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HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
By the same Author
WAR NEWS HAD WINGS
A RECORD OF THE R.A.F. IN FRANCE
Second edition
HOW
THE R.A.F. WORKS
by
A. H. NARRACOTT
Air Correspondent of The Times
With a Foreword by
THE RT. HON. SIR ARCHIBALD SINCLAIR, M.P.
Secretary of State for Air
With Illustrations
LONDON
FREDERICK MULLER LTD.
29 GREAT JAMES STREET
W.C.i
FIRST PUBLISHED BY FREDERICK MULLER LTD.
IN OCTOBER 1941
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
UNWIN BROTHERS LTD.
THE GRESHAM PRESS
WOKING
Second Edition, October 1941
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE PILOTS,
FLYING AND GROUND CREWS OF THE ADVANCED
AIR STRIKING FORCE WHO WORKED AND DIED
SO BRAVELY IN FRANCE AND TO THOSE
WHO LIVED TO FIGHT ON.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE author is grateful to the Management of The Times
Publishing Company for permission to incorporate in this
volume material from articles which he has written for
The Times \ to the Public Relations Department of the
Air Ministry, and particularly Mr. John Hill of that
Department, for much valuable assistance; and to the
Air Ministry, Ministry of Information, and Canada
House for permission to reproduce a number of official
photographs.
FOREWORD
by THE RIGHT HON. SIR ARCHIBALD SINCLAIR, M.P.
Secretary of State for Air
To those who seek to know what kind of men there are
in the Royal Air Force, and what kind of work they do,
I should like to recommend Mr. Narracott as a guide.
His is a book for anyone who wants to be well informed
about the manifold activities of the R.A.F. and its
intricate organization without reading through a mass of
specialized information.
Mr. Narracott gives the essential facts about a multi-
tude of men and machines, from the fighter pilot to the
men who sit in target boats waiting to be hit by a practice
bomb, and from the latest and largest bombers to the
power- driven sewing machines which mend barrage
balloons. He describes the work of each Command, as
well as the welfare organizations of the R.A.F., the
W.A.A.F., the Empire Training Scheme? the Air Train-
ing Corps, the ferry pilots, and the Royal Observer
It is a large subject, ably compressed within the
limits of a short book which deserves to be widely read.
Air Ministry, Whitehall, S.W.i
July 1941
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
DEDICATION 5
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 6
FOREWORD 7
INTRODUCTION 13
I. THE MACHINERY 21
II. GETTING READY 27
III. THE STRIKING FORCE 41
IV. FIGHTERS AT WORK 5 6
V. WINGS OVER THE SEA 67
VI. LINKING AIR AND LAND 82
VII. OUR SILVER SENTINELS . * . . . . Q2
viii. THE "UNIVERSAL PROVIDER " .... 99
IX. WOMEN IN BLUE f 107
X. HEALTH AND HAPPINESS . . . - . . 1 14
XI. EMPIRE RESERVOIR 123
XII. RESERVOIR JUNIOR 131
XIII. THE FERRY PILOTS 137
XIV. OUR EYES AND EARS 146
XV. OTHER STALWARTS 154
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
SUPERMARINE SPITFIRES FLYING IN FORMATION . 1 6
AS THE SUN SETS, A WIIITLEY BOMBER TAKES OFF ON
A RAID OVER GERMANY 1 7
A RAID ON ABBEVILLE AERODROME: BOMBS ON THEIR
WAY DOWN 32
FULL MOON RAIDERS : R. A .F . CREWS EMBARK FOR BERLIN 3 3
R.A.F. PARACHUTE TROOPS GOING ABOARD A BOMBER 48
NIGHT FIGHTER 49
A FORMATION OF BLENHEIM FIGHTERS FROM COASTAL
COMMAND OPERATIONAL TRAINING STATION . 64
AIR MARSHAL W. A. ("BILLY") BISHOP, V.C., AFFIXES
THE WINGS OF A CANADIAN* PILOT TRAINED
UNDER THE EMPIRE SCHEME . ... 64
A SUNDERLAND FLYING-BOAT OF COASTAL COMMAND 65
MEMBER OF THE R.A.F. 's "NAVY": A HIGH-SPEED
LAUNCH TRAVELLING ALL OUT . 65
IN A FACTORY PRODUCING WHITLEY BOMBERS. . 80
THESE STRANGELY SHAPED BOXES CONTAIN AIRSCREWS 80
AIRSPEED OXFORD TRAINERS ON TRENTON AIRFIELD,
CANADA 8l
12 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
FACING PAGF
ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE RECRUITS REFUELLING
AN AIRFIELD . ' 8l
A FLEET AIR ARM SWORDFISH TORPEDO-CARRIER
TAXI-ING PAST H.M.s. HOOD (Photo: Charles
Brown) 96
TRAINING NAVAL PILOTS : LOADING A TORPEDO ON TO
A FLEET AIR ARM ALBACORE (Photo : Central Press) 97
THE ROYAL OBSERVER CORPS AT WORK . . . 112
THE BALLOONS GO UP 113
TRAINING WIRELESS OPERATORS FOR THE R.A.F. . 128
W.A.A.F. PERSONNEL BEING REVIEWED . . .128
SPATTED LYSANDERS ON PATROL ., . . * . 129
All the pictures used in this book, except where specially
mentioned, are official Air Ministry photographs, the Crown
copyright of which is strictly reserved.
INTRODUCTION
THE science of aviation is so young that when the last war
started it was still in the nursery. It had learned to toddle,
but little more.
True, it had been born as long ago as 1903, when the
American Wright Brothers got off the ground for the first
time in a powered machine, but in the life of such a revo-
lutionary new science eleven years is a very short time
indeed. Flying had made fair progress in France, Britain,
Germany and America and to a lesser extent in Russia
and elsewhere, but in many countries it was almost
ignored, vyhile as a war weapon it was completely untried.
In 1914 aircraft were rickety contraptions of wires and
struts, under-powered and not very stable. Comparatively
little "was known about aerodynamics, and what advance
had been made was due as much to the unerring instinct
of the pioneer designers as to any really extensive know-
ledge. In short, flying was still something of an experi-
ment and was a risky business.
During the four years of war it grew from babyhood
into lusty, menacing adolescence. It made sufficient
advance to show that as a weapon of offence and defence
it had come to stay. Although its strength was limited it
proved that it could wield a not inconsiderable influence
on the course of the war, and it did in fact do so. Thanks
in no small degree to the efficient French engines, Allied
14 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
air power was on top at the start and for some time
afterwards. Then followed two short periods when the
introduction of the Fokker and the Albatross gave Ger-
many the advantage, but still better types soon regained
our superiority, and when the Armistice came the Allies
were undisputed masters of the air and Britain was the
strongest aviation Power in the world.
Great Britain's air force started life as an independent
entity in May, 1913, under the title of the Royal Flying
Corps, but no sooner was it in being than its two com-
ponents, the naval and military sections, began to drift
apart and come under the domination of the respective
senior Services to which they were attached. A month
before war broke out the naval section became known as
the Royal Naval Air Service and its personnel donned
naval uniforms and adopted naval ranks. The men of the
R.F.C., who were to work with the land forces, were
known by military ranks and wore the khaki of the Army.
In those early days aeroplanes were employed exclu-
sively as "air eyes." They were in fact, fitted for nothing
more than spotting for the artillery and doing short
reconnaissances. Their limited range and complete
absence of weapons of defence or offence prevented them
from being used as combat machines. When air fighting
started it was first conducted with rifles or revolvers
carried by the pilot, and later, with a gun mounted on a
device not unlike a motorcar spring. Later still aeroplanes
were equipped with one or two guns firing forward
through the propeller. Bombing for some time was con-
ducted on equally elementary lines. The bombs were
INTRODUCTION 15
either tipped over the side or dropped through a hatch in
the floor of the fuselage.
As the war dragged on the strength of the opposing
air forces increased, and there was an all-round improve-
ment in materials, designs and technique. In April, 1918,
the two British flying services were re-united under the
present title of the Royal Air Force.
Considering the growing part which aviation had played
in the war it is rather surprising that all the nations
starved and neglected their air forces after hostilities had
come to an end. It may have been and most probably
was due to three things: firstly, to a weariness of war
which inevitably follows a protracted national effort;
secondly, to the resolve of the leading nations to settle dis-
putes through the League of Nations instead of fighting
over them; and thirdly, to the need for strict economy in
national spending. The first and last '(plus the Treaty of
Versailles) were undoubtedly the reasons in the case of
Germany and the other defeated nations.
But while air forces were whittled down civil aviation
developed at an astounding rate all over the world. In-
creased range and improved performance of aircraft re-
sulted in the starting up of air lines in most of the leading
countries, some of them State-owned and most of them
subsidized. Many fine long-distance flights, in which
British designers, pilots and navigators played a promi-
nent part, and a number of successful crossings of the
Atlantic, pushed air transport ahead at a still faster speed,
and gradually people forgot their earlier fears and travel
by air became popular. Long before this war started most
1 6 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
of the civilized countries of the world had become " air-
minded" to a greater or lesser degree.
As soon as Hitler came into power Germany began to
build large fleets of ostensibly civilian machines. In the
light of subsequent events few will doubt that they were
designed largely with an eye to their use for war pur-
poses, for many civil aircraft can easily be converted to
military use. In the same way flying and glider clubs were
also encouraged. Under a veil of secrecy Nazi Germany
also commenced to build up a huge air force. The Junkers
Ju 876 dive-bombers, which played such an important
role in France and in the earlier attacks on this country,
are relics of those clandestine activities.
Strange as it may seem at first glance, the Nazis' initia-
tive in this direction may lose them the present struggle
in the air. The Germans got ready for war so early that
by the time it came many of their aircraft were obsolescent
and some even obsolete. They were the last word in per-
fection at the time of the Spanish Civil War, but the useful
life of the average aeroplane is not long, so that by 1939
some types had seen their best days. Much the same is
true of Italy. She had prepared for the Abyssinian cam-
paign and to aid General Franco in Spain, so that she was
committed to certain types long before she crept into the
war, and had insufficient time to change them.
On the other hand, Britain, with no aggressive inten-
tions, did not start to build up her new air force until
much later; almost, one might say, until after the crisis
week of September, 1938. Wisely or unwisely, successive
post-war governments had let our air strength fall nearly
INTRODUCTION 17
to zero. Almost the only recruiting of pilots was done by
means of what were known as short service commissions
(four years on the active list and six years on the reserve,
or vice versa). In 1925, however, the Auxiliary Air Force
had been created, composed of part-time airmen who did
their training in their leisure hours, chiefly at week-ends.
This ensured a small reserve to be called upon in the event
of war. The reserve strength was increased considerably
by the formation of the R.A.F. Volunteer Reserve in 1937.
These two were what the Territorial Army was to the
Regular Army a reservoir to be tapped in an emergency.
It was not until 1935 that the R.A.F. began to expand,
and although Mr. Baldwin had told us that "our frontier
is on the Rhine'' and Mr. Churchill had cried in the
wilderness (or, to be more exact, in Parliament), warning
governments of Germany's mighty preparations, it was
not until Mr Chamberlain had been to Munich that the
force began to grow at any pace. That statement is apt to
be misleading, for it takes a long time for schemes to
produce results, and much useful spade work had been
well and truly done by the Chamberlain Government and
a lesser amount by the Baldwin administration.
By the outbreak of war the R.A.F. was a neat, compact,
efficient little force, composed of first-class aircraft for all
purposes. It had a thoroughly workmanlike organization
and, as the results have shown, its training had been
developed on sound lines. Its one inferiority to the
Luftwaffe was in numbers, and now, thanks partly to
American aid and partly to the herculean efforts of our
own industry, that is being slowly but surely overcome.
1 8 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
The war in the Middle East and in Albania has shown
men and machines of the Royal Air Force to be vastly
superior to the Regia Aeronautica of Italy. Every week has
made it more obvious that as an air Power Italy is not in
the first class, despite all her pre-war boastings. Over
Germany we have not the same marked degree of superi-
ority. The German machines are better than those of
their Axis partners and their airmen display more ability
or perhaps it is a greater determination to fight. The
Italian flyers are not cowards, but many of them seem
to have no heart for the struggle. Could the truth be
known we should probably find that many of them would
prefer to be fighting on the other side or, better still,
not fighting at all. It should be remembered that for not
a few of them this is their third war in a very few years
and they had had enough even before we started to
trounce them. If Mussolini had not dragged them into
it they would far sooner have stayed at home and culti-
vated their land or run their cafes.
And so it is against Germany that our chief struggle
lies. There is no need to say that they are doughty oppo-
nents, for they have already shown that. Yet, in the
summer of 1940, when the R.A.F. was relatively weak in
numbers, the German Air Force was given one of the
soundest thrashings imaginable. We had our losses, too,
of course, but of the R.A.F. 's superiority there could be
no doubt. We shall continue to have our ups and downs
and, unless Hitler tries to invade us, the struggle may be
long and dour, but there seems no reason to doubt the
final result. *
INTRODUCTION 19
Perhaps a personal note may be excused. Since I re-
turned from France, after the capitulation in June, 1940,
I have been privileged to see something of the working
of all the R.A.F. Commands. One could have no better
tonic. Everywhere one sees signs of growing strength, of
excellent morale among all ranks, and of a dogged deter-
mination to win the fight, however long it may last and
whatever is in store.
Surely, with such a spirit, backed by the best of materi-
als that money can buy and by the pick of the British
Empire's manhood, we cannot fail.
A. H. NARRACOTT
LONDON, 1941
CHAPTER ONK
THE MACHINERY
THE Royal Air Force is controlled by a complicated
machinery revolving around the Air Ministry. In his
capacity as Marshal of the Royal Air Force and Air
Commodore-in- Chief of the Auxiliary Air Force the
King is at the head. Under him there is the Air Council,
presided over by the Secretary of State or his deputy, and
under that august body the various Commands of the
Service proper. The Air Ministry itself is divided into
many specialist departments too numerous to detail and
almost too complicated to explain.
On the Service side the Commander-in- Chief is known
as Chief of the Air Staff, an office occupied by Marshal
of the Royal Air Force Sir Charles Frederick Algernon
Portal, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.C., who succeeded Sir Cyril
Newall towards the end of 1940, when the latter was
appointed Governor- General of New Zealand. At home,
the R.A.F. has eight Commands Bomber, Fighter,
Coastal (to which is attached a Marine Section), Tech-
nical Training, Flying Training, Maintenance, Balloon,
and Army Cooperation. Each Command has its own
Commander-in-Chief. There is also the Women's
Auxiliary Air Force, which is performing valuable work.
Overseas, there are a number -of other Commands
22 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
scattered around at strategic points so as to protect all
parts of the far-flung Empire. They are: Middle East
Command, with headquarters at Cairo; the Royal Air
Force in Palestine and Trans-jordan, with headquarters
at Jerusalem; the British Forces in Iraq (headquarters,
Dhibban); R.A.F., India (headquarters, New Delhi);
R.A.F., Mediterranean (headquarters, Malta); British
Forces in Aden; and R.A.F., Far East (headquarters,
Singapore). In addition, certain Empire countries have
their own air forces.
The Canadian Air Force was started in 1916, when the
War Office decided to establish in the Dominion an
organization for training personnel for the R.F.C. In the
early days of the 1914-18 war a large number of Canadians
came to England to join the R.F.C. and the R.N.A.S. and
as many as 800 officers and cadets had been enrolled in
the Royal Flying Corps alone before the separate training
organization was started up in Canada. On January i,
1923, the Department of Militia and Defence, the Naval
Service and the Air Board, which previously adminis-
tered the Army, Navy and Air Force respectively, were
amalgamated by the formation of a Department of
National Defence. As a result, the Canadian Air Force,
which had been on a semi-permanent basis, was abolished
and a newly formed permanent force was granted the
prefix "Royal" by H.M. the King.
Canada is also making other invaluable contributions
to the war effort, notably the Empire Air Training
Scheme, but that will be dealt with later.
Australia is another Dominion which has a most
THE MACHINERY 23
efficient air arm of its own. The first air unit in Australia
was formed in 1912, and the first complete Australian
squadron left for Egypt in March, 1916, later playing an
important part in the Palestine campaign. Three addi-
tional squadrons were organized for service in France, and
early in 1918 the Australian Flying Corps established its
own training wing in England. The strength of the Corps
at the end of the war was over 250 pilots and a total per-
sonnel of between 3,000 and 4,000. Units of the Australian
Flying Corps were responsible for the destruction of over
400 enemy aircraft between August, 1917, and the Armis-
tice. In 1920 it was decided to form an Australian Air Force
as part of the Commonwealth Military Forces, and on
March 31, 1921, the Australian Air Force was formed by
proclamation pending the passage of the Air Defence
Act. On August 13, 1921, it became the Royal Australian
Air Force. The Air Defence Act received Royal Assent
on September i, 1923, under which the R.A.A.F. became
a separate service of the Defence Forces of the Common-
wealth, with equal status to the Royal Australian Navy
and the Commonwealth Military Forces. It is adminis-
tered by an Air Board.
New Zealand also possesses a small but efficient air
force. During the last war two flying schools trained pupils
for the Imperial flying services, and over 300 New
Zealanders served in the British flying forces. In 1923 the
permanent air force was formed, under the title of New
Zealand Air Force (Territorial), to cooperate with the
Dominion's military forces. In 1937 the New Zealand
Government undertook a general revision of defence
24 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
matters and a complete reorganization and development
sgheme for air defence was put in hand. The Royal New
Zealand Air Force was granted permission to use the
coveted prefix in 1934. It is now controlled by an Air
Board, which administers the Regular Air Force, the Air
Force Reserve and the Territorial Air Force.
Because of the brilliant part it has played in the hostili-
ties in the Middle East the South African Air Force is
fairly well known. The nucleus of a South African Avia-
tion Corps was formed in 1914. The Corps was re-
mobilized and sent to England in 1915 and became
No. 26 (South African) Squadron, R.F.C. serving in
German East Africa. Apart from this unit a great many
South Africans came to England and joined the British
flying Services. At the beginning of 1916 nearly 2,000
South Africans were under training in England and
Egypt, and in all about 3,000 received commissions in, the
R.F.C., R.N.A.S. and R.A.F. during the war. In 1926
there was brought into being a general organization to
put the Union Defence Forces on a stable footing. The
South African Air Force was organized on the simplest
basis possible, consisting of an aircraft depot, a flying
training school and one composite active service squadron,
an Active Citizens' Force and a Special Reserve for pilots
and mechanics. By the middle of 1938 the S.A.A.F. had
200 first-line fighter and bomber aircraft and training
machines, as well as civil aircraft capable of being con-
verted into bombers. The Air Force is an arm of the
South African Permanent Defence Forces and is adminis-
tered by the Minister of Defence.
THE MACHINERY 25
India, too, has a tiny air force, composed entirely of
Indians, but this is in rather a different category, for it
-comes under the command of the A.O.C., R.A.F., India.
It was formed in October, 1932.
This is by no means a complete picture of the air
support which the Empire is giving to the Mother Country
in this war. Men from almost every Dominion, Colony
and other overseas possessions are to be found wearing the
R.A.F. blue, and in the aggregate they make up a very
considerable force.
Valuable help is also being given to the Royal Air Force
by thousands of men from Allied countries which have
been overrun by German aggression. The Poles, Dutch,
Norwegians and Free French all have their own separate
air forces operating within the framework of the R.A.F.,
while many Czechs and Belgians form part of the vast
organization of the R.A.F. Volunteer Reserve. The
United States of America is represented in the same
force by the Eagle Squadron, while many lovers of
democracy in other neutral countries are serving in
various ways.
