EARS OF THE AIR FORCE

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21039, 15 February 1940, Page 3

EARS OF THE AIR FORCE

COMPLICATED ORGANISATION WORKS SMOOTHLY REMARKABLE EFFICIENCY “Somewhere in Northern England,” underground and well protected from air raids, is a centre of the Observer Corps. Here, every hour of the day and night, a crew of men trained in intricate work sit round a table on which is a large-scale map of a district covering the area, broken up into squares and subdivided into smaller numbered squares. Each man has a telephone and headphones and is in direct contact with three or four listening posts. Above the table, on a platform, sit other men—a recorder and “tellers,” who are in direct contact with similar centres and with a sector of the Fighter Command.

This complicated network of communications works smoothly and entirely without fuss, as the “eyes of the R.A.F.,” and keeps watch over \ a thickly populated area of great strategic importance. From the many aerodromes in the area military and civil ’planes are frequently in the air, and as each of them takes off its course is plotted on the map. When aeroplanes are flying anywhere within the scope of this organ- j isation small counters of various j ) colours are laid out on the map j j table, and as reports come in from . the listening posts their courses j I gradually become visible as lines on ' tho map. j Known Instantaneously j The “tellers” on the platform watch the counters through binoculars and . I report the map number of each of j them to the appropriate authority, i ! In this way the machinery of air de- ; I fence is kept in motion and the presence of hostile or unidentified air- j craft made known instantaneously to | those who direct the operations of j anti-aircraft guns, searchlights, and ; fighter aeroplanes. The listening posts are staffed by people who are trained to identify aeroplanes on sight, to know whether they belong to friend or enemy, to follow their course even when they , are invisible, and to report on j weather conditions. The observation | centre is staffed by men whose i training enables them to collate all j this information and forward it in j such a way that, if necessary, defence i measures may be taken within an 1 amazingly short time of the original i report’s being received from the lis- j j tening post. All these workers (now ; • under the Air Ministry) give up their * time—and have been doing so during I j a long period of training—without j ! giving up their everyday jobs. They j j are liable for duty at any time, they ; j often sleep at the centre, and they ■ I work with remarkable concentration j { and efficiency.