AIR MANOEUVRES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20887, 19 August 1939, Page 9

AIR MANOEUVRES

INSTRUCTIONS NOT OBEYED BRIGHT LIGHTS NOT DIMMED RAILWAY TERMINALS DETECTED rnltcd Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. copyriirn* LONDON, August 18 The aeronautical correspondent of the Times, who flew over London in a bomber during the great “air-raid black-out,” declares that bright lights were clearly visible from 4000 feet up. Railway terminals could be detected, the Thames could easily be followed and many of the outer districts could have been bombed. Hundreds of people in Edgeware Road held up a motorist travelling with bright headlights and forced him to dim his lights. Shops which disobeyed official instructions and left their lights on had their windows broken. Although in some cases it was impossible for motorists to see pedestrains, only 20 minor casualties were reported in London, mostly due to cars ramming lamp standards. “Gate-crashing’ l by Germany A German aeroplane “gate-crashed" Britain’s air manoeuvres yesterday. The aeroplane was the Lufthansa Line’s latest 40-seater, which has a detachable nose and tail quickly replaceable with gun turrets. It flew over an area at the mouth of the Thames, which the Air Ministry prohibited to commercial aircraft during the manoeuvres and crossed a Royal Air Force air-fleld at Manston, near Ramsgate, at a height of a few hundred feet. It then passed over Richborough, Kent, the “hush-hush” port during the Great War. The machine was ordered back on to its proper course by radio, and later landed at Groydon. Air Ministry officials immediately summoned the pilot before them. The air-liner operates on the Berlin-Amsterdam-Lympne-Groydon service, and it is usual for these liners to cross the coast over the Thames estuary at Clacton or Margate. The London manager of the Lufthansa Line (Herr Starke) said in an interview:— "The incident was unfortunate, but unintentional. The pilot says that he did not know of the instructions about the mouth of the river. We are always changing crews on this route.”