Thanks to the splendid organization of the Empire Air
Training Scheme in Canada, Australia, South Africa and
Southern Rhodesia the R.A.F* is assured of a continuous
and increasing flow of recruits for all commands. To
provide the airmen of tomorrow there is the Air Training
Corps, formed in February, 1941, to provide pre-entry
tuition for boys between the ages of 16 and 18, while for
boys who are younger still (between n and 16), who are
not old enough to participate in the A.T.C. scheme, the
26 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS '
Boy Scout Movement recently formed a new section,
known as Air Scouts.
Though they do not form part of the R.A.F., no picture
of the variety of organizations which are playing their
part alongside the flying service would be complete
without a passing reference to the Air Transport
Auxiliary, a civilian organization which is doing valuable
work in " ferry ing" new aircraft from the factories and
maintenance units to the squadrons and in flying Ameri-
can aircraft across the Atlantic; and the Royal Observer
Corps, another civilian body, whose activities are an in-
dispensable part of our defence against air attack. The
anti-aircraft guns and searchlights come under the Army,
but they, too, work in the closest contact with the R.A.F. ;
so does the Fleet Air Arm, controlled by H.M. Navy.
Two distinct Government Departments also work side
by side with the Air Ministry. They are the Ministry of
Aircraft Production, which supervises production not only
in this country but in America and elsewhere, and the
Ministry of Economic Warfare, which guides Bomber
Command in the selection of suitable targets.
Most of these organizations will be dealt with more
fully in later chapters, but they have been mentioned here
in order to give some idea of the vast network which has
united to help fight the enemy in the air.
CHAPTER TWO
GETTING READY
"I am convinced that the material we have today is fully
worthy of the example handed down by the pilots and crews
who so decisively won the Battle of Britain last September."
CAPTAIN H. H. BALFOUR, M.P.,
Under- Secretary of State for Air 1
BECAUSE no man can take his place in the Royal Air Force,
whether he is destined for service in the air or on the
ground, until he has become thoroughly proficient, it
might be appropriate to discuss the work of the training
commands before dealing with the operational and other
branches. The excellent way in which that training is
carried out is shown by the high standard of fighter and
bomber pilots, by the resource and skill of the crews of
our giant machines, and by the efficiency with which
British aircraft have been kept airworthy under the diffi-
cult and dangerous conditions of wartime.
Until recently there was only one Training Command
in the R.A.F. but when the force began to expand at such
an extraordinary rate it became obvious that there must
be separate organizations to deal with flying and ground
work. Flying Training Command and Technical
1 After inspecting an R.A.F. Initial Training Wing on
February I5th, 1941.
2 8 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
Training Command are now certainly among the largest
in the whole wide range, and it is necessary that they
should be, for an air force must work with one eye
towards future requirements.
Flying Training Command is divided into six groups.
One group looks after the initial training wings; two are
responsible for elementary flying training schools and air
observer- navigation schools; two control the Service
flying training schools ; and the sixth maintains the bomb-
ing and gunnery schools.
A pilot's tuition is really divided into four stages, though
they are continuous. Whether he is a volunteer or a man
called up under an age group any entrant attending the
recruiting centre may express a preference for air crew
duties. Subject to a satisfactory preliminary medical
examination his papers are then marked provisionally for
flying duties. The next stage is attendance before the
Aviation Candidates Selection Board, wiio test him in
mathematics and other subjects of importance to an airman
and satisfy themselves that he is up to the required educa-
tional standards. He then has to pass the medical
examination proper and the physical standards required
are high before he is told to report at a receiving wing.
The young recruit is now ready to start his training.
After receiving his uniform and kit he is taught how to
salute, given lectures on Service discipline and etiquette,
learns how to distinguish ranks, and, in short, is generally
fitted for a career in the flying Service. After about a
fortnight the recruit is transferred to one of the schools
of an initial training wing, where elementary instruction
GETTING READY 29
is given in mathematics, navigation, aircraft recognition,
armaments and signals. At the same time he is drilled
and sent on marches and runs, so that his physical and
mental education progress side by side.
Candidates for flying duties are sometimes rejected on
the ground that they do not reach the prescribed educa-
tional standards. Often they are hurt, and their friends
are indignant. Does the R.A.F. want men or doesn't it?
And what has education got to do with flying ? Those are
the sort of questions one hears occasionally. There are,
however, very good reasons for laying down minimum
educational qualifications for men who are to fly.
Pilots, for example, must write reports of their part in
operations and they must be clear and free from am-
biguity, for those reports are studied carefully, experience
gained in actual operations sometimes determining
changes in tactics or resulting in improvements in the
aircraft employed. An airman cannot afford to be weak
in mathematics, for navigation is essentially a mathe-
matical subject. New instruments have been devised
which make some of the processes automatic and cut out
lengthy calculations, but even with such simplification
one principle always holds good that the navigator who
readily understands what he is doing, and Wriy, is better
in an emergency than one who does everything by rule of
thumb. And emergencies are bound to occur sometimes
on active service.
Bomb aiming is another task for which a basic training
in mathematics is invaluable. A bomb sight is a compli-
cated instrument, requiring various adjustments to allow
3 o HOW THE RA.F. WORKS
for the type of bomb being used, for height and speed of
the 'aircraft, and for wind direction and drift. There are
two kinds of bomb-aimers those who know exactly what
they are doing and those who have merely learned a lot of
meaningless rules. The first type of man sets his sight
intelligently, because he realizes the factors for which he
is making allowances, while the second type merely loosens
a screw, rotates a dial and tightens another screw because
he is told that he must do so, trusting to providence that
all this weird magic will work. In an emergency there is
no doubt which man would be the more likely to hit his
target.
It is for all those reasons that the R.A.F. set out to
discover, while he is at the first stage, whether a man has
sufficient knowledge of the vital subjects to enable him
to become a successful pilot, navigator, bomb-aimer or
wireless operator-air gunner. There is a mid-course
examination in mathematics, in which 60 per cent of
marks must be obtained to qualify for completion of the
course.
Throughout the long weeks at the I.T.W. he has not
been in the air once and has probably not even seen an
aeroplane at close range. Nevertheless he has had the
sound grounding which will enable him to benefit by the
slightly mofe advanced instruction he .will receive at the
next stage the elementary flying training school. This is
the really vital stage of his training. Though pupils are
sometimes rejected even later, it is usually here that a man
shows whether he is likely to make a good pilot or not.
If an intending pilot fails at any stage of his training he
GETTING READY 31
may be re-mustered for air crew duties or he may be given
ground employment.
Almost as soon as he has settled into his new quarters
the trainee receives his introduction to light aircraft, such
as Tiger Moths or Miles Magisters. At first, of course,
he flies dual with an instructor, but after a while conies
the thrill of his first solo flight. By this time he has
learned how to read his aircraft instruments and maps,
has received further instruction in navigation, guns and
bombs. During the whole of this course the pupil has
little leisure time, nor wants any. He is much too absorbed
in this exciting new life. If he is not in the lecture room
he is out on the aerodrome, and by the time the day's work
is finished he is quite ready for bed, for he will have to be
up early.
Much of his most valuable flying experience is gained
on the ground, thanks to an ingenious device known as
the Link Trainer. It is a miniature aeroplane, complete
with all the usual controls, and the pilot, can guide it just
as if he were actually flying. To master "blind flying" and
navigation in the dark he flies with a wooden hood
shutting him off from the outside room, so that he is
forced to guide his "aircraft" safely by the use of his
instruments. The Link Trainer is connected by an
electrical device to an accurate little machine on the
instructor's table, so that the expert can check the course
the pupil is following. They can also speak to each other
by wireless telephone, and so the trainee becomes accus-
tomed to doing two jobs at once flying the machine and
keeping in touch with the ground.
32 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
Flying instructors have a tiring, trying occupation.
They have no sooner moulded one lot of recruits and
changed them, in a comparatively few weeks, into fairly
competent fliers than they have to start the same course
all over again. Yet they take a great pride in their work.
The nation owes them a great debt of gratitude, for upon
them rests the grave responsibility for the standard of the
R.A.F. of tomorrow. They would far sooner be "having
a go" at the enemy themselves, but they know that they
are doing an invaluable job and they d<3 it cheerfully
and well.
By the time a man leaves the elementary flying training
school he is quite at home in the air, though by no means
ready to be pitted against the enemy. At the Service flying
training school, if the embryo pilot is destined for fighter
aircraft he concentrates on guns and flies in Harvards,
Miles Masters or similar types ; if he is to be a bomber
pilot he trains on Avro Ansons or Airspeed Oxfords or
Fairey Battles. The actual handling of the machine in
daylight soon becomes almost automatic. The fighter
pilot knows a great deal. about evasive tactics and can do
many hair-raising acrobatics, while the bomber pilot has
little difficulty in appreciating the significance of each
dial, switch and lever in his complicated cockpit. He is
soon taking his machine on long flights, making his way
by reading maps and by accurate navigation. The man
who will one day be finding his way to Germany and back
without much "outside" help is gradually taking shape.
When they are thoroughly competent in daylight flying
pupils are initiated into the w r onders of night flying. In
GETTING READY 33
view of the great and still increasing importance of opera-
tions during darkness this is a vital part of his training.
Handling an aeroplane in the dark is at one and the same
time a great thrill and a searching test.
Accompanied by an instructor, the pupil struggles
through the black-out to the waiting aeroplane, his para-
chute already in position. The engine has been started
up, and when he sees the usual lamp signal telling him
that the runway is clear he taxies to the starting point.
Here, there is another exchange of signals before he opens
up the throttle and roars down the lane between the dim
landing lights. When the machine has got up sufficient
speed he eases back the "stick" and in a moment the lights
of the field are receding downwards and backwards. He
is away. He gains height, turns gently and settles down to
the thrill of night flying. The only lights visible are those
on his instruments, and he must watch them carefully, for
it is surprisingly easy to let one wing, get low. He must
also keep a look-out for other aircraft, for more than one
pupil will be up at the same time.
Every now and then the instructor notes some small
fault and gives the pupil some sound advice which is
going to stand him in good stead when he starts opera-
tions. He is also keeping a sharp look-out. After a while
the embryo pilot brings the machine back towards the
airfield and circles above it. He flashes his code number
and, having received permission to land, begins to lose
height. This is the severest test of all. A night landing is
not easy for beginners. Gradually he comes lower still,
the landing lights seem to grow bigger and brighter, the
34 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
throttle is eased back and a slight jolting (sometimes a big
jolting) tells the pilot that he is on the ground. He taxies
back towards the hut and brings his charge to a stand-
still. A few moments later another pupil has taken his
place.
At these Service training schools instruction is also
given in bomb-aiming, and here again ingenious inven-
tions enable much valuable experience to be gained on
the ground. One of the best known aids is known as the
bombing teacher. It is housed in a stone or wooden build-
ing about 20 feet or so in height. In the roof is a pro-
jector, which reproduces on the floor an aerial picture
of a typical piece of English or German scenery. About
half-way up is a platform, at the end of which is a bomb
sight. The bomb-aimer lies prone on the floor and the
pupil bomber pilot sits at his side, handling the controls
which move the scenery in such a way that it corresponds
to the movements of an aeroplane in flight.
Because the platform is necessarily stationary the floor
scenery obligingly moves for the pupil at the same speed
as it would appear to do if he were flying over it in a
bomber. The bomb-aimer is told that the "aeroplane" is
flying at, say, 10,000 feet and that there is a 20 m.p.h. wind
blowing head-on. He then sets the bomb-sight accord-
ingly and is given a target on the floor scenery to bomb.
As the target moves towards them the bomb-aimer in-
structs the pilot as to course. "Left," he will say, and
then, when they are travelling directly towards the
objective, he will shout "Steady," take careful aim and
pull the bomb lever. The scenery corjies to a standstill in
GETTING READY 35
the exact time that it would have taken a bomb to fall
10,000 feet, and a shadowy "X" marks the spot where
the bomb would have hit. In this way the instructor is
able to calculate exactly how accurate the aim has been.
The" bombing teacher is a wonderful invention and it has
taught thousands of young R.A.F. men how to obtain a
direct hit from a great height.
But it is by no means the only method of instruction.
Another device is known as the Camera Obscura, and it
is used in conjunction with aircraft. It consists of a wide-
angle lens fitted into the roof of a small hut or tent, giving
a clear view of the sky overhead. A picture of the expanse
of sky is reflected on a piece of paper pinned to a table
immediately below the opening of the lens. In this way
one can look down at the paper and see the sky as clearly
as if one were lying on one's back in a pleasant meadow
on a sunny afternoon. The pupil bomb-aimer is sent up
in an aeroplane fitted with a device which flashes a light
as the bomb lever is pulled. As the 'plane speeds overhead
a man in the hut under the lens plots its course with a
pencil on the paper and when the light flashes in the
aeroplane he marks the spot and calculates the margin
of error, if any.
Yet another device for bombing instruction is the track
recorder, also used in conjunction with an aeroplane fitted
with a light connected to the bomb-lever. It is operated
by two men and the course of the bomber is followed
through two telescopes set at right-angles. As they turn
handles to keep the aeroplane in their sight its course is
recorded on a strip of paper, and when the light flashes
36 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
the spot is marked on the paper by an automatic pencil.
The accuracy of the aim can then be computed by means
of a scale which has already been worked out.
By the time he has finished the Service training course
the pupil is a thoroughly trained man. He emerges from
it proudly wearing on his breast his wings and on his arm
his sergeant's stripes or the thin ring of the pilot officer.
A percentage of the pupils are granted commissions.
There is only one more stage left the operational training
unit, known as the O.T.U. Here, bomber pilots, naviga-
tors and wireless operator-air gunners are teamed up and
they do much of their training as a crew. Once more they
can gain valuable experience on the ground. Fighter
pilots continue to receive individual instruction.
At jhese advanced schools there is invariably a room
fitted up something like a lecture hall. Along one side are
sound-proof cabins, rather like large telephone boxes, and
in these crews are "sent on raids to Italy or Germany."
The navigators plot their course and can obtain wireless
information about their position from the instructor in
charge of the class. From time to time aerial photographs
of places on the route are flashed on a screen. Over
"enemy territory" lights come up to indicate searchlights
and flashes to appear like anti-aircraft fire, and such enemy
activities have to be recorded by the wireless-operator in
his log book.
After a few weeks of intensive training at this school
the pilot is at last sufficiently skilled to go on active service,
and he and the navigator and wireless operator-air gunner
are posted to a squadron. Now for that "crack at the
GETTING READY 37
Hun" for which they have been waiting so impatiently
all these months!
The training at the air observer-navigation schools is
equally thorough. When the course has been completed
a pupil must be able to pin-point the position of his
machine in all sorts of weather, by day or by night. He
must have mastered the intricacies of aircraft radio ; must
be able to read maps, charts, compass and Aldis signal
lamps ; know how to fuse and drop bombs with precision ;
how to take air photographs, work guns and handle fire-
fighting appliances. In short, he must be able to do every
job in the aeroplane except fly it. Navigation is of para-
mount importance, for upon the accuracy with which the
proper course is followed depend the lives of the crew and
the safety of a valuable aeroplane.
The navigators and the wireless operator-air gunners
both attend the bombing and gunnery school, where they
learn how to handle such guns as the Vickers, Browning
and Lewis, and practice with cine-guns and camera-guns.
Some of the firing is done on ground ranges and some
in the air at drogues towed by aircraft. The wireless
operator-air gunner must become expert in the sending
and receiving of Morse messages, and he also receives a
thorough grounding in magnetism and electricity, in
radio repairs, and in keeping a log. When he gets to the
operational training unit he is given instruction in a
cabin which tilts every time he stretches out a hand to
adjust a knob on his set. In that way he becomes accus-
tomed to manipulating a radio set while an aeroplane is
bumping about in rough weather.
38 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
This gives some idea though by no means a complete
picture of how the R.A.F. trains its recruits for the air.
The whole range of ground and air training is controlled
by an Air Member, Air Vice-Marshal Garrod. Under him,
are Air Commodore A. J. Capel, D.S.O., D.F.C., who is
Director of Operational Training; Air Commodore A. H.
Orlebar, A.F.C., Director of Flying Training; and Group
Captain M. Thomas, Director of Technical Training. Air
Commodore Orlebar will be remembered for the promi-
nent part played in Britain's success in the Schneider
Trophy races. After the 1929 contestlie set up the world's
speed record of 357.7 m.p.h. in a Supermarine Rolls-
Royce S.6.
Technical training is even more complex than that for
flying duties, for it embraces so many subjects. Many
thousands of young men are constantly going through
the Command's hands, and when they have concluded
the course they are skilled or semi-silled craftsmen.
Technical Training Command is sub-divided into three
groups. Two are responsible for general training, and
the other is confined entirely to the allied subjects con-
nected with signals, such as all forms of ground wireless,
teleprinters and telephones. Throughout the country
there are a number of schools, which are rather more like
vast camps, covering many acres of ground.
Men embarking on a technical training go straight from
civilian life to the receiving wing of a recruiting centre,
where a Trade Selection Board decides for which calling
his qualifications make each man best suited. For a week
or so his life is very much like that of the new recruit for
GETTING READY 39
flying duties, for he is supplied with uniform and kit,
does a great deal of drill, learns Service discipline, and
so on, and at the end of this time he is drafted to a school
to learn his appointed trade. The duration of the course
depends on the trade. When this has been completed the
most successful pupils go for a short period to a squadron
and then come back to a training centre to qualify for a
more responsible post.
The vast majority of young men are trained as flight
riggers and flight mechanics. These are the engine and
airframe fitters. But in addition there is an almost be-
wildering variety of trades, such as lorry driver, motor-
transport mechanic, fitter driver (who can overhaul
vehicles), fitter-armourer (for both bombs and guns),
motor-cyclist, motor mechanic, machine-tool setter and
operator (including turners, grinders and millers), black-
smith, acetylene welder, coppersmith, sheet-metal worker,
instrument repairer, fabric worker, parachute packer,
aero-carpenter, batman, mess waiter, cook and butcher,
photographer (developers, printers, enlargers and pro-
cessers), police, fire-fighter and physical training in-
structor. This is not a comprehensive list, but it is
enough to show the vast variety of jobs for which men
must be trained if an air force is to operate successfully.
In civil life many of the physical training instructors
are professional boxers, cricketers and footballers. At one
time one R.A.F. training establishment had under in-
struction a football "team" whose combined transfer fees
amounted to 150,000. The same station could put into
the field a cricket eleven composed almost entirely of men
40 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
who have played for England. There were also several
boxers of international repute.
The training establishments are all well fitted up, pos-
sessing a cinema, concert hall, gymnasium and swimming
bath. Though they work hard the pupils enjoy their life
here, for there are first-class facilities for sport and
recreation, the food is good, and there is enjoyable
companionship. They are taught intelligently, without any
of the bad old "sergeant-major" stuff, and by the time
that they have finished the course they have the comforting
assurance of having -mastered a skilled or semi-skilled
trade which, should the war end on the morrow, would
be of value to them in civilian life.
CHAPTER THREE
THE STRIKING FORCE
"Already people are almost surprised if such (bombing)
visits by the English have for once not taken place and they
make guesses as to why the night was quiet.**
Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitwig y July 14, 1940
BECAUSE it is the force upon which we must ultimately
depend to batter Germany to her knees, Bomber Com-
mand is perhaps the most important branch of the Royal
Air Force. Though our fighter aircraft protect us by
warding off the enemy's blows and destroying the bombers
he sends against us by day or by nigfyt, they cannot give
us victory, which is something which can only be won
by constant and unremitting attack.
