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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0783.PDF
AUGUST 2, 1934. FLIGHT. 785 r THE DAWN RAID " Harts " of No. 57 (Bomber) Squadron from Upper Heyford off on a raid over Northland. (Flight Photo.) Despite that shortness of training, their reports are re- markably accurate, and come in with sufficient prompt- ness to give the most valuable information to the Fight- ing Area. The Observer Corps is one of the marvels of our Air Defence system. Beside the Landing Flares After driving many more miles, we ended the night of July 25-26 on Biggin Hill aerodrome. By the time that we arrived there the sky had completely cleared, and the moon was nearly at the full. It was a wonderful night, a night for fairies to dance, but not too good for night bombers. Nos. 1 ("Furies") and 23 ("Demons") Fighter Squadrons had moved across the river to Horn- church, and only No. 32 F.S. ("Bulldogs") were left to hold the pass. As No. 32 F.S. had previously been doing day duty, the officers and men must have been rather tired—in fact, one of them confessed that that was so. The raising of the new fighter squadrons will be warmly wel- comed by the ten squadrons of day-and-night fighters. Though at a casual glance everything seemed bright as day, the landing flares were laid out on the aerodrome. Overhead we could see the green and red lights of several "Bulldogs " on patrol, and every now and then one of them would land. As they got near the ground they almost vanished from our sight, and we realised that all was not as bright as it seemed. On all sides the beams of the searchlights kept appearing and disappearing, hungrily questing the sky for some " Virginia ", of whose whereabouts the sound-locators had. given information. There was obvious joy among the Territorials whenever a bomber got caught in a beam, and at once all within reach would turn on to him with an almost audible shout of " Me, too! " Sometimes six or seven beams would be directed on to one luckless "Virginia," which was not really economical. Three would have been quite enough. In the clear sky the bomber had little chance of evading the beams, and soon we would see the ominous red and green lights of a fighter scurrying towards the illuminated raider. Then a green Very light would be fired and an interception would be recorded. Many a gallant "Vir- ginia" came (theoretically) crashing to earth as we watched. In the real thing, hell would have been loose that night, but in the real thing the bombers would hardly have pressed home their attacks on such a night. For the midnight onlooker it was a carnival of the sky, and it was with reluctance that at length we tore ourselves away to seek a belated supper and a still more belated bed. " THERE HE GOES ! " A post of the Observer Corps spotting a nightbomber somewhere in Kent, and sending the report to Fighting Area H.Q. (Flight Photo.)
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