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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0777.PDF
AUGUST 23, 1928 THE AIR DEFENCE EXERCISES By "FLIGHT'S " Special Correspondent, Maj. F. A. de V. ROBERTSON, V.D. ONE feature of this year's air exercises which deserves morethan a passing notice is the excellence of the press and publicity arrangements made. The press officer of the AirMinistry, Mr. C. P. Robertson, received and acceded to all the various requests made by the correspondents with hisusual unruffled efficiency. Group-Capt. R. C. M. Pink, C.B.E., and his staff of escorting officers were ubiquitous,dashing from aerodrome to aerodrome continually, and everywhere making smooth the path of the journalist.Perhaps the prophetic mind of the Psalmist was foreseeing their activities when he wrote, " And in the night season also make us desire the warmest possible relations with our oldally of 1914-18. In the following Odyssey I shall not attempt to usurp the functions of the narrative officer, whose commu-niques are printed below, but shall confine myself to what I saw On Wednesday I sped across one of the home counties tovisit an observation centre. The room in which it was located was not underground, but probably the centre will go toearth long before there is any chance of our disagreeing with any "continental Power. The Chief Constable was there inperson supervising the activities of his Specials. They, like .["FLIGHT" Photograph AUXILIARY AIR FORCE MACHINES AT LYMPNE : In the foreground two Avro-Lynx, and behind a number of D.H.9a's. I take no rest." The narrative officer at Uxbridge, Wing-Commander A. C. Maund, C.B.E., D.S.O., gave the greatest assistance to the press. He kept a stream of most excellentcommuniques issuing at frequent intervals, which supplied the newspaper offices with a good deal more than the barebones of the events. Consequently, the special correspondent was left free to roam at will and to study on the spot some ofthe many intricate details which go to make up the compli- cated business of air defence. In fact, so excellent was the the actual watchers, were all unpaid volunteers. I had heardSir Robert Brooke-Popham remark a couple of days earlier that it was probably because they were unpaid that thespecial constables were so good and keen. They were men from all sorts of civil professions, who have to pursue theirordinary avocations during the day, but give up their leisure in the evenings up to 11 p.m. to serving their country. Inwar-time there would have to be night watches .also, but for the exercises this system closed down at 11, and thereafter [" FLIGHT " Photograph WITH THE A.A.F. IN CAMP : Officers' Lines on Lympne Aerodrome. publicity that the Echo de Paris thinks that there was somepolitical motive behind it—namely, that the people of Great Britain were to be terrified into demanding an evencloser entente with France. We may assure our contem- porary (for I feel sure that on this point the Editor willagree_jWith me) that such measures are not necessary to the night bombers had to report their own progress by wireless,being allowed to make a certain margin of deliberate error in each report. I could not but be struck by the look of themen sitting round the large map on the table in the observa- tion centre. The Chief Constable was evidently able topick and choose, and only men of quick intelligence were 721 c2
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