is an acknowledged fact that their reports come in promptly and accurately and give vital information to the officer commanding the defence. The capacity of Englishmen for giving unpaid public service is well known, but this visit to an observer post opened my eyes to the capacity of the average English villager. If e»er wc are again attacked the defence of Loudon will depend, in the lirst instance, on the work of these observer posts, and it is only lifting that due credit should be given to the modest enthusiasts who do that work.