It is to Bomber Command that we look to destroy
Germany's war industries, its fuel and oil supplies, its
communications, ports, bases and aerodromes. And we
do not look in -vain. Shortly before the outbreak of war
Goring boasted: "I have convinced myself personally of
the measures taken to protect the Ruhr against air
attack. We will not expose the Ruhr to a single bomb
dropped by enemy aircraft." Not one bomb, but thousands
of bombs, have been dropped by our bombers in more
than five hundred raids on the industrial Ruhr since those
vainglorious words were uttered.
42 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
Even that represents only a small proportion of the
activities of the R.A.F. over Germany. Statistics prepared
by the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Information show
that from the beginning of the war up to the start of 1941
the number of target area attacks made against Germany
alone was over 1,400. More significant still, during the
three months October to December, 1940, the number
of raids which our aircraft made on Germany was more
than half the number made in the whole of the preceding
thirteen months of the war. This was achieved in the
unfavourable weather conditions of winter and it is a clear
and heartening indication of our increased and increasing
striking power in the air. In addition to the attacks on
Germany itself, of course, Bomber Command has shared
with Coastal Command the hundreds and hundreds of
raids on the invasion ports and on enemy sea and land
bases and other military objectives in all the occupied
territories, as well as assisting Greece and making direct
attacks on Italy.
The bombing of Germany (and Italy) is all part of a
master plan prepared long ago probably even before the
war in consultation with scientists, economists, and in-
dustrialists and with the Ministry of Economic Warfare.
That plan is to strike the enemy at his weakest points,
so that every bomb achieves its maximum effect in
reducing his resistance. In other words, the policy of the
R.A.F. to-day is the same as it was towards the close of
the last war, when Viscount Trenchard was in charge
to "hit the Germans in Germany." As Sir Archibald
Sinclair said in his speech to the English- Speaking Union
THE STRIKING FORCE 43
on February 25, 1941, u We grudge every bomb dropped
on a French, Belgian, Dutch, or Norwegian port; we give
them only what is necessary for our safety and keep the
rest for the Germans in Germany. We hate the cruelty
of these bombardments. We never wanted war, with all
its horror and destruction, but the Nazis brought it on
the world. They spared no horror to Coventry or London
and we must 'be copy now to men of grosser blood
and teach them how to war.' "
There was and is no room in the British plan for
the German practice of indiscriminate "terror" bombing
of civilian populations; for though it may be some con-
solation to the bombed inhabitants of our own cities,
towns, and villages to know that we were doing the same
sort of thing to non-combatants in Germany, it would
have no real damaging effect on Germany's war effort.
The British people can take heart from the solemn pledge
given by the Secretary of State for Air:
"Our blows will fall faster and harder on the enemy
and don't imagine that they are soft now."
The new range of heavy bombers which have gone
into production during 1941 the four-engined Short
Stirling, the Halifax, and the Avro Manchester will be
able to do much to carry out that promise. Their range
will enable them to reach parts of Germany which have
known little about the horrors of bombing, while the
increased speeds of our bombers will allow them to bomb
Germany and get home again even during the short
nights.
Some people may be inclined to wonder how it is that
44 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
the R.A.F. are able to do greater military damage than
the Luftwaffe despite the fact that possession of numerous
aerodromes in France and other occupied countries means
that the German bombers can get here in a third of the
time and with correspondingly less risk from weather and
defences. There are a number of reasons. One is this:
The Germans have always been a military-minded
people and one can see it in their conception of the
function of an air force. They always visualized it first
and foremost as an adjunct to their Army. Right from
the start, Nazi airmen had been trained for Army co-
operation work; they were to be employed in close
support of land operations. One saw their technique in
Poland, Holland, Belgium, France, Yugoslavia and Greece.
As long as they were acting as a sort of air artillery,
blasting a way for their advancing troops, they were ex-
tremely successful. But when the Continental campaigns
came to an end they were forced to act against this
country on their own; to engage in long-range bombing
for which they had not been trained. When our fighters
made their losses too great in daylight the Germans were
forced to switch over to night operations, and this was
another thing for which they had not been trained. It
was, in fact, something for which their chiefs had always
professed great disdain.
On the other hand, the R.A.F. had always been used
as an independent force. The pilots and crews were
trained for long-distance flights and they had learned how
to operate in the dark as part of their normal training.
The Germans are now laboriously converting their air
THE STRIKING FORCE 45
force to the new technique, but it is a long job. First of
all they have had to train some of their most adaptable
pilots and crews to find their way to distant targets and
then they had to get them used to operating at night.
Another reason for the superiority of our bomber
crews in night and long-range operations is that many of
them got excellent practice during the early part of the
war through the medium of leaflet raids. By the time they
were called upon to carry bombs instead of bundles of
paper not a few of our pilots and navigators knew their
way to many important targets in Germany. There is still
another reason. Every raid carried out in Germany is
prepared with the utmost care. As soon as the target for
a particular night is known, all the available data about it
is obtained and studied. Maps, diagram sand photographs
are fetched out, and before the bombers start out each
navigator is given a chart showing all the smallest details
about the factory, power station, railway or aerodrome
which is to be bombed.
A few hours before they take off, every pilot, navigator
and wireless operator-air gunner who is to be engaged
in the raid attends what is known as a "briefing." This
takes place in a room on the aerodrome, rather like a
lecture hall. Nearly always there is a white screen, similar
to those used in cinemas, and a projector, as well as a
blackboard. Each navigator as he enters is handed a chart,
showing him the contours of the country in the area of
the target, together with a detailed plan of the objective
itself. As the station commander and the intelligence
officer give them a good deal of useful information about
46 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
reaching their target and the site they are to attack the
crews listen intently and make notes. Photographs and
plans of the target are shown on the screen while the
intelligence officer points out the vulnerable spots to be
bombed. Strongly defended areas en route are also
enumerated, as are the location of balloon barrages.
It is an interesting experience to attend one of these
strange gatherings. The crews lounge in easy chairs,
smoking a pipe or cigarette, and they seem as uncon-
cerned as though they were being instructed about a
perfectly safe training manoeuvre. Sometimes they ask
questions and the photographs or charts are flashed on
the screen two or three times to clear up some small
doubt. When every man is clear about what he has to do
and how he is to do it the station commander tells them
the take-off time and the precise minute by which they
must be starting back if they are to be home before
dawn.
Then the airmen go off to their own room, where each
crew works separately, for once off the ground they know
that they may not see the other aircraft engaged on the
raid until they are safely back home again. Pilots and
navigators discuss and plot their course so as to make
use of distinctive or well-known landmarks, such as rail-
ways, Autobahnen, canals, rivers and lakes, and the navi-
gator gets busy with dividers, parallels and scales, de-
ciding the details of the route. After a good meal they
are off. In the gathering dusk the crews are taken out in
vans and lorries to the bombers waiting deployed on the
airfield, there is the whirl of the powerful engines starting
THE STRIKING FORCE 47
up, and then, one after another, they rumble across the
landing field and become swallowed up in the darkness
of the distance.
There is something unreal about waiting on a bomber
station while the machines are "away on a job." Inside
the operations room there is an air of expectancy. The
wireless operators, in the adjoining room, are making queer
whistling sounds on their receiving sets as they listen for
messages from the aircraft which are speeding onward
somewhere in the darkness outside. On a blackboard
occupying most of one wall the names of the crews and
the call signs of the respective machines are chalked up,
and against each bomber's number is the time at which
it took off.
In the small hours of the morning, after waiting what
seems an age, one sees a messenger hurrying from the
wireless room bearing a slip of paper. Otie of the operators
has picked up a message from a member of the squadron
announcing that it has bombed the target. An entry is
made on the blackboard, giving the time. At intervals
similar messages come through. Occasionally the message
is that the bomber has been unable to locate its primary
target and is going on to an alternative one. If it fails at
that there is still what is known as a "last resort" target.
At intervals throughout the night messages continue
to arrive, and then there is a break until the bombers'
operators commence to send through Morse requests for a
"fix" (a location point), and just as surely as though they
had been taken by the hand and led, the crews and their
giant machines are guided back home. Just before dawn
48 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
those waiting patiently in the operations room can hear
the drone of the powerful engines of the Wellingtons,
Whitleys, Stirlings, Hampdens or some other type. They
do not usually come back together. There may be quite
long intervals between them, for they have not all followed
the same route.
Each machine requests permission to land and, having
obtained it, circles around and comes floating down like
some giant bird. Not long after, the pilots and navigators
come into the "ops." room, usually puffing the first cigar-
ette which they have been able to have since they took
off. They look tired and travel-stained after having been
in the air for anything up to eight or even ten hours, but
they still have their reports to make. Now starts the
friendly but very thorough "third degree" by the in-
telligence officer, on which the success or failure of the
raid will be decided. The men describe not only where
their bombs fell and the effect they had, but they tell of
things they saw on the long journeys out and back.
Sometimes they report having encountered an enemy
fighter, sighted a suspicious-looking ship or seen some
new lights, but more often there is nothing to record
except the actual bombing operations.
When they have given the intelligence officer the best
picture they can of their part in the attack the pilots and
navigators go off to get a well-earned wash, breakfast and
sleep. Each crew in turn tells in unexaggerated fashion
what was seen and done, and when all have told their
modest, matter-of-fact tale, the intelligence officer has a
comprehensive picture of the operation. He sifts the
THE STRIKING FORCE 49
information thoroughly and on it prepares his repott for
the Air Ministry.
For the bomber crews, raids on enemy territory are
divided into two distinct phases tedious, long and tiring
journeys and short periods of feverish activity over the
target area. When they go out to take off they are warmly
wrapped up, for even on nights when it is really warm on
the ground it can be bitterly cold at 20,000 feet. Perhaps
the most exacting job is that of the rear gunner, familiarly
referred to in the R.A.F. as "Tail End Charlie." He sits
in his enclosed turret right at the other end of the fuselage
from his companions, and there he must remain all
through the flight. His duties are to ward off attack
by fighters and to observe the effect of his bomb-aimer's
missiles. There is another gunner in the nose of the
machine.
Once on a straight course the pilot can turn a switch and
leave the guiding of his machine to the automatic pilot,
which the R.A.F. man, with his love for a nickname,
always refers to as " George." This clever device enables
the machine to fly straight on, compensating for the
effects of wind. It is a great boon on these long night
flights. The wireless operator has plenty to do on both
outward and homeward journey. He is the navigator's
"right-hand man." The navigator himself is the busiest
member of the crew, for he has constantly to watch that
the machine is on the right course. He must never be
"a stranger in these parts."
On the outward journey the bomb-aimer makes the
necessary calculations for wind-drift and other factors,
50 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
and sets his bomb-sight as he has been taught during
training. Approaching the target he instructs the pilot
as to minor alterations of course. Then, as the target
looms near, he squints along his sights and pulls the
lever. After the familiar cry of "bombs off" there follows
an anxious few moments while the missile hurtles down-
wards, to be succeeded by the blinding flash of the
explosion. During the whole of this time the enemy's
ground defences are sure to be busy, and newcomers to
operations get the horrible impression that every gun is
ignoring the other British bombers and concentrating on
his machine. Once the bombs have been disposed of and
the necessity for a steady platform has ended, the pilot
begins to take violent evasive action. Safely out of the
range of the guns the wireless operator tells the home
station that the task has been carried out, and then starts
the long, exacting journey back.
Sometimes our giant machines have stood up to
terrible poundings and yet got home safely. It is a tribute
both to the skill and endurance of the crews and to the
high standard of British workmanship. There are times
when electric storms make crazy patterns of sparks from
the ends of the guns and other metal surfaces. There are
nights when gales buffet men and machines cruelly. Yet
the crews of Bomber Command take all this as merely
part of the job. Probably all that the world will hear of
their activities on the morrow is that "Aircraft of Bomber
Command last night bombed the docks at Kiel, the oil
plant at Stettin/* or something equally brief. But the
men who have risked danger and suffered discomfort are
THE STRIKING FORCE 51
content content in the knowledge that the task which
was entrusted to them has been well and truly carried
out.
But bombing is not the only activity of this great
Command. One section is engaged on the strenuous and
hazardous task of laying mines in enemy waters, par-
ticularly in the Baltic. This is work calling not only for
great coolness and endurance, but high navigational skill
and accuracy. Since the start of the Norwegian campaign
the R.A.F. have mined so successfully all the areas from
the farthest eastern German Baltic ports to as far north
as Norway that there is no safe channel for enemy
shipping and no German-occupied fjord, estuary or
harbour which can be used with safety.
A number of German ships are known to have been
sunk by this means, and the operations have become so
successful that Germany is forced to maintain in the
Baltic a large fleet of observation ships, searchlight plat-
forms, balloons and Flak (anti-aircraft) ships, while a
proportion of her mine-sweepers, which she can ill
afford to spare, has to spend its whole time sweeping the
seas. As fast as they are removed, R.A.F. Bomber Com-
mand Hainpdens or other mine-laying aircraft go out and
replace them, and they are constantly creating new
"fields. " Great care is taken to ensure that the mines are
dropped in the right place. Often the aircraft circle around
for a long time to make certain tjiat they are over the
exact spot where they have been instructed to drop their
cargo. The machines must come down to a fairly low
height to ensure accuracy of aim, and then, with para-
52 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
chutes to carry them down gently, the mines are "sown"
and the fields built up.
This work must necessarily be done at night. On the
way home the crews are sometimes allowed to seek a
little diversion from the monotony of this tedious and
exacting work, and occasionally they are able to report a
successful attack on an enemy ship or on a land target.
More than one of these mine-laying aircraft has had a
winning fight with a German night fighter and sent it
crashing into the sea.
In considering the work of an air force one is apt to
think only of the achievements in the air, forgetting that
for every member of a flying crew there must be between
thirty arid forty men on the ground. Without their ground
crews bomber squadrons and fighter squadrons, too
would be lost and would have to cease operations after a
very short time. Every time that a bomber completes a
successful raid it is, indirectly, a tribute to the efficiency
of the maintenance staffs the men whose unexciting task
At is to keep the machines airworthy. Upon the standard
of their work depends the safety not only of the valuable
aircraft but of the crews of five or more; it is a great
responsibility.
Tffe maintenance men take a great pride in their work
and a personal interest in the particular aeroplane for
which they are responsible. They will even speak of it as
"my Wellington" or "my Whitley," and if it has done
well on a raid they will glow with pride and be as pleased
as if they had taken part in the raid themselves. The
pilots and flying crews trust these men implicitly, for
THE STRIKING FORCE 53
they know from experience that it would be regarded
as base treachery to give w r hat is tantamount to a certi-
ficate of airworthiness for a machine which was faulty in
the smallest respect. Long experience of working together
has created between the men on the ground and the men
who fly a very real understanding and friendship. The
.maintenance men are the technical experts, and often
their advice is sought about such things as minimum
safety margin for fuel loads (enabling a maximum bomb
load to be carried) and other knotty problems on which
the fliers' lives may well depend.
When a bomber is going on a raid the ground crew stay
with it until it takes off and wait to take it over on its
return. As soon as it has landed, the fitters, riggers,
armourers, electricians and instrument experts go over it
thoroughly and get it ready for the next "outing." The
speed at which these men work is, almost incredible.
After a raid on Germany a bomber returned to its station
at 3.30 a.m. It had to undergo one of the thorough in-
spections made at the end of every 30 hours' flying time
and it had *to be re-doped that is to say, have all its
exterior surfaces sprayed. Six hours later it was ready.
Another machine had been fairly badly damaged in a
night raid, but at ten o'clock the following morning, when
an officer came from group headquarters to examine it,
everything had been put right arid the bomber-^
Whitley was all set for the next raid.
Whether it has been hit or not, every bombing aircraft
has an inspection after thirty flying hours, and each over-
haul becomes progressively more severe and extensive up
54 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
to one hundred and twenty hours, when the process starts
all over again.
In wartime the maintenance crews have to work under
pretty bad conditions. It is not safe to leave aircraft in
hangars, because of enemy attacks, and so they are de-
ployed on the airfield. The ground men, therefore, have
to work in the open in all weathers. Each heavy machine
needs a team of twelve to keep it in trim. A corporal, two
fitters and two riggers do all of what may be called the
running repairs. Then there are the armourers, whose task
it is to "bomb up" and feed ammunition into the guns.
The filling of the fuel tanks alone is no small task. For
every hour in the air a heavy bomber, such as a Wellington
or Whitley, requires between 80 and 90 gallons of petrol.
It is not uncommon for these giant machines to make
flights of eight hours, so that something like 700 gallons
of fuel have to be loaded on to each aircraft. Petrol weighs
round about yi Ib. a gallon, so that a total weight of over
5,000 Ib. has to be shifted before a single bomber can
start out on a raid. And on top of that there is oil to be
thought of; tons of bombs have to be loaded into the
racks; as well as flares, pyrotechnics and a host of other
things. This gives some (though an inadequate) idea of
what work is entailed in the operation of a heavy bomber
squadron.
Fully loaded, a typical British heavy bomber aircraft,
the Whitley, weighs between 12 and 14 tons. Yet, like
all the smaller machines, it has its beginning in thou-
sands of small parts, many of them not so big as the
palm of one's hand. There is something truly romantic
THE STRIKING FORCE 55
about seeing these giants take shape. One can walk in
at one end of a factory, watch girls stamping out little
bits of aluminium alloy; go on to another great hall
where the fuselages are being assembled on steel jigs;
travel on again and see detachable parts of the wings,
tail units and wing spars being prepared; watch men
juggling with seemingly endless and inextricable tangles
of wires and electrical fittings, women working at fabric
coverings, men spraying the airframes and others fitting
engines ; and finally, after what seems like a route march,
emerge on to the testing ground to see a finished bomber
being put through its paces.
All those little bits and pieces have somehow been
moulded together into a monster which is nearly 70 feet
long, has a wing span of 84 feet, can rise to a height of
about 5 miles and can carry five men for a distance of
about 2,000 miles at a cruising speed of considerably over
200 miles an hour.
It is an experience which is rather apt to take one's
breath away and leave one with a sense of unreality.
CHAPTER FOUR
FIGHTERS AT WORK
" Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by
so many to so few."
MR. CHURCHILL, House of Commons, August 20, 1940
THIS memorable phrase of the Prime Minister's sums up
the great debt which all of us owe to the brilliant young
fighters who fly the Hurricanes, Defiants, Spitfires and
even newer aircraft which are now being turned out. Few
will doubt that in the summer of 1940, and particularly in
those dreadful months following the French capitulation,
it was the men of the R.A.F. Fighter Command who
saved this country from annihilation and probaby also
from the horror of a German invasion.
Nobody who was living in South-East England at that
time is ever likely to forget how these men went into
action day after day against enemy forces which were in-
variably much stronger than their own, nor are they likely
to forget the unfailing regularity with which the invaders
were split up into straggling formations, turned from
their would-be targets and sent scurrying for home. Day
after day and week after week the scale of the air fighting
went up and up in a terrifying crescendo, and yet always
the small band of British fighter pilots and their first-class
machines proved equal to the task.
