THE "BRASS POUNDER

ATC Observer, 1 December 1942, Page 2

THE "BRASS POUNDER

By — V ■

MAURICE SHERWOOD KING.

p \ I 1?? doubt for one moment.-that every cadet undergoing a T xlSo of signalling instruction has continuously had the thought that it ® “ T? welly but receiving is the difficult part of the" p nOj -- -job c - He is definitely under a misapprehension* Anyone can reHuli by normal application of his mind to the Job of practising aslduoujw tat *L*K£! an t?! ’' toas . pounder- 1 , a student has to pay ß infinitely more at tension so the study m hand than when learning receiving« Hoogtio +-^ Howev ? r ' .tnere is no need for anybody to be worried about it, because the whole ob of . learning to be an. efficient telegraphist is a com-para-lively easy one v Then you. can send and receive clean copy at-25 w e n m you can then start learning to be a radio operator, That sounds’ silly, bur, i mean, is, y-here is a wide gap between theory. and practice in . the' use .of morse signalling, the same as thcr.e- is in any other trade or proi ession* ' -t- . ■ 1

, 0 , , Ac-oual opera conditions are totally different from' the con” oi.-ions met wish in a class-room* Firstly, you so very seldom -get* a deal signal? .ven to- one., atmospheric conditions ''are such that the.-crashes arid bangs of static, •■•the whine and roar of interference necessitate .infinitely more concentration® . . - -

'•>•■•' u.On Soard- a- ship, at; 1 sea, in 'normal' times, an operatorhas to send ? and receive a large number of messages each watch, particularly if the' : a I qP _uS a passenger vessels That is an easy job if you are not more; than c & yew nendued rn._-.iesaway .from tie Gonso Station;; or. to whoever you happen t -f?, working,- bus. an- a place .Like the English Channel ’where there- are ’,l T literally Hundreds of vesso? , plying their trade' in a confined spacey’all' ’ Op which are anxious to get the r messages cleared as quickly as possible l ' E ihc conxusion oe comes berrifxc and the operator has to be able to read his messages through.the clamour of a hundred. other signals« ■ yin Th aircraft radio work one of the main essentials is that ; .the * operator is -so proficienc at- his joe that sending and receiving.-i-s -purely"' ; an automatic process* . He has so many other things to do,-- so many instruct* xonsp and .so muon: noise about him.;; that concentration 'upon the sending' and' ; ' receiving. of messages is .almost' -impossible r. Therefore .. the job must be ■to him as easy as talking or reading a books, ' - k •Anotherything, to of that is.of paramount importance; there can'be no room for mistakes of any sort- in the air; you have to. be right the' first dime, because the consequences of a mistake might be fatal® • f 'qr h . ■ ' ■ ■.p ■ ■ . \g: . -What I hate seen of the Air Training Corps Cadets so far, makes me fee.... assured, that the incentive for excellent work is there and that every isciQ is edoing his best to become proficient in what must -be quite a. difficult j obr There is no doubt that a thorough knowledge ■of the morse code is an essential- part of the equipment in every branch of the Air Force. Take, for instance, an actual happening - a bomber on its return from a raid on Germany was- forced to alight ,in the North Sea -because of engine

failure, due to damage received whilst flying through heavy enemy 'flak'. The pilot made the best possible landing on the water, the rubber boats Were inflated and, before the aircraft disappeared beneath the grim, grey waters',- the crew, though somewhat damp physically, were safely esconsed in their life-saving apparatus cheerily hoping for immediate rescue.

~ Night drew on and no rescue craft approached'; Their* position became more and more desperate as the weather became worse and the sky a ; mass of ’ Ibw^hahgihg'.rain-clouds. ' For four days these men took it in turns to paddle tdwarfs England, guessing their course by the direction of the wind. At’ the end ’of the .fourth day, they were over-joyed to see in the gathering dusk, the loom’ of a vessel against the grey horizon. They had a tor which was still r working, and, by means of constantly signalling in morse code with the torch,- they were able to attract the attention of the navigating officers of the vessel, and very soon they were being warmed and fed by welcoming friendly merchant navy sailors.

Had the crew of this stricken aircraft not. had a thorough knowledge of the morse code, there is little doubt that they would not have ' been rescued, because they were nearly at the end of their tether Also, they may not have been rescued, because they could not have given their own recognition signals and more than probably would have been ignored because they might have been taken for an enemy vessel.

I could recite a hundred instances where men's lives have been saved by a knowledge of the morse code -- instances probably well-known to all A.T.C. Cadets. So do not ever believe that the time spent with the oscillators is time wasted. Signalling is the most essential part of your service training, and the'greater the efficiency you attain whilst with the A.T.C., the less you will have to bother with this particular study infinitely more important matters have to take up the whole of your attention on station with the R.N.Z.A.F.