THE BATTLE OF FRANCE
be bombed. During flight the release must be
operated at the moment he thinks fit. A luminous
signal on the plan shows where the bombs have
fallen and immediately reveals the extent of error.
The talking picture is another auxiliary to in-
struction. The pupils are assembled in a projecting-
room. The film is a record of a reconnaissance flight.
It starts with the moment the pilot is summoned by
his superior officer and receives from him the plan
and all necessary information.
"You will follow such and such a road, such and
such a river. This is what we know of the enemy's
positions. This is what we'd like to know/
And then the pilot's and the mechanic's prepara-
tions. The pupils learn from the memory of what
they see, what will make up their life as an officer.
'And now/ the Commodore said, 'Lord H------,
who is one of our instructors, will show you the
camera obscura*
This was a photographic chamber, about two
yards square and situated in the middle of a field*
In the centre of the roof was a thick glass lens: under
the lens on a table, a sheet of white paper. A pupil
receives instructions to bomb a certain point. He
goes up and as soon as he enters the field of the
camera a tiny black aeroplane begins to move across
the paper. The instructor follows it with a pencil
and describes the trajectory it makes. Each time the
pupil releases a bomb, he lights up beneath his
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