FIGHTERS AT WORK 57
In the middle of July German losses were at the rate
of about a dozen a day. A few days before the end of that
month 20 raiders were destroyed in 30 minutes. Early
in August 1 20 enemy bombers and fighters were shot
down in less than 48 hours. During the whole of the time
the British pilots exacted a steady toll of about 12 1 per
cent of the enemy's forces, so that the more Goring sent
over the more he lost. By the second week of August the
enemy casualties had begun to mount to more than 50
a day and the German Official News Agency admitted
that the raids entailed "great sacrifices." On Septem-
ber 7 the Nazi loss went up to three figures, and then,
on that memorable Sunday, September 15, R.A.F,
fighters accounted for the record number of 185. It was
the fourth time in five weeks that more than 100 German
aeroplanes were left scattered over the fields of Kent and
the neighbouring counties after a day of almost non-top
fighting. It was the climax to four days of terrible en-
counters in which the Luftwaffe sacrificed 620 aircraft
and approximately 1,550 trained men. The correspond-
ing British loss was 105 aircraft and o$ly 55 pilots.
These blows knocked the heart out of the German Air
Force, and although they still continued to come over it
was in considerably reduced numbers. At first, the
Germans must have thought that their daylight losses in
attacks on this country were too bad to be true, for they
kept pegging away with large bomber formations against
our channel shipping, coastal areas and aerodromes.
Then they sent stronger fighter, escorts, as many as five
Messerschmitts to each bomber ; later, they switched over
5.8 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
to scattered night raiding, then to mass night attacks on
London, employing converted Messerschmitts as fighter-
bombers- for "tip and run" daylight sorties, hopping in
and out of clouds to get what cover they could before
unleashing their small loads of bombs and scurrying back
home.
, Since that time the main German -attack has been
carried out during darkness, day raids being made only
when cloud offered sufficient hiding places from the
deadly fire of our fighters. The full story of that huge-
scale air fighting of 1940 has been told in the pamphlet,
The Battle of Britain, August-October, 1940, issued by
the Ministry of Information on behalf of the Air Ministry.
The deeds recounted there must have thrilled every
British man and woman, and they deserve to rank with the
great land and sea victories of the past. Perhaps the world
will never again see air combat on such a scale, for the
R.A.F., ably assisted by the anti-aircraft guns, taught
the Germans the severe lesson of how expensive in men
and machines it can be to attack a well-defended country
in daylight.
During that memorable period, when the eyes of the
world were focused on Britain, pilots of Fighter Com-
mand definitely shot down 2,375 German aircraft and
almost certainly destroyed many more, while the cost to
themselves was 375 pilots killed and 358 wounded. In
terms of trained men the loss to Germany was probably
about 6,000.
Since those days even faster and better fighter aircraft
have been produced. We now have in service the Typhoon,
FIGHTERS AT WORK 59
the twin-engined Beaufighter, the Whirlwind and the
Tornado, while others are on their way. The earlier
Hurricanes and Spitfires have been replaced by faster and
even more efficient versions, some equipped with cannon,
while new machines, Americans among them, have
gradually come into service; but it was the Mark i
Spitfires and Hurricanes which bore the brunt of the
Battle of Britain and the Battle of London. Sir Archibald
Sinclair summed up the position when he said: "The
decision to adopt the eight-gun fighter, like the Hurricane
and the Spitfire, may well rank as one of the great deci-
sions in the history of the war."
Both machines were "born" more than five years ago
and it came about in this way: An R.A.F. specialist
visited an aircraft factory to discuss a secret specification
drawn up by the Air Staff for a new type of single-seat
fighter. It called for a speed and armament greatly in
excess of anything then known. Six, or even eight, guns
were the aim, with a speed of about 350 m.p.h. It was to
be a reply to the hordes of new fast bombers which
Germany was known to be producing for her second
attempt at world domination. To get this projected new
design on the drawing board, and then to make and fly it,
would necessarily take many weary months; it would be
at least a year before even the prototype could be pro-
duced. Meanwhile Britain's existing fighters were actually
slower than the new German bombers already in pro-
duction a grave situation indeed.
At the works the R.A.F. officer was shown a high-speed
monoplane, developed and built as a private venture by
60 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
the firm, the Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers), as
it was then. It was planned for only four guns and had a
lower performance than that called for by the new
specification, but it had all the makings of a first-class
fighter. If it could be modified it would save precious
months and even a couple of years. The problem was
worked out in consultation with the famous designer,
R. J. Mitchell, who died more than three years ago. Yes,
said Mitchell, it could be done. The officer returned to
the Air Ministry to urge that the modification should be
made and the new aircraft adopted. Thus the famous
Spitfire was brought into being.
Simultaneously with the development of the Spitfire
the firm of Hawkers had been asked to produce a fighter
to the same specifications. That fighter won fame as the
Hurricane. Here again, there was close collaboration
between the Air Ministry and the industry. A privately
produced machine, the four-gun Hawker Fury, was taken
as the basic design. The armament was doubled and
changed to wing position, a more powerful engine was
specified, and other modifications were made. To Mr.
Sydney Camm, chief designer of Hawkers, goes much of
the credit for a most successful job.
Those fighter aircraft proved themselves superior to
anything the Germans could produce in 1940 and there
seems no reason to suppose that their successors will not
again beat back the Nazi menace ; but while giving all due
credit to the machines one should not forget the men who
fly them and the ground crews who keep them in the air,
Fighter pilots all seem to be two people one person in
FIGHTERS AT WORK 61
the air and quite another one on the ground. Talking to
them on their aerodromes, in the mess or in the wooden
huts where they wait for the call to action, it is extremely
difficult to realize that these quiet, modest, youthful-
looking boys are the demons of the air who have taken
and are still taking suqh a deadly toll of Goring's and
Mussolini's men and machines. Many of them are shy of
strangers and all of them hate even the slightest sugges-
tion of boastfulness. They call self-praise "shooting a line."
At the start of the war the R.A.F. Fighter Command
pilots were nearly all young men who had joined because
flying had "got into their blood.'' It was a great thrill and
a glorious adventure to go hurtling through the air at a
speed which, only a few years before, had been regarded
as impossible. But after a while anyone who was in con-
stant touch with them began to notice a subtle change in
their outlook. At first it was difficult to understand.
It was not just that they had been under fire and had
seen enemies going down before their guns ; it went much
deeper than that. The pilots never talked about it;
probably they did not even notice that their attitude had
changed ; but gradually, by a chance remark heard in the
mess or a casual sentence uttered on the aerodrome, the
answer came out.
These young men, whose sporting instinct and breed-
ing would prevent them from doing a dirty thing, had
perhaps seen a German aircraft bombing or machine-
gunning helpless French or Belgian women and children
as, terror-stricken, they stampeded along the roads which
would lead them to safety from the advancing German
62 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
Army ; or they had been at Dunkirk, when they had seen
cowardly attacks on unarmed men as they stood patiently
on the beach, as they waded out to the waiting motor
launches, or as they sat, wet through, in the tiny boats.
This was not war as they understood it, it was cold-
blooded, calculated murder. And then, after the attacks
"on England had got going, they saw the ruined remains
of poor folks' homes or pefhaps even saw the bodies of
the victims; they read of attacks on lifeboats, on light-
ships and other people engaged on humanitarian work.
From that time onwards their impersonal attitude
towards air fighting underwent a complete change, and
instead of those gallant young adventurers of the air
German airmen encountered cold-eyed, deadly oppo-
nents, determined at whatever cost to destroy them.
The fighter pilot's life is very different from that of his
colleague in a bomber squadron. Like Mr Micawber, he
spends a great deal of his time waiting for something to
turn up. If he is on day operations he is up before dawn
and before most of the outside world is awake he is
standing ready in a wooden building known as the dis-
persal hut, warmly wrapped up in his flying kit and with
his life-belt (known as a "Mae West") fitting snugly
round his shoulders. He may spend the whole of his
"instantaneous call" time hanging about or he may be in
action from the first minute onwards.
On an R.A.F. fighter station duties are so arranged that
one section of the pilots and machines are ready to take
off at a minute's notice while the others are on reserve.
The dispersal huts are connected by telephone to the
FIGHTERS AT WORK 63
operations room, and so to Fighter Command, and as
soon as the presence of enemy aircraft approaching or
over British soil is signalled the pilots standing at the
ready dash out to their machines, the engines of which
have aready been started up, and take off to attack.
Thanks to their radio-telephone they can talk to each
other in the air or can communicate with their home
station, and in this way they receive the latest informa-
tion as to the position of the invading aircraft.
As soon as their quarry is sighted the flight or squadron
commander gives instructions over the R/T and the
R.A.F. fighters zoom into the fight. The actual guiding
of the machine is automatic to these highly trained men
and they concentrate on getting the emeny into their
sights. As the bomber or fighter appears straight ahead
they press a single button which sets in motion all their
eight guns or their cannon, spurting bullets or shells at a
terrible rate. So concentrated is the fire that the bullets
cut into the metal rather like a circular saw. As soon as
the ammunition is getting exhausted or the fuel supply is
running low the fighters hurry back to their base, and in
an incredibly short space of time their^ guns are re-
charged and their tanks replenished and they are back
into the fray again.
When their period of "immediate calF' is up the pilots
go into reserve, which means that they must be ready to
take off inside thirty minutes after receiving a summons.
They are always ready well before this, however, and
regard it as a "poor show" if they are not in the air in a
quarter of an hour.
64 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
The machinery by which the approach of enemy air-
craft is detected is well known, but it is worthy of repeti-
tion. The raiders are either seen or heard by the observer
post crews, who immediately notify their centre. Centre
warns simultaneously the group centre of R.A.F. Fighter
Command and the anti-aircraft batteries, so that while the
guns are waiting to go into action fighter aircraft standing
at the "ready" take off to tackle the intruders. The opera-
tions control, though it may seem somewhat compli-
cated, is actually so flexible that it can be changed without
confusion or delay to meet each new situation as it arises.
No greater test of its flexibility or effectiveness could have
been provided than by the large-scale daylight fighting of
the summer and autumn of 1940, but it worked then with
machine-like precision.
A great proportion of our fighters are now equipped
with cannon. The advantage of the cannon over the
machine-gun is that it has a much greater range and more
damaging power. The British guns are a much improved
version of the Hispano-Suiza moteur-canon, and they have
proved a complete success, vastly superior to the mass-
produced Rheinmetall-Borsig gun used by the Germans.
One of the most obstinate problems of the war and it
is common to both sides is that of finding and destroying
the night bomber. We have our searchlights and our aqrti-
aircraft guns, of course, but while these have had their
successes they cannot offer a lasting solution to the prob-
lem. The real answer lies in the night fighter, and so the
R.A.F. has set aside a proportion of its fighter pilots and
equipped special aircraft for night operations. At first
FIGHTERS AT WORK 65
these had a thankless and almost impossible task, for
searching for a fast-moving bomber in the darkness can
be likened to trying to find a black dog in a blacked-out
cellar. New material and new technique, however, are
gradually bringing success, and the time may come when
enemy bombers will find it almost as dangerous to operate
over this country at night as they have done in daylight.
In recent months the activities of our night fighters
have been extended. As new and longer-range types of
aircraft become available Fighter Command was able to
extend the patrols to cover the enemy aerodromes in
German-occupied territory. This tactic has had no little
effect on theTGerman night bombing operations, for the
enemy crews know that though they may have carried
out their bombing raid and be back over "friendly"
territory they are in danger of attack at all times. The
appearance of lights on the aerodrome to assist them in
take-off or landing may result in a bombing or machine-
gun attack, while they may be set upon over the Channel
and shot down before they can put up any defence. This
extension of our fighter activities is also employed at
daytime, and the offensive patrols carried out by bombers
and their Spitfire or Hurricane escorts have brought a
number of satisfactory results.
Fighter Command has as its commander-in-chief Air
Chief Marshal Sholto Douglas. In appearance he has
much in common with the chief of Bomber Command
(Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse) and the heacl
of Coastal Command (Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip
Joubert) a determined jaw and steady eyes which speak
66 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
of courage* and resolution. With the Chief of the Air
Staff, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Charles Portal,
they make up a formidable team, and as our strength
in the air grows the offensive action of all the operational
commands will grow correspondingly.
In the first year of the war aircraft of the R.A.F.
Fighter Command flew the almost staggering distance of
more than 17,000,000 miles equivalent to seven hundred
times round the world. That was in the days when the
Command was composed of "those few," to whom the
Prime Minister referred. Now the force is very much
bigger, equipped with the most modem of machines and
armament. Partly owing to the fact that they were
operating over their own territory the majority of those
heroes of the 1940 battles came through unscathed, and
though many of them are still in the thick of the fight a
proportion of them are now instructing later comers in
the successful tactics they employed..
These men will tell you that, so far from any falling-off
being apparent, the pilots of today are better than ever.
Men from all corners of the Empire are rallying to the
call to meet the German menace to their Mother Country,
and from every part of the British Isles, too. That they
will carry on the glorious tradition of the earlier warriors
nobody need doubt.
CHAPTER FIVE
WINGS OVER THE SEA
"The work of the Coastal Command is indeed beyond all
praise. It is work demanding qualities of the very highest order
qualities of skill, fortitude and courage. *'
The Air Minister in the House of Commons, August 1940
COASTAL COMMAND is like no other branch of the Royal
Air Force. It is more than a command; it is an air force
within the Air Force, for it has its own bombers and
fighters, its own torpedo-carrying and mine-laying craft
and its own machines for photographic and other recon-
naissance work. Its duties are among the most difficult
and arduous in the whole range of the war effort. It has a
"parish" extending over the whole North Sea, from
Iceland and the coast of Norway to the North-West coast
of Germany, over the Low Countries and France, right
down to the Mediterranean and approximately i ,000 miles
out into the Atlantic.
Some idea of the work which this entails may be
gained from the fact that in the first year of the war
Coastal Command aircraft flew no fewer than 19,000,000
miles, which is equal to about 782! times round the
world. And yet when war started it was a tiny section of
the Service and its duties were expected to be confined
almost entirely to reconnaissance. Now it must be pre-
68 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
pared not only to fight and bomb, to shepherd convoys
and attack U-boats and enemy aircraft bent on sinking
our shipping, but to keep a constant look-out for any
signs of invasion preparations.
During the sarly days the aircraft at the Command's
disposal were totally inadequate, and the way in which
that deficiency was made good is one of the standing jokes
of the pilots who are now equipped with some of the
finest machines in the world. It was a monstrous piece
of -bluff, but the Germans fell for it. Regular anti-sub-
marine patrols had to be maintained, particularly in the
North Sea, and when the right type of aircraft were
not available all sorts of training and communication
machines were pressed into service. These were known
as the " Scarecrow Patrols, " and they were carried out
largely by auxiliary pilots. The 'planes did not carry
anything as lethal as a revolver, yet as soon as enemy
submarines spotted them diving down in a businesslike
way they lost no time in submerging and they stayed
down for hours, while the convoys steamed on peace-
fully, "guarded" perhaps by a Tiger Moth or some equally
inoffensive light trainer.
Now the Command has a variety of the most up-to-date
landplanes and flying boats. For general reconnaissance
work there are Hudsons, Ansons, Sunderlands, Lerwicks,
Stranraers, Londons and the American Consolidated
P.B.Y. (Catalina) flying-boats. The torpedo-bombers are
Beauforts; the long-range fighters, the Blenheims and the
ne\V Beaufighters. Spitfires and Hurricanes are alo em-
ployed for certain reconnaissance duties. Some of the men
WINGS OVER THE SEA 69
flying Hudsons are Dutch, former members of the
Netherlands Naval Air Service, while a Sunderland
squadron is composed entirely of Australians. The
Command also has the services of a number of Polish
and Belgian pilots.
Because its wojk is so much bound up with the. sea it
is only natural that Coastal Command should work in
the closest contact with the Royal Navy and the Fleet
Air Arm. Not only are naval officers attached to Command
Headquarters, but the Commander-in-Chief, Home
Fleet, is in direct communication with one of the four
groups into which the Command is divided. The rela-
tions between the two Services are of the most cordial,
and they work together without the slightest sign of
friction. It is not at all uncommon for the machines of
the Command to take part in operations alongside the
Swordfish and Albacores of the Fleet Air Arm.
With the intensification of the U-boat campaign the
work of Coastal Command has grown and grown. Air
escort has been provided for something like 6,000 con-
voys, entailing a total of about 20,000 separate sorties
by aircraft. During the past six months (this is being
written early in 1941), the average monthly time spent
on convoy duties has been something like 5,300 hours,
and even that high total is likely to be exceeded in the
future. On anti-submarine duty, as distinct from* convoy
protection, the monthly average is nearly 2,000 hours,
while on reconnaissance about 3 ,500 hours per month are
expended.
Machines of the Command have made several hundred
70 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
attacks on submarines, ijnany of them completely suc-
cessful, while they have also shot down a number of
Focke-Wulf Condors and Kuriers, which the Germans
are using for the long-range attacks on our ocean-going
shipping. The technique of attack by means of tor-
pedoes has been developed considerably in recent months,
and many thousands of tons of enemy shipping now lies
on the bed of the ocean as a result. On top of that a
number of German ships are known to have been sunk
by mines, while others have been, destroyed in bombing
attacks. Coastal Command has also shared with Bomber
Command the work of trouncing the enemy submarine
bases of Lorient, Bordeaux, Brest and others; it has
helped to ferry American aircraft across the Atlantic ; and
it has engaged in the humanitarian work of saving life at
sea.
At the beginning of 1941 the Prime Minister an-
nounced that the strength of the Command was being
steadily built up to meet the constantly increasing de-
mands being made upon it, and that process has been
going on ever since. Obsolescent machines are being
replaced, and as the aircraft become available new
squadrons are being formed. If there is one thing more
than another which this sort of flying demands it is a
very high standard of navigational ability, and the pilots
and n^igators of Coastal Command are among the best in
the world. Often the long-range flying-boats, such as the
Sunderland, are out for sixteen hours at a stretch, most of
the time out of sight of land. They fly in all sorts of
weather and during the flight they may have to make
WINGS OVER THE SEA. 71
scores of major alterations in course. Yet the navigation
is considered by the airmen no better than it ought to be
when, at the end of one of these trying days, on sighting
land they find themselves no more than a mile or two
out in their bearings.
The Sunderlands are the giants of the Command. These
great flying-boats are also the terror of all enemy aircraft,
who never try conclusions with them if there is any way
of getting away without a fight. The military version of the
Empire flying-boats, they weigh 25 tons when loaded,
have a crew of from eight to twelve and a range not far
short of 2,000 miles. They are powered by four 1,000 h.p.
Pegasus engines. Because of their bristling armament
guns stick out from them seemingly at all angles the
Germans call them fliegende Stachekchweine (Flying
Porcupine). One of the most famous of the Sunderland
squadrons is that of the Royal Australian Air Force, which
is based in the West of England and in Scotland. We have
to thank a lucky chance for the fact that we have had its
services since the start of the war. Just prior to Septem-
ber, 1939, some officers had come from Australia to take
over six Sunderlands which had been ordered by their
Government for service u down under." When war broke
out the Commonwealth Government willingly agreed to
forego their claim to the aircraft, and what is more, they
allowed the officers to stay in this country to fly them.
That squadron has given a splendid account of itself.
The American-built Lockheed Hudsons have been
another unqualified success. All the squadrons equipped
with them have flown more than a million miles, and one
72 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
has covered double that distance. The machines have not
only been first-rate for reconnaissance duties but have
given an excellent account of themselves for bombing,
and even, when the occasion demanded, as fighters.
The Avro Ansons, not "youngsters" by any means,
have also given great service. Designed as reconnaissance
machines, they have shown a truly remarkable ability as
fighters, due largely to their power of manoeuvre and the
skill and determination of their pilots. Several cases have
been recorded when they have taken on Messerschmitts,
capable of almost twice their speed, and they sent them
hurtling down. The attitude of the men of Coastal Com-
mand towards them is summed up in their expression,
u Anson is as Anson does." Many of the pilots are sorry
that the Ansons are being switched over to training
duties, their active life over.
