FLAIR FOR JOB

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22478, 13 January 1943, Page 5

FLAIR FOR JOB

Women Searchlight

Operators

(Rec. 5.5) LONDON, Jan. If. Women of the A.T.S. operated searchlights entirely by themselves in several recent actions against raiders and won high praise from senior army officers. The fact that members of the A.T.S. were manning searchlights was kept secret for some time to enable experts to see if the experiments succeeded. They did. Volunteers were selected for their physical hardiness and high standard of intelligence. They proved well capable of taking over from men the work, which calls for much technical knowledge to operate delicate instruments. After the outbreak of war great developments occurred in searchlight defence. It has become a science calling for great skill by all operators, and for this reason each auxiliary is trained for a particular operational job. As a reparation for the open air life, the selected personnel devoted three weeks to physical training, drill and route marches. They were t<*ken in closed lorries at night time, given maps and told to return to camp seven miles away on foot. All succeeded. The instructors were surprised at the case with which they learned to handle the instruments.