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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 2317.PDF
SEPTEMBER 23RD, 1943 FLIGHT 339 Making It Snappy Recognition Schools of A.A. Command : Unorthodox but Effective Methods of Stimulating Interest: Healthy Rivalry Between Qunners and the A.T.S. W ERE.- one to ask ordinary members of the publichow long they imagine the average engagementbetween a coastal A.A. battery and German nuisance raiders lasts, one would no doubt receive a wide variety of guesses. But prqbably very few would be anywhere near the truth, for the answer is, from five to ten seconds! Obviously, therefore, it is of vital importance lor all A.A. personnel to be well up in the art of aircraft recog- nition, and for every gun crew to have always on duty at least one member who is really snappy at the job— one who can recognise any aircraft which may approach his gun site as instantaneously as he would recognise his own reflection. To this end the A.A. Command has, in each of its seven 'A.A. Group Schools, a special Recognition Wing whose instructors turn out "unit instructors" who go back to their own A.A. batteries fully qualified to teach recogni- tion to their own gunners and A.T.S. personnel. And as Flight saw for itself when it visited one of these "wings" recently, the standard of efficiency demanded and achieved is extraordinarily high; they know what "snap" recognition means, and they certainly do make it snappy during the three weeks the course normally lasts. The inclusion of certain unorthodox methods in the instructional course has a definite purpose to serve, for it is realised that good spotters are those who are genuinely . interested in aircraft as such (and not merely as a target), and the idea is to stimulate this interest, particularly among the womenfolk, who naturally regard the subject from a somewhat different angle from that of the men. In practice it takes the form of various games which are adaptations of well-known parlour games with aircraft sub- stituted for other objects. One, for example, is a form of the old Army game of " Housey, housey," in which pictures of aircraft take the place of the numbers. Another is based on that familiar party game in which one is allowed to look at a trayful of assorted objects for, say, one minute, and is then required to write down as many of them as one can remember ; the A.T.S. girls are reported to be very good at this. The rest of the instructional process is on what are now generally, accepted lines, models, silhouettes and photo- graphs being used for the classroom work, and " live " prac-' tice being provided at all stages of the course by aircraft using an adjacent airfield. Incidentally, this particular airfield is especially useful because it is one at which a wide variety of types are regularly seen. Among the class- room models is one for introducing the complete novice to the various types of machine in current service. This composite model, mounted on a pivoting stand, is so con- structed that its wings may be mounted in either mid or low positions and may carry two or four engines of c;ther radial or in-line type. Gun turrets can be stuck on in all the usual positions; various tail unit assemblies can be arranged and even wing-tip floats added. Other devices employed include the projection of shadow silhouettes on a ground-glass screen by means of models set at any desired attitude, and sighting ranges covering from 500 to 3,500 yards, on which the pupil sees about the near- est possible representation of the real thing. Thoroughness is the. keynote throughout, and the ser- geant instructors spend quite a lot of time on each individual machine, using official silhouettes and a black- board, and laying particular stress on the aircraft's chief characteristics when seen in flight. .Proof of the effectiveness of the training was provided by a test, which Flight attended, in which ten perspective silhouettes were successively thrown on a screen for one second each. Several members of the class scored 100 per cent., and the rest averaged seven or eight correct. This, by. the way, was only an intermediate test. Behind the Lines J Service and Industrial News from the Inside of Axis and Enemy'occupied Countries A German View AN interesting sidelight on Allied airattacks on Germany is thrown by a report in a Berlin paper which says that" the four-engined bomhers fly in close formation", well aware that our fighterswill have a more difficult job when attacking a bomber formation which issuspended in the air like a ' bolt ' bristling with weapons." Aces WIDE publicity is given in theGerman Press to several Luftwaffe officers who have .now been decoratedwith the Oak Leaves Insignia to the Iron Cross. Among these " aces " are Maj.Hartmann Grasser, commander of a fighter group; Lt. Wolf Udo Ettel,leader of a fighter squadron, and Capt. Heinrich Prince zu Sayn-Wittgenstein,described as a crack night-fighter pilot. ' Three other names figure prominentlyin German reports and are credited with iie customary high score: N.C.O.Novotny with 182 victories, Capt. Rail with 200 and Maj. Kluemper, com-mandant of a torpedo-bomber unit operating in the Mediterranean, who hasbeen awarded the Oak Leaves Insignia. Aftermath •DEPORTS irom Hamburg dated-Cv September 6th show that public services of the city are being onlygradually and partially restored. The water supply has been reconditionedonly in some parts of the city. As far as gas is concerned, the inhabitants areasked " to have a little more patience." Official statements can only console thepopulation, declaring vaguely that they will not wait much longer for electriclight. Camouflage /"CAMOUFLAGE nets and mats for pro-V-' tection against aircraft are being primarily produced by Austrian andCzechoslovakian firms previously manu- facturing artificial flowers. In place ofraffia fibre imported before the war from Madagascar, local grass growing in theAlpine districts is used for the manu- facture. The factory which is responsible fora considerable share of this production is situated in Lausitz. The grass, which is about 5ft. long, is cut intopieces about 7^in. long, and these are then put together by machines andultimately finish up as mats 3ft. 2in. long and about 32m. wide. The material is previously treated toprotect it from the influence of infra-red rays and is said to be almost fireproof.Another advantage claimed is its excel- lent weather resistance. Protection in Austria— AS a result of the raid on the railwayline near Bolzano, reports from the Swiss frontier state that the Germansare rapidly improving the protection of all Austrian railway lines leading toSwitzerland. Many new, well-camou- flaged A.A guns have been placed alongall Austrian railway lines, particularly near junctions, viaducts and tunnels onlines running south. —and in Poland OM Occupied Poland it is reportedthat large quantities of sand for fighting incendiaries in the event of airraids have been distributed by the German authorities in various places inthe streets and squares of Warsaw.
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