Much of the work of the Command is unspectacular,
tiring and unproductive of positive results. For instance,
machines fly in an endless chain, throughout the twenty-
four hours, on patrols over the North Sea towards the
Norwegian coast. Because they fly always in straight
lines these men call themselves the "tram drivers." They
may fly for hours and see nothing, but they are keeping
that vital watch which is so essential for the safety of our
food and munition ships. Others disappear into the dawn
of the Atlantic, searching for enemies on, above and below
the seas.
In order to compensate them for this tedious work the
pilots are sometimes allowed to indulge in what they call
"Private Blitzes" that is to say, they are allowed to go
WINGS OVER THE SEA 73
in search of some enemy target and bomb it after they
have finished their normal reconnaissance work. Warships,
supply ships, and aerodromes are the favourite objectives,
and the pilots and crews are so keen on this change of
work that they will sometimes forego a day off in order to
make certain of some adventure. Sometimes the board in
the squadron operations room showing their anticipated
time of return will bear the added inscriptions: "But may
be up to two hours late owing to private hostilities."
These excursions have often produced splendid results.
There is one recorded case of two aircraft which went off
on a "Private Blitz' ' and returned after having obtained
dirfect hits on a minesweeper and a supply ship and a near
miss on a destroyer.
Sometimes the monotony of reconnaissance or convoy
patrol work is relieved by bright touches of comedy. A
Sunderland picked up a convoy far out at sea, and no
sooner had it taken up its station than a ship at the tail
of the steaming line began to signal by lamp. The word
"onions" was spelt out in Morse several times just that
one word. The code book gave no possible explanation
and the Sunderland signalled: "Message not understood.
Please repeat and explain." But still the merchant ship
continued to signal "Onions," so the flying-boat captain,
who had other things to think about, gave it up and flew
on to watch for submarines. Several days later the drew
of the flying-boat received a 4etter from the skipper of
the merchant ship. It was addressed to the Sunderland
under its identification letters, "c/o Air Ministry, London."
This is what the letter said:
74 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
"We had been listening to the wireless news and heard
that you in England were suffering from an acute shortage
of onions. My ship was loaded with onions, and I wanted
to give the good news to the first bit of England we
sighted and you were it."
Another ship, sailing in convoy, had a strange white-
bearded figure hoisted at the mast-head. An exchange of
Morse signals showed that the ship had a cargo of fruit
for the Christmas markets and had thought it appropriate
to have a Father Christmas figurehead.
Generally speaking the work of the Command does not
get much into the limelight; it is just sheer drudgery.
Perhaps we should appreciate it at something nearer its
full value if, every time we sit down to a satisfactory meal
and such things exist, even in these >days of rationing
we were to remember that the men and machines of the
R.A.F. Coastal Command have probably played a part
in the shepherding safely to our shores of the ships that
brought it from some distant part of the world.
Invaluable as has been the work of the Command in
the air, it is not generally known that it also performs
equally useful and essential work on the sea. It possesses,
in fact, a "Navy" all its own. Dotted around Great
Britain and Northern Ireland, wherever there is a Coastal
Command station, and often at places where there is not,
there are R.A.F. sea bases, housing an almost bewildering
variety of craft. There are also a number of small ship-
yards, complete with slipways, repair depots and work-
shops.
Members of the R.A.F. Marine Section, as it is called,
WINGS OVER THE SEA 75
all come under Coastal Command. Some of these men
have what must surely be one of the most remarkable jobs
in the war. They are paid special "danger money" to sit
still (if OUR OWN aircraft will allow them to do so) and
be bombed. Their "working quarters'' are 40 feet-long
boats built by a well-known constructor of racing craft,
and they are specially designed to withstand hits with
light practice bombs without serious damage to the
vessel or the crew. TQ make these target-boats bomb-
proof an ingenious compromise has been evolved. Since
armouring the entire craft would make it too heavy for
speedy work, if it would float at all, vital parts and con-
trols, as well as the crew of three or four, are assembled
amidships and hooded with 3! tons of stout armour-
plate mounted on rubber buffers. The rest of the hull^
is unprotected but is packed with a special buoyant sub-
stance called onazate which is only one-fifth the weight of
cork. Direct hits elsewhere than on the armour-plating
simply drill holes clean through the hull without affecting
the seaworthiness of the craft. A special method of hull
construction makes "mending the holes" a comparatively
simple matter.
These high-speed vessels are a considerable advance
on the somewhat sketchy pioneer craft associated with
the late Aircraftman Shaw (Lawrence of Arabia). The
crew ar^housed in a small steel cabin, and they wear gas
masks to protect them from the fumes of exploding bombs,
crash-helmets rather like those worn by racing motorists,
and ear-plugs. Armour- glass windows give the helmsman a
good view fore and aft ; radio keeps the craft in touch with
76 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
the "attacking" aircraft; and a safety tender is always
near at hand. These vessels are extremely manoeuvrable,
and as the bombers try to hit it the helmsman zigzags this
way and that, just as an enemy ship would do in real
warfare. The crew are all expert escapologists, and when
a hit has turned the ship over, as it often does, they
wriggle, perhaps upside down, out of their "funk hole/'
jump overboard and right the ship, then scramble on
deck again and signal to the aircraft that they are ready
to be bombed once more.
The best-known members of the R.A.F.'s "Navy" are
the high-speed launches used for rescuing airmen and
seamen. At the start of the war these craft were unarmed,
but they were subjected to so many cowardly attacks by
the enemy often when they were actually trying to
rescue German airmen from a watery grave that in the
summer of 1940 it was announced that they had been
fitted with defensive guns. These guns are not used
except to defend the crew against illegal attacks.
The rescue launches, 63 feet long and capable of a
top speed of 40 m.p.h. and a cruising speed of 32 m.p.h.,
are propelled by Napier aero-engines. Travelling at maxi-
mem speed they have an endurance of about 12 hours
(sufficient to cover 500 miles), but their cruising range
is naturally much greater. The weather has to be excep-
tionally bad to prevent them from operating, and some
of their crews' achievements are epic stories of endurance
and courage. Sometimes the men have been so badly
buffeted by the mountainous waves that they have been
unable to reach shore and have run out of petrol, drifting
WINGS OVER THE SEA 77
for hours at the mercy of the angry waves. There have been
many occasions when the cold was so intense that the salt
water froze on the gunwales and deck, or when the sea
was ^o rough that the crew were unable to see more than
a few yards.
The launches are equipped with wireless and on their
long sea searches they usually work in conjunction with
"spotter" aircraft. Sea and air craft are linked by radio-
telephone and the aeroplane guides the launch to the spot
where men may be clinging perilously to a raft, floating
helplessly in their lifebelts, or battling doggedly towards
the shore in a rowing-boat or rubber dinghy. The launches
have first-aid equipment and are fitted with several
bunks for the accommodation of the wounded or injured.
Nets can also be trailed over the gunwale to help exhausted
men aboard.
The work entails the most accurate navigation, and for
that reason it is an invariable rule that the officer in
charge (who has the rank of flying officer) should hold the
Board of Trade master mariner's certificate. All have
consequently had mercantile marine experience and most
of them formerly held commissions in the Royal Naval
Reserve. The crew numbers ten, all of whom are experts
at their own job. There are two first-class coxswains, three
deckhands, two engineers and two wireless-operators.
Nowadays the rescue launches form part of a vast new
organization known as the Directorate of Air- Sea Rescue
Services, which was formed in the spring of 1941 with
Air Commodore L. G. Le B. Croke as its head and
Captain C. L. Howe, R.N., as his deputy. In the R.A.F.
78 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
the service is known as the " Salvation Army." The
Germans have a somewhat similar organization whose
craft operate off the coast of occupied territory and in the
North and Baltic Seas near their own coastline.
The bigger body, in which the Air Ministry and the
Admiralty both play a part, was created in anticipation
of a resumption of air fighting on the scale of the 1940
Battle of Britain. Both sides need every trained man and
take great pains to rescue them should they be shot down
into the sea.
The rescue craft are stationed at control points all
around the coast, and these points have at their disposal
special flights of Lysander aircraft. They also work in
close touch with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution,
the Royal Navy, R.A.F. Coastal Command, the mer-
cantile marine, the Coastguard Service, the Royal
Observer Corps and the police. If a resident in a coastal
area reports to the police having seen an aircraft or an
airman come down in the sea the police know exactly
what to do. Each police station is in direct communica-
tion with the nearest R.A.F. station, which loses no time
in informing the appropriate rescue services centre of the
spot to which a launch must be sent. At the same time
a Lysander is sent out to ;help locate the machine or
airman. On several occasions the prompt and accurate
location of a crashed nlachine given by an Observer
Corps post has enabled flying crews to be rescued, while
more than once it has resulted in a valuable flying-boat
being rescued and towed safely into port.
The Air- Sea Rescue Services knows the movements
WINGS OVER THE SEA 79
of every British warship, merchant ship, convoy and
friendly submarine in home waters, and several times
messages have been sent to ships to go to the rescue of
men who have come down outside the range of the
launches. One case is on record of a message having been
sent to a submarine which happened to be only 15 miles
from the spot. Risking attack by hostile aircraft, it sur-
faced, picked up the British crew of five and brought
them safely back home.
Although this Directorate has been running only a
short time it has already justified itself handsomely,
thanks in part to the help of the Royal Navy and the other
organizations which co-operate.
Another type of boat in the R.A.F.'s "Navy," known
as a dinghy, works in collaboration with Coastal Com-
mand's reconnaissance aircraft. When these flying-boats
return from a photographic flight they ignal immediately
to the shore base. The fast little dinghies, fitted with
outboard motors, race through the water to the aircraft,
take over the exposed film and hurry it back to land.
Here, motor-cycle despatch riders are waiting, and they
carry the film straight to the photographic section, where
the negatives are developed and prints made, so that the
" readers " can extract military information from them in
the minimum of time.
Sixty-feet pinnaces are used primarily for the servicing
of Coastal Command's flying-boats, but they also spread
flares for flying-boats and seaplanes alighting in the
dark; they carry stores, recover practice torpedoes, and
occasionally lend a hand in rescue work. These vessels,
80 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
driven by 300 h.p. Diesel engines, are also able to operate
in extremely rough weather. One instance will suffice to
show their capabilities. An R.A.F. bomber, returning
from a raid on enemy territory, had been forced to come,
down on the sea and the crew had taken to their dinghy.
A 6o-knot gale was raging and the seas were running
mountains high. Despite careful criss-crossing searches of
a wide expanse of the troubled North Sea other vessels
had been forced to admit failure, but the pinnace forced
its way through the white-topped breakers in the face of
the gale and picked up the airmen. The wind did not
abate, and it was not until five days after they had made
their forced descent that the bomber crew regained
land.
Also in the R.A.F. Marine Section are seaplane tenders,
known in the Service as "crash boats/' They stand by
while heavily laden flying-boats take off, and should a
mishap occur they can be on the spot in a few moments
to rescue the crew. Bomb scows are the sea equivalent of
the trolleys used on land aerodromes to carry the bomb-
loads from the stores to the machines; while in place of
the petrol trailers used for fuelling bombers there are
miniature tankers, with a tank capacity of 2,500 gallons.
Another strange job is that of the mooring-boat crews.
They spend the whole of their working time going round
and round the coast of Britain keeping an eye on the
mooring sites to which the flying-boats are secured. By
the time they have finished one "circuit" it is time to
start all over again. These men must get bored stiff with
the monotony of it all, yet they seem quite content with
THESE STRANGELY-SHAPED
BOXES CONTAIN AIRSCREWS
AIRSPEED OXFORD TRAINERS
on Trenton Airfield, Canada
WINGS OVER THE SEA 81
their work. A more typical lot of "old salts" than these
crews would be difficult to find.
This little known R.A.F. fleet is completed by the
trawler and drifter auxiliaries and the pilot- cutters, which
are used chiefly for aircraft torpedo practice and for
retrieving the torpedoes. Special types of missiles are
used and the auxiliaries twist and turn like hares being
chased by greyhounds as the aircraft dive at them and
practise this effective form of attack. The crews of the
trawlers, drifters and pilot cutters may, generally speak-
ing, have a pretty humdrum existence, but they certainly
have their moments of excitement.
Perhaps no other section of an air force in any country
in the world has such a varied or responsible task as that
of Coastal Command. As the enemy's attacks on our
shipping have been intensified their work has become
more and more arduous. It will be no easy task to keep
the German submarines, surface raiders and aircraft at
bay, but our safety and livelihood depends upon it. That
is why Coastal Command has been expanded, in the short
space of eighteen months, from a comparatively small
unit into one of the greatest Commands in the R.A.F.
CHAPTER SIX
LINKING AIR AND LAND
IT is probable that the Army Cooperation Command of
the R.A.F. owes its birth to the success of the German
tactics in France and the Low Countries. Employing their
aircraft in close support of the Army, they were able to
clear the path for their fast-moving mechanized columns
and to advance them at a pace which took both the French
and ourselves by surprise. We have not been slow in
learning the lesson, for although the new Command has
been in existence only since December, 1940, it has
proved its worth in the campaigns on all the African
fronts and made the task of General WavelPs Army much
easier than it might otherwise have been.
No man with a better understanding and appreciation
of the problems of air-land collaboration could have been
found than Air Marshal Sir Arthur Barratt, for he was
the Commander-in- Chief of the British Air Forces in
France during the 1940 fighting on the Continent. His
Command was divided into two parts -the Advanced Air
Striking Force, which worked independently in the tradi-
tional manner of the Royal Air Force, and the Air Com-
ponent, which was a mixed unit of bombers, fighters and
reconnaissance machines put at the disposal of Lord
Gort and his staff. The separate Command since set up is a
LINKING AIR AND LAND 83
logical development of the earlier arrangement, and appro-
priately enough, Air Marshal Barratt has been put at its
head.
Apart from the fighting in the Balkans and Middle East,
Army Cooperation Command has not yefbeen in action,
but if and when the time comes for land operations to be
reopened on the Continent it will play a most important
part. There seems little room for doubt that now that
armies are mechanized a section of the air force set aside
to cooperate with the land forces will be a permanent
feature, for in addition to tactical reconnaissance
observation of enemy movements it can carry out photo-
graphic and strategical reconnaissance, "spotting" for the
artillery, bombing and ground attacks with machine-guns,
and it can drop urgent ammunition or supplies to troops
which for various reasons may not be within reach from
the ground .
An Air Ministry report on the part played by an Army
Cooperation squadron with General WavelFs troops
during the offensive which ended in the capture of Bardia
shows the importance of its task. In the first part of the
forward movement it was essential to know the disposi-
tion of the Italian troops guarding Sidi Barrani. Aircraft
went out as late as the afternoon before the attacks, and
prints showing the sectors they had to capture were in
the hands of the local Army commanders in time for the
assault early the following day. On one occasion the
squadron's photographic staff worked for twenty-four
hours on end in order to produce the necessary prints.
During the siege of Bardia itself, artillery "spotting"
84 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
for the Australian and English gunners was carried out
with great success. "Big Bill of Bardia," with which the
enemy had dropped shells periodically into Sollum, caused
some difficulty, and the squadron soon discovered its
hiding place .and caused it to go out of business.
Another way in which there has grown up recently
closer collaboration between land and air forces is through
the new technique new to this country, but started
first in Russia and copied by Germany of dropping
soldiers by parachute from special types of aircraft.
Germany made extensive use of parachute toops on the
Continent, in Norway, Greece and Crete, but until
British soldiers appeared out of the Italian sky early in
1941 it was not known that we also had trained men for
this dangerous and highly specialized work.
Ajrmy Cooperation Command is divided into groups,
one of which is concerned with training and development
and another composed of the operational squadrons
working under the orders of the Army commanders.
Army officers are seconded to the Command for service
with the various squadrons as intelligence officers. It is
their duty to "brief" the A.C. pilots, on behalf of the
Army Corps or Command, on the missions which the
Army want them to undertake. When the pilots have
carried out their orders they report to Army officers,
known as air intelligence liaison officers, who sift and
analyse the pilots' information in much the same way as
does the R.A.F. intelligence officer attached to a Bomber
Command or Fighter Command squadron. An R.A.F.
officer is attached to the headquarters of the Army unit
LINKING AIR AND LAND 85
with which his squadron is working, and in this way each
Service gets to know quite a good deal about the work
and methods employed by the other.
For some time now Army officers who wished to do so
and who passed the medical and educational tests and
concluded their flying training, have been accepted as
pilots for Army cooperation work. After a time there will
be an almost equal number of Army and R.A.F. pilots in
the Command, but it will be impossible to tell which is
which, for they all adopt the blue of the R.A.F. All A.C.
pilots go through the normal initial training wing, the
elementary flying training school and the Service flying
training school, but instead of completing their instruc-
tion with a fighter or bomber operational training unit
they are drafted to one of the Army Cooperation Com-
mand schools. Here they complete a highly-specialized
course which is divided into three stages.
During the first weeks they are taught how to pin-
point such objects as churches, hayricks and ponds and
are sent on elementary reconnaissance of the surrounding
countryside. Sheep represent troops and cattle are sup-
posed to be tanks and mechanized units, and they send
back their information by Morse. Next they study the
extremely complicated art of aerial photography, which,
properly carried out, is one of the most difficult jobs in
the R.A.F., calling for extremely accurate flying. These
things having been mastered, the embryo pilot passes on
to the second part of the course. More advanced forms of
reconnaissance involve the finding of actual troops, and
the pupil cannot hope to "get away with" any flights of
86 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
imagination, for the Army chiefs have informed the air
station just where their troops are and in what strength.
Next come artillery spotting and live shoots with the
gunners, and in the third and last part of the course the
pilot is taught air firing, bombing, evasive tactics, and
ground "straffing." The air firing involves not only
himself aiming the front guns but flying into position so
that his rear gunner can manipulate his guns.
As in all the other Commands of the R.A.F., there are
many ingenious devices on the ground which give the
trainee-pilot excellent practice for air operations. The
best known is the Haskard target, invented, appropriately
enough, by an Army colonel of that name. It consists of
a realistic model, about 30 feet square, representing a
stretch of actual English landscape as it would look to a
pilot flying at the normal reconnaissance height of 3,000
to 4,000 feet. It is complete with roads, rivers, lakes,
canals, hills and valleys, while magnets operated by men
hidden under the floor of the scenery can mo/e trains,
tanks or other mechanized units, and an automatic device
emits puffs of smoke to represent the explosion of artillery
shells. The pilot stands on a platform from which he can
see the whole of the landscape, and he is connected by a
Morse key to "gun positions" also operated by men under
the floor. The .pilot can "go on reconnaissance" and
report troop movements, the bringing up of supplies by
rail or road, and he can send down corrections of range
and direction for the gunners. It also gives him excellent
training in wireless-telegraphy, with all its* codes and
abbreviations.
LINKING AIR AND LAND 87
During the last war air reconnaissance could be a
leisurely business consisting of cruising about and
observing what was going on. Not so in this war. To amble
along at a nice, convenient height and speed would be to
court disaster from ground defences or enemy fighters,
and so an entirely new technique has been worked out.
That is constantly being practised in manoeuvres with
the Army, and all the operational pilots in the Command
are familiar with it,
One of the most important branches of the work
of Army Cooperation Command is air photography,
although there are air reconnaissance units attached to
all the operational Commands of the Royal Air Force.
