PECULIAR PROBLEM

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19659, 20 August 1935, Page 4

PECULIAR PROBLEM

SEEING AND OBSERVING. OPINIONS OF EXPERTS DIFFER. FACTOR IN AERIAL SEARCHES. The unsuccessful search by air for the aeroplane missing in the Ruahine ranges recently has disclosed, in discussion of the case with aviators of long experience, a minor division of opinion that is interesting to expert and layman alike. A New 7 Plymouth man who held commissioned rank in the 'R.A.F. during the Great War holds the opinion that examination of the country in w'hich the plane was lost by men specially trained as observers might have ended the aerial search differently. Another war-time aviator with many hundreds of hours of civil flying time to his credit, who actually took part in the search for Mr Hamlsh Armstrong’s machine, considers that the plane w 7 as “unspottable” from the air, irrespective of the observer’s ability. The question is, then, does deliberate training in the art of looking at things from above aotually increase one’s ability to identify objeots on the ground, or does such skill come merely unconsciously with experience? “It was well known during the Great War,” stated one aviator, “that new 7 pilots—those with only 40 to 50 hours’ flying experience—were on arrival at the front ‘blind’ to an extent that astonished the. ‘old hands.’ They were quite unable to pick up planes in the air or any but the most noticeable objects on the ground. When I first flpw on the Western Front I believe that I had unusually keen eyesight, but a few trips over the lines with the squadron showed, me the value of learning to look for things scientifically."

Careful Training Needed. With careful training and a good deal of experience, continued the pilot, he had improved. This had taken time and patience, but even at the end of the war he was anything but a skilled observer. Only by thorough knowledge of the theory of observation to begin with and then by further practical training could any pilot hope to become a skilled observer. Objects had to be picked up at a low altitude and then examined from a constantly increasing height until they could be recognised at a great altitude.

The best observers in the war came from the ranks of trained officers in the infantry and artillery. The pilot’s job was merely to fly the machine. Incidentally, the pilot also considered that training in observation should comprise a large part of the work of every territorial and staff officer. The Defence Department should consider the creation of a new class of commissioned officer as part and parcel of the Territorial Air Force.

A pilot searching a stretch of country on his own could, even if practised in observing, pass over large “’blind spots” in which he noted nothing: at all. Unless he w 7 ere giving his eniire attention to the job, he had little chance of picking up anything that was not readily identifiable. If, on the other hand,,the pilot had with him a skilled observer devoting his whole time to the job of "looking,” the whole area could be searched and nothing missed. Good observers were hard to obtain and could be selected only after exhaustive tests. They were usually men of high intelligence, gifted not only with keen and reliable eyes, but also with a natural sense of observation.” Part of “Air Sense.” The pilot w r ho held the opinion that specialised training in observation does not actually help a pilot In identifying objects on tho ground for which he is looking, held only the reservation that one must be accustomed to looking at things from an abnormal angle —from above. Once one had this particular part of “air sense" all the training in the world would 'not improve spotting ability. He pointed out that a military observer’s training is a training that he shall not observe merelv things, but “things about things” that will prove useful to the guns or to the intelligence. He learned to estimate the number of troops, the .strength of gun emplacements, directions, quantities and so on. His training was not a training in seeing, it was a training in estimation —useful estimation and deduction. He instanced the case of a woman passenger who had spotted a transTasman plane long before he, a trained observer, saw it. As far as the search for Mr Hamish Armstrong was concerned, an army of trained observers would have seen nothing more than the pilots who flew over the country on a “grid” plan and who v 7 ere all sufficiently experienced to recognise an aeroplane on the ground had it been visible at all. The division of opinion rests there, without authoritative decision, but the problem remains intriguing. Can ono learn to see —or can one learn only to observe?