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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 2010.PDF
OCTOBER IITH, 1945 FLIGHT taking the whole German merchant marine, as well as the ships of other nations that the enemy was using. The result of that work was a master-list of ships and photo- graphs, the foundation upon which the structure of ZSM was built. Two tiny photographs of each ship were cut out and stuck on a card the right distance apart for the stereoscope, the optical instrument that makes the pic- ture stand out in sharp relief. On the card went all the information available—a potted history of each ship. As better photographs and later information was received, they were added to the original card. It was from those little fragments of pictures, each hardly half an inch long, that ZSM was able to hunt down the enemy merchant fleet. Until the actual names of each ship became definitely known a system of letters was used—" M " for merchant ships, "T" for tanker, "L" for liner, and so on. If the Navy were told that L24 was about to sail, for example, wires hummed and radio crackled with orders ; a big enemy passenger ship might be taken or sunk. Getting Their Measure The system used for identifying ships was based on their length and other characteristic features. If the ship was at sea, the length had to be measured with slide-rule and dividers, and the number of feet worked out from the height of the aircraft when the picture was taken and the focal length of the camera. At first even ships in harbour had to be measured in the same way, unless there was a building or some other object of known length with which the ship could be compared. Later on, when the exact length of ship after ship was found and recorded, new ships ' were photographed alongside the ones already measured, and by comparison the interpreters could get the length of the unknown vessel to within a few feet. Once he had measured the length, the interpreter simply looked up the card index of all vessels of the selected length or near it, rejected all those showing different fea- tures, such as bridge, funnels or masts, checked any other details such as armament, and then compared the picture under examination with the remaining pictures in the card index. Usually there was one that tallied exactly. If not, further examination showed whether one of the known ships had been altered, or whether a vessel not previously photographed had to be added to the list. In time the interpreters became so familiar with the larger German ships that they were able to recognise them at once without looking at the index at all. They knew normal life in the enemy ports as well as they knew the lines on their own hands. From observation of the enemy ports they found the fixed routine at the blockade-running bases to be in the following stages: — (1) Dockyard for overhaul. (2) Dry dock. (3) Dock- yard again for adjustments. (4) Quay for loading. (5) Lie-off awaiting departure. (6) Departure. Knowing from the photographs exactly which stage a ship had reached, they could forecast accurately when she would sail. Another development was the estimation of the speed of a ship, and from that a record of its probable performance. This was done from • measurement of the bow waves sent out as the ship cut through the .water. Simply by looking at the half-inch picture the interpreter could tell the name, size, tonnage, port of departure, armament and the history of the ship, besides many other details. There were, of course, limits to the scope of the study. Unless of special importance, vessels of under 2,500 tons were not recorded. The scale of photographs was so small that the margin of error in measurement was too wide, and the time taken to study each small photograph was not considered justified. But the real concern of the Admiralty was the ocean- going ships, and these ZSM faithfully recorded. Once the system had been established, 95 per cent, of the ships photographed could be identified with absolute certainty. Reports were issued on every port photographed, some- times as many as ten a day. These reports were, in a sense, the barometer of the Allied blockade. From them the Minis- try of Economic Warfare could tell how much material the enemy was getting in and out of Europe. When the Allied invasion began the system was ex- tended to the Continental railways. A new section was set up to study this aspect alone. Germany was divided into four huge segments, and to each junction and every stretch of railway was allotted a code letter and number. If ZR (". R" for Railways) reported a military train on line GA127 the bombers knew they had a target at a point between Hamburg and Bremen. Military trains were easy to recognise, an example of the oft-quoted methodical mind of the Hun. The same types of train were always the same pattern—flat trucks, box cars, and then flat trucks again. Even if no tanks or guns peeped from the tarpaulins the interpreter knew what was likely to be underneath. Dossiers were kept of every marshalling yard—a particu- larly fat one for Hamm, of 1940-41 fame. When the Allied attack on the railways began the bombers went out armed with fullest information on where their attack would do most harm. They were so successful that ZR was almost swamped with information on shattered lines, blocked traffic, diversions and stoppages caused by the raids. Daily reports, sometimes 60 pages in length, were produced, a memorable one recording that more than half the entire German railways system had been smashed in a month. The enemy could not stay the pace. Finally all railway movement by day ceased, and he moved his trucks stealthily by night, along single lines and side tracks. But even then they could not escape. As with the ships, so with the trains. The photographic aircraft in the air, the photographic interpreters on the ground, spied them out and tracked them down until the whole German trans- port system cracked and crumbled in the last onslaught before the end. A.T.C. GLIDING DEVELOPMENTS NEW developments in the peacetime training programme ofthe A.T.C. include the introduction of two-seater gliders for cadet training, and provision of living accommodation atgliding schools. Only a few two-seater gliders have been available in the past, and these were used mainly for traininginstructors in high altitude gliding and stages of gliding not taught to cadets. Under the new programme a substantialnumber of two-seater gliders of the most modern type will be used in addition to the standard single-seat types. Initial orders for the new gliders have already been placed,and it is expected that first deliveries will be reaching the Corps in good time for an intensive gliding '' drive'' nextspring. In addition, more than 100 standard type single-seat "cadet" gliders will be added to the existing "first-linefleet" of over 300 modern gliders already in use at A.T.C. elementary gliding schools. The accommodation, which is being provided, is at certainA.T.C. gliding schools located elsewhere than on R.A.F. stations, where messing and sleeping facilities already exist and where some cadets have 'already spent periods up to aweek undergoing full-time gliding training. By accommo- dating the cadets on the spot, their gliding instruction canbe continuous, in the same way as R.A.F. flying training, instead of at infrequent intervals. This has led to a pro-nounced improvement in the standard of gliding proficiency reached, as well as effecting a considerable saving of time. To enable the new gliding programme to be carried out,nearly 200 additional A.T.C. officers, all of whom give their services voluntarily, will be trained as instructors. Specialnew travelling concessions have been authorised, and will help cadets from outlying districts who have found it difficult toget to the A.T.C. gliding schools. The new concessions will not only speed up gliding training,but will mean that a larger proportion of the Corps' 100,000 cadets will, in the future, be able to learn the elements ofgliding, which is being increasingly recognised as a valuable basic training for power flying as well as one of the mostpopular features of A.T.C. activities.
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