This is an art in which great strides have been made in
recent years, and improvements are still constantly being
made. During 1914-18 a reconnaissance aircraft was
reasonably safe at 8,000 feet, and from that altitude good
pictures could be obtained in dayliglit, but now it would
be risky for a photographing machine to operate at much
below twice that height, so that technical development has
been necessary to keep pace with the changed conditions.
The ability to secure good, informative photographs
from such a height has not been obtained without much
experiment and research. It is fairly obvious that the
greater the height from which a picture is taken the
smaller the scale of the photographed area becomes. To
"bring up*' those details long-lens cameras were em-
ployed, but these in turn had their drawback, for they
called for more accuracy of aim with the camera and
consequently increased the chance of missing the mark
88 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
altogether. Bigger cameras were thought to be the solu-
tion, and often more than one in an aeroplane, but these
presented difficulties of installation. Another serious
drawback to photographing at great heights was that
cameras frequently froze, and condensation formed on
the lenses. Cameras were also affected by vibration and
by the high speed of the aircraft from which they were
taken. All these problems have now been solved.
Nowadays pictures taken during darkness can be
almost as detailed as those secured in daylight, although
searchlights, bursting anti-aircraft shells and incendiary
bullets sometimes defeat the camera. Under favourable
conditions, however, the R.A.F. photographic section can
guarantee to supply a perfect night picture taken from a
height of 4,000 feet. The lenses used for night photo-
graphy have a much wider aperture than those employed
in the daytime. Flash-bombs are used to illumine objects
on the ground and the flash automatically closes the
camera shutter by means of a photo-electric cell.
Aerial photographs are not only used to ascertain the
effect of bombing raids; in fact, they are frequently the
evidence upon which Bomber or Coastal Command satisfy
themselves of the presence of some desired target, such as
a ship in dock. Much of the information about ship and
troop movements is procured by photographic or other
reconnaissance machines. After the raid has been carried
out photographic aircraft go over and photograph the
target area. The pictures obtained on such occasions
have frequently given the lie to Goebbels' claims that no
military damage had been caused by our bombs.
LINKING AIR AND LAND 89
The aerial camera is now a "precision instrument,' 1
simple to handle and standing up to a great deal of hard
wear. When employed for taking vertical pictures it is
operated electrically and starts at the turn of a timing
switch. The control unit continues to make exposures at
set intervals either until it is switched off or the film has
run out. After the release of the shutter the mechanism
automatically drops into mesh, rewinds the shutter, winds
over the exposed portion of the film, and changes the
number on a Veeder counter. Like some of the older
types, the modern camera is built on the unit system,
and any part can quickly and easily be replaced, no special
tools being needed for dismantling.
The extreme cold which used to be the principal cause
of jamming at high altitudes has been overcome by a
heating arrangement which prevents excessive con-
traction of the shutters; while new mountings, increases
in the speed of the shutter movements and of the pan-
chromatic emulsions, have nullified the effect of engine
and other vibration and stopped the blurring caused by
the fast forward movement of the aircraft.
The laboratories, the advice and the results of experi-
ments and research of the two biggest photographic firms
in the country are constantly at the disposal of the R.A.F.,
so that not only in cameras and films but in processing
methods improvements are constantly being introduced.
As a result, finished prints of pictures can now be handed
on to the "readers" attached to the Army or to Bomber
or Coastal Command in a fraction of the time which was
possible as recently as during the first few months of the
9 o HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
war. Faster and better films permit of wide margins or
error in exposure, either "over" or "under," while the
laboratories have contributed emulsions for films of
greater speed and sensitivity and finer grain; pan-
chromatic coatings which give better results; a bromide
emulsion which provides for either contrasting or soft
effects in printing, according to requirements; and have
made possible the extensive use of infra-red films.
All the operational squadrons of Army Cooperation
Command are equipped with travelling developing and
printing trailers, in which have been fitted the most
up-to-date time- and labour-saving devices. The pro-
cessing of films has been considerably speeded up by a
series of tanks into which the exposed film is put at one
end and comes out at the other developed, fixed, washed
and dried ready for printing. There is also the "multi-
printer," which can supply any required number of
prints of an important negative. The R.A.F. has plant
which is capable of turning out as many as five hundred
prints an hour from any negative.
In these days of fast-moving troops and ships time is
one of the most important factors which determines the
usefulness of an aerial picture. Produced at one moment
it may result in the destruction of a vital enemy target;
available half an hour later it may be useless. That is why
any invention which can cut down processing times is
adopted without delay.
The camera also plays an important part in the training
of pilots and air gunners. Camera- and cine-guns replace
the machine-guns or cannons which will be used in
LINKING AIR AND LAND 91
battle, and when the films are thrown on a screen they
show the marksman where he has gone wrong.
So much importance is attached to aerial photography
that the R.A.F. maintains its own school whre men
receive a thorough training. The trainees must attain a
high standard of proficiency before they are sent out to
work with a squadron, for a "foozled" photograph may
well rob our bombers or our Royal Artillery of an im-
portant victim.
Army Cooperation Command has at its disposal not
only reconnaissance machines but bombers and fighters,
and these are always available to act under the orders of
the Army. Some time ago the Prime Minister stated that
new machines would be provided as and when they
became available, and that process is proceeding steadily.
Having seen how vulnerable' the Junkers 876 dive-
bombers were to ground attack, Britain is not making
the mistake of going in for similar types of machines,
but all the same, we have a new type of bomber, consider-
ably less vulnerable, which can achieve similar result
without risking such crippling losses as the Germans
suffered during the short but hectic campaign in France.
CHAPTER SEVEN
OUR SILVER SENTINELS
PERHAPS it is because they have become such a familiar
war-time sight throughout the country that we are apt
sometimes to forget the valuable part played in our
defence against air attack by the balloon barrage. Perhaps
it is because that, riding silently overhead, the balloons
have an appearance of cow-like docility. How badly they
belie their appearance can only be known by those who
have seen them, on a gusty day, bucking like high-
spirited broncos as the perspiring crews struggle to get
them down. There is nothing docile about them then.
That the Germans place a high value on them is
proved by the great care with which they avoid coming
below their level; by their efforts to destroy them; and
by the fact that they also protect their important areas
with them. That the British authorities have faith in them
is shown by the fact that every month sees more balloons
sent up. The balloons cannot prevent a city, town or
factory from being bombed, but they can and do prevent
the enemy from coming low enough to be sure of his aim.
Their success should not be judged by the number of
German aircraft that they have brought down though
they^ have enjoyed their unspectacular successes against
unwary night bombers. Their job is to keep raiders too
OUR SILVER SENTINELS 93
high to obtain accurate results and at just the right height
for our anti-aircraft guns to bring them tumbling to earth.
They have also played an invaluable part in the defence
of our convoys as they steam up the narrow waters of the
English Channel or approach the danger areas of the
Atlantic and North Sea which lie within range of Ger-
many's Condors, Kuriers, Heinkels, Junkers 88's and
Dorniers. The dive-bombers have not been so keen on
screaming down on our merchant ships since their active
defences were supplemented by balloons.
In September, 1940, it was announced that the size of
the balloon barrage had been doubled since the outbreak
of war. One difficulty has always been to keep the cables
strong enough to be lethal and yet not too heavy to prevent
the balloons from soaring to an effective altitude. Colonel
Llewellin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of
Aircraft Production, stated in Parliament in reply to the
debate on the 1941 Air Estimates that that difficulty was
being overcome, and they believed that a way had been
found of sending the balloons higher still. When the
entire barrage covering Britain is composed of those high-
altitude balloons the German bombers' task will be more
difficult than ever.
Like every other branch of the Royal Air Force,
Balloon Command has its own organisation and its own
commander-in-chief, and it controls all the barrages
throughout the country. Because it would be impossible
to supervise from a single headquarters the vast area of
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the
Command is divided into groups, the largest of which,
94 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
not unnaturally, is London. The groups are themselves
sub-divided into centres, and each centre has its squadrons,
flights and balloon sites. The centres correspond to a wing
on the operational side of the Service. The Metropolitan
area is served by four groups.
Contrary to the general belief, Balloon Command was
in existence before the outbreak of war. Its roots had been
firmly planted some time before "the balloon went up,"
and it had worked out detailed plans for functioning under
war conditions, just as it has its own plan of campaign in
case the enemy should attempt an invasion.
It is the groups which direct the actual manipulating
of the balloons. Each has its meteorological department
to advise it on weather conditions, which, of course, have
an important bearing on the height at which the barrages
are to work. In the light of the weather forecasts the group
commanders decide at what height the balloons shall be
flown, when they shall be grounded, and when sent up
again. Group Headquarters is linked to its squadrons by
telephone, but in case of failure of this means it has
another speedy method of communication.
The centre feeds, clothes and pays the men of its
squadrons, flights and sites; it is responsible for the
maintenance of its not inconsiderable motor transport
section and for the supply of gas for inflating the balloons ;
it has its own medical officers, accountants, catering
officer, butchers, cooks, Service police and office staffs ; it
supplies, replaces, and repairs ail the balloons in its area;
and it has its own central depot.
Because a group must be able to do all these things its
OUR SILVER SENTINELS 95
depot runs to pretty considerable dimensions. At first
glance it is not unlike a bomber aerodrome, but soon one
notices that the hangars are much higher buildings (for
they must house balloons instead of aeroplanes) and that
there are a number of large workshops. Most of those
shops are used for making and repairing balloons, and
they contain thousands of yards of the specially proofed
cotton fabric from which skilled workpeople turn out the
gas-containers and the air-filled "fins," or stabilizers,
which give the balloons their animal-like appearance.
The heavier work is done by men, but the women of the
W.A.A.F. have proved themselves expert in stitching and
cutting the fabric. Power-driven sewing machines have
speeded up new construction and repair work very con-
siderably.
The surfaces which have to take the heaviest strain are
reinforced on the inside by circular discs of some tough
material, known as diaphragms, and by strong tape.
Nearly all this work is performed by women and they
do it extremely well, as one would expect with a job
which is not unlike many of the tasks which a housewife
does.
A brand new or repaired balloon is first lested in- an
inspection hangar, being inflated by means of high-speed
pumps. It is vitally important that even the smallest leak
should be stopped up, because the escape of gas leads to
a dangerous, inflammable mixture which may bring the
balloon crashing in flames. It is for the same reason that
balloons which are "on active service" are hauled down
each day, whether or not they are suspected of leaks caused
96 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
by anti-aircraft shell fragments or bad weather. If the gas
is found to contain less .than the regulation degree of
purity the balloon is deflated and refilled.
Many thousands of people must have noticed the gas
being delivered to the sites every day on special trailers
stacked with ten long cylinders. What is known as a
" ten- way filler " enables all the cylinders to be drawn upon
at the same time, and in this way the balloon can be filled
in well under half an hour. The inflation speed can
however, be controlled by pressure.
Food supplies are distributed daily from the depot to
the flights, each of which has its own cooking facilities.
Most of the catering officers are in the trade in peace-time,
while many of the butchers and chefs are " profes-
sionals. " The result is that the men of Balloon Command
are particularly well fed. Men operating in rural districts
have been found to possess healthier appetites than those
employed on town sites and in offices, and so the former
have a different diet something on the lines of what
West Country folk call "good old substantial/* When the
flight cooks have prepared the meals they are taken to the
sites in the now familiar ' 'hay-boxes," which appear to be
completely satisfactory.
The men who tend the balloons are a mixture of Regu-
lars, R.A.F. Volunteer Reservists and members of the
Auxiliary Air Force. Many of them saw service in France
during the 1940 campaign, maintaining the barrages over
the ports. One of the squadrons which has been engaged
in guarding a part of North London it is probably still
doing so was in charge of the balloons over Le Havre,
A FLEET AIR-ARM SWORDFISH TORPEDO-CARRIER
taxi-Ing past H.M.S. Hood
TRAINING NAVAL PILOTS
Loading a torpedo on to a Fleet Air Arm Albacore
OUR SILVER SENTINELS 97
and though their balloons were shot down one after the
other by German fighters they stuck to their post as long
as there were British ships to be protected. The squadron
got back to England without suffering a single casualty,
and with a good part of their stores. Another squadron
which was in France seemed likely to have to desert or
destroy their balloons, but on the day they were leaving
a good fairy sent a favourable wind, blowing in the
direction of England, and so the cables were cut and the
balloons drifted gently over the Channel. Many of them
were recovered intact in this country.
In the bitter winter weather of early 1940 the balloon
men had an unenviable task, but they kept at it cheerfully
and tirelessly. When gales raged their charges behaved
like things suddenly possessed of a devil. To bring them
down was to accomplish something akin to taming a wild
horse or a mule of the Army variety. When they seemed
to be at last under control they would suddenly kick out
again and threaten to twine themselves round the
chimney of a nearby house, into the branches of trees, or
over electric pylons or telephone lines. There is no doubt
that, in the hands of inexperienced men, a "bucking"
balloon could soon cause a serious amount of damage to
the very building it was designed to protect.
Before a balloon is inflated on a site it is stretched on a
ground-sheet, or bed, and connected to an intricate net-
work of cables, pulleys, ground-blocks, handling guys and
several other things called by mysterious technical names.
The end of the cable is attached to a travelling winch,
which is operated in exactly the same way as a motor-
98 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
car. The speed at which a cable is paid out or hauled in
can be controlled by the winch-driver by the simple
process of pressing lightly or heavily on a pedal situated
where the accelerator is on a car. When a balloon needs
inspection it is hauled, by means of the winch, to within
a few feet of- the ground and thereafter it must then be
man- handled. The crew then range themselves around the
bed and fix the handling guys. When they are safely on
they can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the balloon
can give them no more exhibitions of its caprice until they
start to let it up again.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE "UNIVERSAL PROVIDER"
MAINTENANCE COMMAND is the "universal provider" of
the R.A.F. It supplies everything from a button to an
aeroplane.
Like the operational commands, it is divided into
groups, but the divisions are functional and not geo-
graphical. One group looks after equipment; one after
aircraft; one after ammunition, fuel and oxygen sup-
plies; and one after salvage and repair. Also under
the Command is the Overseas Air Movement Control,
which supervises the packing of aircraft for shipment
abroad.
It is the responsibility of Maintenance Command to
meet the requirements of the R.A.F. up to the point
where maintenance becomes the responsibility of the
operational units that is to say, up to the point where it
becomes running repairs. Some idea of its scope may be
gained from the fact that it has a total personnel strength
which now runs into six figures. The turnover of equip-
ment and ammunition depots averages nearly 100,000
tons a month, while the distance covered by its motor
transport is in the neighbourhood of 1,750,000 miles per
month. The ton-mile figures for a full year are astro-
nomicalabout 1,500,000,000,000, which is equivalent to
ioo HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
carrying one ton 68,000,000 times round the world. The
Command's "stock" consists of 750,000 different items,
varying in weight from less than an ounce to many tons,
any one of which may be demanded at any time of the
day or night. The Command aims to be able to deliver any
requirement of an operational unit within forty-eight
hours of receiving the order, and it is rare for it to be
unable to do so.
The group responsible for the supply of aircraft works
in close liaison with, and virtually under the control of,
the Ministry of Aircraft Production, which is ultimately
responsible for all aircraft supplies, whether from the
British factories, those in the Empire or in the United
States. Aircraft are sometimes supplied by the industry
complete only to flying condition, and this maintenance
group must then take them over and fit them for opera-
tions. The holding of any individual air storage unit (of
which there are several in different parts of the country)
is always a mixed one; that is to say, the various types
of aircraft and engines are so stored that the destruction
of one unit could not wipe out the reserve stocks of a
particular type or even create a temporary shortage.
Aircraft arriving in this country from overseas are taken
by the ferry pilot to their allotted destination and
handed over to the Air Movement Control Unit. It is
possible, during a visit to such a unit, to know at any time
the approximate position of any aeroplane being flown to
this country across the Atlantic, what sort of weather it is
encountering, and details of that sort. The prevailing
weather over other important areas, such as the Medi-
THE "UNIVERSAL PROVIDER" 101
terranean, can also be ascertained by reference to a
coloured map.
Covered by the heading of equipment are such things
as clothing, barrack stores and general stores, including a
normal supply of airframes, aero-engines and motor
transport spares. Every article issued, big or small, is
noted and the record kept in one central office, known as
the Master 'Provision Office, which controls supplies
according to probable requirements. An average of four
hundred signals a day, demanding this and that spare part
or store, arrive at the equipment depot. If the item can be
supplied from stock it is done immediately, but if not, the
order is again signalled to another unit. The Demands
Control Office is the hub of the unit, and the system
employed has been adapted to Service methods and re-
quirements from the experience of the big distributing
firms. Most of the staff are civilians, culled from a variety
of peace-time occupations. Recently and maybe still
there were people who had been respectively a house-
demolisher, an international footballer, nurses, travellers,
a clergyman, a miner, a carpet weaver and a bookmaker.
The salvage group handles both British and enemy
machines which may crash in this country. It is also
charged with the responsibility of recovering any aircraft
which has come down in the sea above the high-water
mark. Below that mark the responsibility is that of the
Marine Salvage Section. When a crash occurs the nearest
R.A.F. station notifies the salvage centre, who must have
the machine removed and repaired, or, if it is damaged
beyond redemption, must dispose of the metal and
102 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
rescue any parts which can be used again. Repair depots
are expected to be capable of repairing anything which
becomes unserviceable motor transport, airframes, aero-
engines, barrack stores, aircraft radio, and a host of other
things too numerous to enumerate.
As soon as it is informed of the whereabouts of a
crashed aeroplane the salvage depot sends out an officer
known as a Crash Inspector to "size up the job." It is for
him to decide whether the damage is repairable on the
spot, whether the machine is worth repairing at all or
whether it must be written off and used only for scrap.
There are different types of crews in readiness for all
these types of jobs. Personnel of the dismantling squads
undergo special courses of instruction in the aircraft
factories, so that they are familiar with the construction
of the various types of Service machines and engines
and can dismantle them without doing further damage.
It is almost inevitable that when a machine crashes it
damages not only itself but the property on which it has
fallen. It may be only a potato crop that has been inter-
fered with, or a hedge or wall which has been knocked
down, or it may have caused serious damage to a building.
A Claims and Damage Officer attends to such things,
although the Crash Inspector submits a preliminary
report on "other damage."
This unit alone covers nearly 100,000 miles a month
by road. As one might expect, a large percentage of
crashes of an accidental nature occur in the most difficult
kind of countryside, sometimes in places where salvage
would seem to be almost an impossibility. On one occa-
THE "UNIVERSAL PROVIDER" 103
sion a machine hurtled into the side of a mountain at a
spot 2,800 feet up. The weather was dreadful cold and
stormy, and there was 2 feet of snow on the ground. No
transport could be got to within two and a quarter miles of
the scene, arid the intervening ground was mostly com-
posed of difficult and dangerous rock. Yet the machine
was dismantled and every part was man-handled all the
way back to the breakdown van. It took sixteen days to
complete the removal.
Another aircraft crashed into a bog high up in the
Welsh Mountains. A tractor which was taken to the spot
sank into the bog until it had almost completely dis-
appeared, so before work could be started on the aero-
plane a scheme had to be devised for rescuing the tractor.
A channel was dug and the water slowly drained away,
and after much gruelling labour both the tractor and the
aeroplane a large bomber were hauled out. Still
another ticklish salvage operation was successfully com-
pleted from a gully on the top of PHnlimmon no mean
feat.
Many of the ammunition depots are underground,
consisting of huge tunnels deep into the sides of moun-
tains and hills. Where this is impossible the explosives
are kept in specially protected buildings. Supplies of
bombs and ammunition are sent out, as required, from
the depots to what are known as forward holding parks,
which are more conveniently situated for direct supplies
to the operational stations. Stores of oil and fuel are con-
trolled, on an agency basis, by the Petroleum Board, but
Maintenance Command is responsible for ensuring a
io 4 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
smooth and uninterrupted supply to the consuming
stations. One of the most interesting processes performed
at the Aviation Fuel Reserve and Distributing Depot is
that of blending the aviation spirits, which is an extremely
important factor in aircraft performance.
The repair depot is expected to restore almost any
mechanical device used in the air. Here, skilled workmen
can dismantle and repair such things as engines, flying
instruments (anything on the normal panel of a cockpit),
wireless, and so on.
There are special depots to which crashed German
aircraft are taken. During and after the Battle of Britain
these depots were piled high with literally hundreds of
twisted and broken Messerschmitts, Junkers dive-
bombers, Heinkels and Dorniers. When new, the
machines thrown into these mountainous heaps must
have cost millions of pounds, but now most of them were
destined for the ignominious end of being melted down
to be used against their makers.
Sometimes enemy aircraft are recovered intact or so
little damaged as to make no difference, and from these,
men with specialized knowledge of engines, radio, arma-
ment, metals and armour have learnt all the secrets
which the Nazis guarded so closely. Thanks to these men's
work the R.A.F. knows all the weak and strong points
of the German machines, knows their speed and per-
formance, and is able to tell its pilots what form of attack
is most likely to bring success.
Each broken machine brought in is examined for new
devices, and then, if it is no use for anything else, it is
THE "UNIVERSAL PROVIDER" 105
melted down and may become part of a Spitfire which
is going to bring down more of its kind, or of a Stirling,
Wellington or Whitley which is going to try to destroy
the factory where its brethren are being made.
These wrecked enemy machines perform another useful
service, for the metal used in their construction can be
analysed. Any hint of Ersatz would soon be unearthed,
but despite many " wishful-thinking" rumours to the
contrary, there has been no sign of substitute metals or
material so far. Some of the instruments on the earlier
Messerschmitt 1095 were rather crude, but such things as
radio and this applies to all the German machines
have been found to be elaborate. Their great disadvantage
as compared with the British aircraft radio is their weight,
many of them being as much as three times as heavy as
our own.
Once the experts have decided that the crashed German
machine is no good for anything else, it is sent to one of
the several depots to be melted down. The carcase is first
cut apart with oxy-acetylene blow-pipes and then the
metals are sorted. The more obvious steel parts, such
as the landing gear, are immediately put aside to be sent
to a steel works, and copper and brass components are
separated. The pieces composed mostly of aluminium
alloys are then sorted by hand, the steel rivets and cables
being cut out. This leaves the alloy parts, which are melted
down in huge furnaces. Before they are used again the
aluminium alloys are mixed with a specified quantity of
new metal.
The same procedure is, of course, followed in the case
io6 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
of British machines, but every care is taken to remove all
parts which can be repaired and put back into service.
Most of the work of Maintenance Command is un-
spectacular, but every member of the R.A.F. knows that,
the success of the operational and training Commands
depends upon its efficiency. Though it has had more than
a normal share of being " Blitzed" it has carried out its
work efficiently and tirelessly. It might well adopt the
motto, "If you want something, we've got it."
CHAPTER NINE
WOMEN IN BLUE
"I congratulate you on the fine courage and discipline shown
by all ranks of the W.A.A.F. in recent actions. They are well
worthy of the great Service to which they belong."
The Air Minister
THIS high tribute to the Women's Auxiliary Air Force,
sent by Sir Archibald Sinclair to the Director, Air Com-
mandant J. Trefusis Forbes, shortly after attacks had
been made on several R.A.F. stations, was thoroughly
deserved, for these girls in blue have not only shown
magnificent pluck under fire but are paying an ever-
increasing part in the ground work of the Service.
In peace time members of the W.A.A.F. were em-
ployed only for jobs which were obviously "up their
street/' such as cooking and other domestic occupations.
Since the war started, women have been trained to do a
variety of jobs, until now they form an indispensable part
of the war-time Royal Air Force. They have taken to many
unfamiliar tasks in a most adaptable manner and are now
engaged in no fewer than twenty-five trades, formerly
followed only by men.
A Women's Royal Air Force was created in April, 1918,
at the same time as the amalgamation of the R.F.C. and
the R.N.A.S. brought into being the R.A.F. When the
io8 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
A.T.S. was formed in July, 1938, certain companies were
allotted to the R.A.F., but this arrangement could not
provide anything like the number required for a rapidly
expanding Air Force and the duties were completely
different, so on June 28, 1939, the Women's Auxiliary
Air Force was established by Royal Warrant. The Queen
became the Commandant-in- Chief and Miss Trefusis
Forbes was appointed Director, with the rank of Air
Commandant, which corresponds to that of Air Com-
modore in the men's side of the Service. The Duchess of
Gloucester was also gazetted an air commandant in
March, 1940. Since the outbreak of hostilities the organi-
zation has expanded at a rate corresponding to that of
the R.A.F., and today there are airwomen on almost every
R.A.F. flying station and establishment throughout the
country, with their own officers and their own directorate.
They rank as part of the Auxiliary Air Force.
When the women working with the Air Force were
merely a part of the A.T.S. the only distinguishing feature
of the uniform of the "R.A.F. Companies" was a Royal
Air Force eagle embroidered in red on each shoulder of
the khaki jacket. The decision at that time not to dress
the women in blue was due to the dearth of blue cloth, all
of which was required for the rapidly growing Air Force.
The final word on the uniform was actually given by Air
Marshal Sir Charles Portal then Air Member for
Personnel. He said, "It must be blue."
A new style uniform was then devised, the authorities
wisely giving consideration to the women's own point of
view. The result w r as the present distinctive blue uniform,
SUPJERMARINE SPITFIRES
FLYING IN FORMATION
AS THE SUN SETS
A Whitley bomber takes off on a raid
over German/
WOMEN IN BLUE 109
with its slightly flared skirt and a tunic and cap which
follow as closely as possible those worn by officers and
men of the R.A.F. A special feature, unique in the uni-
forms of women's services, is that badges of rank, as well
as cap badges and buttons, are identical with those of the
fighting Service to which the women are attached. At
first there was some doubt as to whether the cap and
buttons of the R.A.F. could legally be adopted by the
W.A.A.F., but this was settled when it was shown that
similar badges and buttons were worn by the Princess
Mary's R.A.F. Nursing Service.
When Royal approval for the uniform was sought it
was suggested that a different head-dress might be an
improvement, but the King left the choice to the members
themselves, and they chose the peaked cap.
The W.A.A.F. conducts its own recruiting on much
the same lines as the R.A.F. After being enrolled a woman
is sent to one of the two training depots, where she under-
goes a fortnight's disciplinary training. For some trades
it is necessary to pass a selection board. Trained women
are then posted to R.A.F. stations, but those with little
or no previous knowledge of their trade receive a special
course of tuition.
There is no direct entry for officers, all of whom are
promoted from the ranks. The women undertake to serve
anywhere, including overseas. At each R.A.F. station
they have their own officer, their separate mess and their
recreation rooms, their own N.A.A.F.I. and their own
range of sports. Though participation is not compulsory,
they show great keenness for such sports as fencing,
no HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
lacrosse, hockey, lawn tennis, roller skating, squash
rackets, badminton, net-ball, swimming, cricket and
cross-country running. Physical training is equally
popular. Sometimes the instructors are men and some-
times women.
The ranks are much the same as in the R.A.F., but
because officers do not hold commissions there cannot be
N.C.O.s, and the women are called sub-officers. The
officers' ranks are assistant section officer (corresponding
to pilot officer), section officer (corresponding' to flying
officer), flight officer (flight lieutenant), squadron officer
(squadron leader), wing officer (wing commander), group
officer (group captain) and air commandant (air com-
modore).
Generally speaking, the age for membership of the
W.A.A.F. is 18 to 43, but there are exceptions in the case
of women who served in the last war (maximum age, 50),
for cooks (18-47), special duties clerks (18-35), adminis-
trative airwomen (21-43), radio operators (18-35), an d
sick quarter attendants (23-43). ^ a Y varies between
is. 8d. a day, including 4d. a day war pay, and 75, a day
for a senior sergeant. From time to time the age limits
for various occupations are varied to keep pace with
the demand, so that some of the age groups given may
have been modified since this was written.
At the outset there were only five trades open to
members of the W.A.A.F.; now there are twenty-six.
Today, women are trained as instrument mechanics,
wireless telegraphy slip-readers and operators, sparking
plug testers, wireless operators, cooks, fabric workers
WOMEN IN BLUE in
(aero) and fabric workers (balloon), equipment assistants;
for administrative duties and for various clerical duties;
as teleprinter operators, radio operators and tracers, tele-
phone operators, four kinds of aircraft hands, dental clerk
orderlies, and sick-quarter attendants.
Some of the R.A.F. doctors are women but they do not
form part of the W.A.A.F. ; nor do the nurses, who come
under the separate organization already referred to the
Princess Mary's R.A.F. Nursing Service.
Women who have been upholsterers, machinists or
tailoresses are found to be good at fabric work, while
those who have had experience in factories or wireless
shops usually make excellent instrument mechanics.
Women who want to become wireless-telegraphy slip-
reader operators must be experienced typists (preferably
touch- typists), while general duties clerks must be able
to type at a minimum rate of thirty words a minute.
Commercial artists are among those employed as tracers,
whose job it is to trace in and colour maps. Some women
are engaged in tracking enemy aircraft operating over this
country, and in this responsible occupation they work in
close touch with the Royal Observer Corps.
A new school for code and cypher officers of the
W.A.A.F. was opened in 1940. It is in a big country
house in one of the royal counties of England, and is the
first of its kind in the Service. The school is actually
administered by the Technical Training Command of the
R.A.F. W.A.A.F. officers take a short course, which is on
the lines of that at the Royal Air Force Staff College. When
that course has been completed the officers are posted to
ii2 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
an R.A.F. unit, and in addition to their code and cypher
duties they are then responsible, in conjunction with the
administrative W.A.A.F. officers, for the welfare and
recreati&n of the airwomen attached to the unit.
It is the aim of the authorities to enable women, while
they are serving in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, to
equip themselves for a return to civilian life after the
war, and so an educational course has been prepared with
great care. Many of the younger women interrupted
careers to take up this work of national importance, and
they can continue their studies without any cost to them-
selves. Quite a number are learning foreign languages,
particularly French and German, while some are training
to be book-keepers and shorthand-typists. The women
are also given talks at the stations on current events to
encourage them to take an intelligent interest in what is
going on in other countries. Many members of the Force
are from the Dominions and Colonies ; some are nationals
of friendly neutral countries.
Since the war started quite a number of the W.A.A.F.
have won decorations for bravery. A very few illustrations
of the sort of deeds for which those decorations have been
awarded will suffice to show the high standard of courage
which the women have displayed under fire. A sergeant
was in charge of a telephone switchboard which, for some
extraordinary reason, was situated in the station armoury.
The switchboard linked all the defence posts around the
station, and if the attackers were to be kept at bay it was
vital that the telephones should be kept working. While
bombs were falling all around, this brave woman stayed,
THE ROYAL OBSERVER CORPS AT WORK
THE BALLOONS GO UP
WOMEN IN BLUE 113
surrounded by enough high-explosives to blow her to
pieces, and maintained contact with all the posts. As soon
as the enemy aircraft had been driven off she snatched
up a bundle of red flags and marked the places where
unexploded bombs had fallen. For this act she was
decorated with the Military Medal.
A woman corporal stationed at a bomber aerodrome
saw a British machine crash on the landing ground and
burst into flames. She knew that there was great danger
of the bomb cargo exploding at any moment, but, with
no thought for her own safety, she rushed to the blazing
aircraft and pulled out the members of the crew, dragging
them to safety in the nick of, time. She, too, won the M.M.
Just one more illustration: A corporal cook was in a
dug-out which received a direct hit during a particularly
severe raid on an R.A.F. fighter station. Several airmen
were killed and others injured, while some were pinned
under the wreckage of the shelter. The dugout was quickly
filled with smoke and fumes, but the airwoman went to
the assistance of the wounded men, gave first-aid and
then fetched a stretcher, staying with the men until they
could be got out. The London Gazette announcing the award
of the M.M. said that she "displayed courage and coolness
of a very high order in a position of extreme danger. "
When women can display such bravery in moments of
great danger it is not surprising to find an R.A.F. station
commander, after a heavy attack on his aerodrome, send-
ing a telegram to the Director of the W.A.A.F. in which
he said that the women's calm courage was "a fine example
to the whole Service."
CHAPTER TEN
HEALTH AND HAPPINESS
ALL the Commands of the R.A.F. have now been de-
scribed. It will be quite obvious to the reader that, with
such a vast field to cover, there must be some central
organization responsible for the welfare of the hundreds
of thousands of men and women who are wearing
blue in war-time.
To assist men of all ranks of the Service and their
relatives who, through ill-health, unemployment or some
other cause, may find themselves in financial need, there
exists a permanent body known as the Royal Air Force
Benevolent Fund, which has its temporary war-time head-
quarters at Eaton House, Eaton Road, Hove, Sussex. This
fund has done excellent work for many years and the calls
made upon it in such times as these are very heavy
indeed. If anyone wants to express his or her gratitude
to the men who have fought so valiantly against the
Luftwaffe no better way could be found than to send a
donation to the Fund. Early in the war Lord Nuffield
generously gave 250,000, and it has been put to ex-
cellent use.
But even where no financial difficulties exist men
forced to spend their lives away from home, often miles
from a town, need to be well looked after. Therefore
HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 115
there is a Welfare Branch of the Air Ministry whose job
it is to coordinate the work of the vast network of
voluntary and other organizations which administer to
the spiritual and bodily needs of the R.A.F. personnel and
provide for their entertainment and relaxation. Though
these bodies embrace such widely separated problems as
education, entertainment, fitness, physical health and
training, comfort, feeding and morale, the unified direc-
tion prevents any overlapping, so that the essential part
which each plays dovetails into a nation-wide scheme
which functions wherever Royal Air Force units are to
be found.
Entertainment is a matter which has been gone into
thoroughly, for the authorities realize that it is closely
bound up with the whole question of morale. Men
stationed on an aerodrome miles from anywhere who have
nothing to do in their leisure time are apt to get "browned
off," as they would express it, and men who are con-
stantly fed up are not likely to give of their best or to
stand up well to air attack. On most of the big R.A.F.
establishments throughout the country there is a cinema,
a concert hall and a swimming pool, as well as recreation
rooms where one may find every known indoor game or
pastime from darts to billiards.
ENSA has become a sort of semi-official body for the
entertainment of the troops and airmen, and each year it
provides many thousands of concerts and other stage
performances, in some of which the most famous artistes
have appeared. For the smaller stations there are regular
visits from touring shows and travelling cinemas, while
ii6 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
the R.A.F. Director of Music organizes extensive tours
for the three R.A.F. bands, all of which are made up of
skilled musicians. Members of famous peace-time dance
bands also visit the stations.
Some of the R.A.F. units have their own dance bands
and orchestras ; others go in for whist drives and dramatic
and debating societies. Probably no section of the com-
munity is better catered for in this direction than the R.A.F.
Because the Air Ministry realizes its great importance
at any time, and especially under war conditions, special
attention has also been devoted to the question of physical
fitness. This is not dismissed lightly as being merely a
matter of physical jerks and drill, boxing, football,
cricket and cross-country running. It has been studied
scientifically, so that a more accurate description would
be physical education. Several hundred instructors have
now been appointed and more are constantly being
trained. These men not only teach physical fitness in all
its aspects but they study the men's reactions to fatigue
and prescribe and provide the best remedies. They also
watch the effect of health on morale. (This is, of course,
a matter in which the Service doctors collaborate.)
Every officer responsible for watching the interests of
R.A.F. men and that means nearly every one received
some time ago a booklet containing common-sense hints
on the important subjects of discipline, morale, physical
fitness and efficiency. One passage in it reads :
"The civilian population will look to Service per-
sonnel to set an example of courage and leadership.
HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 117
. . . There is no branch of the Services where morale
is more important than in the R.A.F. The nature of
the job calls for the highest standard of physical fitness,
and the situations likely to develop call for the highest
and best type of morale. "
Sport naturally plays a big part in the physical fitness
campaign, and there is hardly a popular outdoor or indoor
game which cannot be played. A central fund is available
to assist with the purchase of "togs" and equipment, while
the R.A.F. Comforts Fund supplies the smaller units
which have no funds of their own. Incidentally, the
Comforts Fund also makes free issues of such useful
things as gramophones, wireless sets, books, pianos and
woollens, like scarves, mittens, Balaclava helmets, socks
and stockings. The author can say from experience how
welcome these things were to the men of the Advanced
Air Striking Force and the Air Component during the
exceptionally cold 1939-40 winter in France, and no doubt
they were equally acceptable to the men stationed at home.
No R.A.F. station would be complete without its
N.A.A.F.I. (Navy, Army and Air Force Institute). These
stores do not aim at making a profit ; they are run for the
benefit and convenience of the men. In these huts it is
possible to buy everything from cigarettes to button
polish and usually even chocolate.
Each station has its welfare committee, which works
closely with the voluntary organizations operating on the
spot. What may be termed the social services are carried
on by the Council of Voluntary War Work, of which
n8 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
Lieutenant- General Sir John Brown is cHairman. Work-
ing with the Council are such bodies as the Y.M.C.A.,
Y.W.C.A., Toe H, Church of Scotland, Salvation Army,
Church Army, Catholic Women's League, and the
Methodist and United Board Churqhes. As far as possible,
one of these maintains on each station a hut where men
can read, have a quiet chat, eat refreshments, write letters
or play games.
Though the network of voluntary organizations function
all the year round, perhaps their best and most valuable
work is done in the long, dark winter months, when un-
suitable weather and the long hours of night impose a
certain restriction on other activities. These organisations
combine not only to keep the airmen fit for their work
but to help them use their leisure to the best advantage.
There is, of course, no compulsion about it, but the
majority of the men wisely take advantage of the facilities
they are offered.
There is also a comprehensive voluntary education
scheme, run on much the same lines as that for the
W.A.A.F. Many of the R.A.F. stations have excellent
libraries containing works on a variety of technical sub-
jects, while a first-class series of lectures of an educational
and cultural nature has been arranged by the Director
of Education. The British Council also gives valuable
assistance on the educational side.
Thanks to the willing co-operation of the ever-generous
British civilian population, pilots and flying crews who
are tired and a bit worn after a period of intense activity
can sometimes get away for a few .days* quiet and rest
HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 119
at a country house in some part of the country where air
raids are few and far between. Many of the angling
societies have arranged that any member of the three
fighting Services can fish in their private waters ; dozens of
golf clubs have thrown their courses open; while football,
hockey, and cricket clubs willingly lend their grounds for
matches.
Another relaxation scheme, which has been worked
out in collaboration with the Ministry of Aircraft Pro-
duction and the Society of British Aircraft Constructors,
permits an interchange of visits by flying personnel to
factories and of the craftsmen to the operational stations.
Bomber crews may visit a Whitley factory, a munitions
factory where the bombs which they carry are made, a
radio factory, or some other workshop engaged in the
production of some part of the bomber's equipment.
There they tell the workpeople about some of the adven-
tures which have befallen the aeroplanes they helped to
make, where and how they have dropped their bombs;
or perhaps they will be able to give a first-hand account
of how the compass made in that factory brought them
home from a raid in trying weather.
At other times men from a Spitfire factory may be
taken to a Fighter Command station, where they can
chat with the pilots. In this way a closer and deeper under-
standing and sympathy for the problems of the other have
been created. Pilots' visits to factories have also had a
noticeable effect on production, while the craftsmen can
discuss technical problems with the men who have to
handle their products.
120 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
As one would expect, the R.A.F. medical services are
as efficient and up-to-date as could be found anywhere in
the world. Each squadron has its own M.O., while
specialist treatment is readily available for men of all
ranks.
Organized games play an important part in the recovery
of pilots and crews who have been wounded or injured.
The more serious cases are treated at a hospital which
was formerly a luxury hotel and which is situated among
rolling pine woods overlooking the sea. The object of the
games is to re-educate muscles and joints, to help frac-
tured limbs to become strong and pliable again; and to
counteract the nervous strain inevitably associated with
operational flying. In plaster of paris limbs tend to become
stiff and muscles to waste away. The games are designed not
only to restore normal movement but to avoid the mono-
tony of doing what would otherwise be tedious exercises.
Boredom is one of the worst enemies of recovery, and
no trouble or expense is spared to eliminate it. Facilities
are provided for such games as table tennis, quoits and
darts. It seems that striving for the " double 20" on a dart
board is a good way of remedying stiffness in the arm.
Swimming is also encouraged, while those who are fit
enough may play lawn tennis or squash racquets.
The British Red Cross Society has equipped a large
library in the hospital, while a staff of voluntary workers
give advice and instruction in various arts and crafts. The
hospital has six operating theatres'. There is also a large
electro-therapeutic department and a portable electro-
therapeutic set, which provides infra-red and ultra-violet
HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 121
rays in addition to radiant heat and short-wave treatment.
For men fighting in the heat and sand of North Africa
a rest house, appropriately called "Hurricane House," has
been opened in Cairo. It was instituted by Air Chief
Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, then Commander-in- Chief
of the R.A.F. in the Middle East. The house stands in the
main shopping thoroughfare of the city, and the gardens
surrounding it are planted with as much grass as possible,
for the green is restful to the eyes of men who have been
squinting for weeks * in the sun-glare over the desert.
There are similar rest houses in other parts of the Empire.
At many of the home stations one of the most popular
diversions among the flying crews is gardening. It is not
only good exercise and a complete change from the strain
of flying but is helping to make many of the stations com-
pletely self-supporting in the matter of vegetables and
fruit. (Incidentally, some of the stations go in for pig-
breeding as well.) So much importance is attached to
cultivation for all these reasons that in April, 1941, the
Air Council appointed Mr. A. H. Whyte, County Horti-
cultural Adviser to the Shropshire, County Council, as Air
Ministry Gardening Officer.
The R.A.F. recently started their own magazine, a
bright and breezy weekly publication called Contact. The
publication of Volume i coincided with the twenty-third
anniversary of the formation of the R.A.F. Contact is
written and produced by airmen for airmen and has
proved very popular indeed.
Many more facilities could be mentioned, but enough
has been written to show that in all branches of welfare
122 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
the R.A.F. is catered for adequately and even elaborately.
Few people will doubt that the existence of this com-
prehensive network of organizations, covering every
branch of Air Force activities, has made an important
contribution to the efficiency of the Service as a whole.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EMPIRE RESERVOIR
THE man who conceived the idea of creating an Empire
Air Training Scheme was nothing short of a genius, and
his foresight may go a long way towards winning the war
in the air.
Once factories have been built and jigs made, aircraft
production is merely a matter of keeping at it grimly, but
pilots and flying crews must have individual and thorough
training covering many months, so that in a long war it
is in men and not in machines that a bottle-neck is likely.
The Empire Air Training Scheme in Canada by far
the biggest part of the plan started operations in May,
1939, with the object of providing 20,000 pilots and 30,000
air crews each year. The full output was expected to be
reached by the end of 1941, but such excellent progress
has been made that "full steam ahead" is now anticipated
by September, 1941.
Some idea of the magnitude of the scheme may be
gained from a study of the expenditure. In 1940 it was
estimated that the cost over a period of three years would
be 607,000,000 Canadian dollars, which would be met as
follows: United Kingdom, 185,000,000 dollars; Canada,
353,000,000; Australia, 44,000,000; and New Zealand,
28,000,000 Canadian dollars. Canada was to bear the
124 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
initial cost and would then be reimbursed by Britain,
Australia and New Zealand on the basis of the number of
airmen trained under the scheme. That was in 1940. In
March, 1941, amended estimates were pubished. The
total cost was then put at about 1,000,000,000 Canadian
dollars (225,000,000) of which the Canadian share
would be 853,000,000 dollars. In addition, millions of
dollars have been spent for schools in Canada outside the
scheme, which are occupied by British and other airmen.
A total of 115 training establishments in the Dominion
was planned, including 26 elementary flying schools, 16
Service flying schools, 10 observer schools, 10 bombing
and gunnery schools, 3 initial training schools, 4 wire-
less schools, and 2 air navigation schools. There are also
schools where ground crews are trained. The vast majority
of these establishments have been working to capacity
for some months, as well as 4 manning pools, i central
flying school, i air armament school, i motor-boat
school, i equipment and accounting school, i aircraft
inspectors' school, i school of aeronautical engineering,
and i technical training school.
At the head of this vast scheme is Air Marshal W. A.
("Billy") Bishop, V.C., one of the most famous pilots of
all time. During the last war Bishop was officially credited
with the destruction of seventy-two Hun aircraft, and he
won practically every decoration open to an airman. In
April, 1917, he was awarded the Military Cross for shoot-
ing down an observation balloon and a scout aeroplane,
and in June of that year his exploits gained him the
D.S.Q. His Victoria Cross was won by one of the most
EMPIRE RESERVOIR 125
daring feats of the war. He crossed the German lines
single-handed and attacked an aerodrome twelve miles
behind them. Three aircraft were sent up to tackle him
and he shot them down one after another. Bishop still
holds a pilot's licence. What better man could be placed
in charge of a scheme to produce thousands of men who
are eager to emulate his great achievements in the air?
One of the obvious advantages of the Canadian scheme
is that it enables pilots and flying crews to be well away
from the danger and interruption of enemy air attacks.
Another, which is perhaps almost equally important, is
that the vast space of Canada enables adequate flying
training to be carried on throughout the year. One of the
bugbears of training flying men in this country is that
their course is often held up for weeks at a time because
the weather is unsuitable. Even during the Canadian
winter flying can continue uninterrupted, for the skies
are clear and the authorities have discovered a means of
compacting the snow on the aerodromes, providing
excellent runways. And on top of these advantages is
the cheering fact that black-out is unknown in the
Dominion.
Realizing that time is precious, those responsible for
administering the scheme in Canada have worked out
plans for utilizing every minute of the day, so that from
dawn to dusk the sky near the flying training schools is
filled with a constant hum of engines. At No. i Bombing
and Gunnery School at Jarvis, Ontario, what is known as
" chain flying" has been introduced. Maintenance crews
have been so well trained that an aircraft is on the ground
1*6 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
only seven minutes between flights. All day long the
Fairey Battle aircraft are landing and taking off, and
while the fuel tanks are being refilled one crew is climbing
out and returning to the hangars and another takes its
place. Flying continues uninterrupted throughout the
lunch hour.
Crumlin Airport at London, Ontario, houses Fleet
Finch primary trainers. One side of the aerodrome forms
No. 3 Flying Training School, while the other side is No. 4
Air Observers' School, where Avro Ansons' are used.
Some of the instructors here are Americans. There is
another Bombing and Gunnery School at Fingal, which
favours Battles, while at No. 6 Flying Training School at
Dunnville, Ontario, the trainers are North American
Harvards and Yales.
There are mass concentrations of men as well as
machines in Central and Western Ontario. No. i Manning
Depot, in the Coliseum Building at the Canadian National
Exhibition grounds in Toronto, is a receiving centre for
thousands of new recruits. More thousands of men are
centred at the Technical Training School at St. Thomas,
Ontario, where a mixture of mechanics, fabric workers,
instrument makers and parachute packers are turned out.
The brand new 1,500,000 Ontario Mental Hospital
buildings are used as living quarters. In the large hangars
at the rear of these buildings hundreds of airframe
mechanics (called riggers in this country) are being
trained, while in another hangar young men are being
initiated into the mysteries of such aero-engines as the
Rolls-Royce Merlin and the Bristol Pegasus.
EMPIRE RESERVOIR 127
The Dominion Air Minister, Mr C. G. Power, stated
early in 1941 that Canada was outstripping the United
States in producing trained air crews and was emerging
as the fourth air Power in the world. The number of
men who have already graduated from the scheme is, of
course, a closely guarded secret. It is no secret, however,
that an ever-increasing flow of trained men from all parts
of the Empire are arriving in this country from Canada
to carry on the grim fight in the air. The nearest figure
quoted by the Minister was that at that time there were
10,000 students enrolled and that from 15,000 to 20,000
more would be enrolled as air crews during 1941. When all
the schools were in operation, he added, the staff would
number more than 40,000. The total number of students
to be trained in Canada would not be far short of double
the figure visualized a year previously.
It is small wonder, then, that in his 1941 Air Estimates
speech Sir Archibald Sinclair described the success of the
Empire Training Scheme as having "passed all expecta-
tions " and was able to reveal that men trained under it
were already flying daily against the enemy.
When Captain Harold Balfour, M.P., Parliamentary
Under- Secretary of State for Air, returned from a tour
of inspection in Canada at the beginning of 1941 he was
loud in his praise of what he had seen. The layout of
aerodromes was excellent, he said, the keynote being
simplicity, adequacy, and labour-saving machinery for
men and equipment.
Australian and New Zealand pilots and crews who
receive ab initio training in their home countries go to
128 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
Canada for their final stages. The number making the
long journey grew so rapidly that the embarkation depots
at Sydney and Melbourne became unable to cope with
them and a third depot had to be opened at Adelaide.
Some of the men who pass through these points (known
as "bed and breakfast units") are fully trained and_are
being sent as replacements or reinforcements for the
Royal Australian Air Force squadrons already on active
service. Most of the arrivals are air crews, but all Air
Force trades are represented, including motor-boat crews,
wireless operators, office orderlies, cooks, drivers, Service
police and electricians. Similar depots to the new one at
Adelaide will be formed in other States in the Common-
wealth if and when the necessity arises.
Well before the end of 1940 nearly 100,000 applications
had been received in Australia to join the Empire Scheme,
and at Christmas of that year the first fully-trained
Australian pilots arrived in England. They had done their
elementary and intermediate training in their own country
and "finished off " in Canada. At the time of their arrival
it was stated officially that more than 40,000 men had
been enlisted in the Commonwealth for service under the
Empire Scheme, out of 140,000 applicants. In addition
to training schools in various States, Australia has an
elementary flying school at Launceston, Tasmania.
New Zealand's contribution, when working at full
capacity will provide 3, 700 drained men a year. Whether
that figure has yet been reached the author is unable to
say. More than 4,000 trainees had been registered by the
autumn of 1940, while by the end of that year New
TRAINING WIRELESS
OPERATORS FOR
THE R.A.F.
W.A.A.F. PERSONNEL BEING REVIEWED
SPATTED LYSANDERS ON PATROL
EMPIRE RESERVOIR 129
Zealand had sent approximately i ,500 pilots, observers and
air- gunners to Britain and Canada for advanced training.
Southern Rhodesia's part of the ^Empire Training
Scheme, working fully, is producing 1,800 pilots, 240
observers and 340 air-gunners a year.
Newfoundland is contributing pilots, observers and
wireless operator-air gunners to the Canadian part of the
Empire Scheme. The first group were enrolled by a Royal
Canadian Air Force recruiting detachment. **
In addition to the large-scale schemes, the Colonial
Governments in Malaya, Trinidad and Bermuda have
themselves devised plans for giving elementary flying
training. The Air Ministry gratefully accepted an offer
by the Trinidad Flying Club to train pilots for the R.A.F.
and the local Government agreed to bear the cost.
South Africa has a training scheme of its own which is
producing excellent results. The trained men do not join
the R.A.F. but the South African Air Force, which has
done so splendidly in the air fighting in the Middle East.
A substantial training organization has been formed in
India to turn out pilots for the R.A.F. in India and for
the Indian Air Force. Burma has also established a flying
training organization. The first Indian flying officers
to reach this country, who were entertained to tea by the
King, were all experienced civil pilots. One had nearly
three thousand hours to his credit, including flights
between England and India and England and the Cape.
Under the Overseas Recruiting Scheme British subjects
who volunteer for air crew duties are provided with free,
passage home. From all parts of the Empire men are
130 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
hurrying back to offer their services. Four friends, all of
whom had had flying experience, travelled to England
together from the Bahamas. A Scotsman, normally resi-
dent in Patagonia, rode hundreds of miles on horseback
to catch a ship for England from Buenos Aires. A great
many have returned from different parts of the Argentine.
One journeyed eight hundred miles overland across South
America to his port of sailing. More Britons have come
from Honolulu, Venezuela, Cuba, the Leeward Islands,
Bermuda, Trinidad, the Seychelles Islands, Mauritius,
Peru and many other places.
Such a spirit leaves no room for doubting the deter-
mination of British men in all parts of the world to play
their part in driving the Luftwaffe from the skies.
CHAPTER TWELVE
RESERVOIR JUNIOR
FOR speed of growth the only thing that could compare
with the Air Training Corps is a prairie fire. Formed on
April i, 1941, in five weeks 1,051 squadrons had been
formed in every part of the United Kingdom and by the
end of April the total of squadrons was not far below
1,500.
Its purpose is to provide boys between the ages of
1 6 and 18 with basic training which will be of value
to them when they reach the minimum age for joining
the Royal Air Force 18 and to bring up to the required
educational and physical standard boys who would not
otherwise have been able to attain 'them. In other words
it is a long-term training scheme designed to ensure a
flow of pilots and flying crews of the right type, not only
for the R.A.F. but for the Fleet Air Arm.
The popular appeal of the R,A.F. to the youth of the
country is shown by the fact that the number who have
already joined the A.T.C. stands at roughly 200,000 out
of a total of only 750,000 boys between these ages in the
whole country. It augurs well for the future of our Air
Force.
Fortunately, when the scheme was introduced it was
not necessary to set up completely new machinery,
i 3 2 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
because for some years there had existed a national
organization known as the Air Defence Cadet Corps
which, though not an official body, had the Air Ministry's
blessing, having as it did much the same aims as the
proposed new Corps. It possessed an efficient head-
quarters staff administering about two hundred squadrons
of boys spread over the whole country. For some time the
future status of the A.D.C.C. had been under considera-
tion by the Air Ministry, and in December, 1940, Captain
Balfour stated in Parliament that proposals to make use
of its resources were being discussed. Up to that time the
Air Ministry had given the Corps only limited support.
It provided certain materials for the boys' training; each
cadet squadron was attached to an R.A.F. unit; in-
structors from R.A.F. stations gave the boys lectures, and
they in return gave what help they could on the aero-
dromes. The only financial assistance provided by the
Government was a grant of 35. 6d. a head for boys who
were "on the strength" six months before the outbreak of
war. The annual cost of running a cadet squadron varied
between .200 and 400 a year, so that the funds had been
found very largely from local sources.
In the middle of January, 1941, the Air Minister
announced plans for the new Air Training Corps. The
scheme was divided into three parts. Units were to be
formed at the universities, at public and secondary schools,
and locally. At the universities the Air Ministry was
Arranging a six months' course for youths who wished to
serve as pilots or navigators and whq were regarded as
potential candidates for commissioned rank. While at the
RESERVOIR JUNIOR 133
universities the young men would join the Varsity air
squadrons and would carry out a course of instruction in
Service subjects similar to those taken at the initial training
wings of the R.A.F. Flying Training Command. At the
same time they would pursue a course of study given by
the teaching staff of the university in subjects of value
from the Service point of view, such as mathematics and
mechanics, electricity and magnetism, engineering,
meteorology and navigation. All selected candidates were
required to take the first of these and one of the other four
subjects.
Arrangements had been made whereby boys would be
full members of the university while taking the course.
Selected candidates would be attested for the R.A.F. before
going into residence but would be placed on deferred
service during this period. All expenses, except such per-
sonal ones as for laundry, were to be paid by the Air
Ministry, but the young men would not draw Service
pay. On completion of the course candidates who secured
the university air squadron certificate and who satisfied
the Joint Universities Recruiting Board of their diligence
and progress in their other studies and who were regarded
as being otherwise suitable would go direct to a flying
training or observer training school. That is to say, their
training at the university, having been similar to that
given at the initial training wings of the R.A.F., would be
substituted for the first stage of their Service training.
The first universities course started on April 15 and
courses are being conducted at a number of universities
in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The
i 3 4 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
candidates for the course at a university were chosen from
public and secondary schools by R.A.F. selection boards
on the basis of nominations received from headmasters.
In order to get the scheme going the Air Minister
persuaded Uppingham School to release for a period of
six months their brilliant headmaster, Mr J. F. Wolfen-
den, and he became the Air Ministry's first Director of
Pre-Entry Training. The Director is directly responsible
to Air Marshal A. G. R. Garrod, the Air Member for
Training. Responsibility for the training of all units and
for the administration of local units is vested in Air
Commodore J. A. Chamier, who was formerly Com-
mandant of the Air Defence Cadet Corps.
Naturally, the local scheme forms by far the largest
part. There is no corner of the country where a unit has
not been formed. It is here that the organization of the
Air Defence Cadet Corps has been most useful. Where
there had been a local cadet squadron the committee
readily offered their services; where there had not, a local
organization was set up without delay. Arrangements were
made with the local authorities for instruction to be
given at Air Ministry expense in such essential subjects
as mathematics. Smaller schools were encouraged to link
up with local units, and many have done so.
An Air Training Corps Council of Welfare was also
set up, together with a small board of trustees. For poten-
tial air crew candidates the local schemes are now pro-
viding a syllabus approximating to that of an R.A.F.
initial training wing. The principal subjects are mathe-
matics, navigation, signals and the theory of flight.
RESERVOIR JUNIOR 135
Wherever possible Link trainers are being provided.
Special syllabuses have also been prepared for potential
entrants for mechanical and signals ground duties. In
many cases schoolmasters have volunteered to act as
instructors, while hundreds of men with R.A.F. experience
have also come forward.
On the day after the scheme had been announced in
the Press offers to form squadrons, to help with this and
that, came pouring into the Air Ministry. The depart-
ment was almost overwhelmed. It had expected a splendid
response but had hardly anticipated a veritable flood. For
days the Air Ministry Information Bureau in Kingsway
was working at top pressure, while even more applica-
tions arrived by post. In the first few days the success of
the Air Training Corps was assured.
On the day when the A.T.C. officially came into exist-
ence Air Commodore Chamier told Press representatives
that the response had been " startling. " Including the
original squadrons of the A.D.C.C. two hundred and thirty
local units had already been formed, while more than four
thousand applications had been received from men who
were anxious to offer their services as instructors or
organisers. Thousands of boys had already been enrolled.
A day or so later the London County Council, which,
since the Labour Party came into power, had banned cadet
corps in all its schools, decided to cooperate. This de-
cision meant that all their hundreds of schools and evening
institutes would be made available for A.T.C. instruction,
and it has greatly contributed to the success of the scheme
in the Home Counties. Since that time more than one
136 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
hundred A.T.C. squadrons have been formed in Greater
London alone no mean achievement when one bears in
mind how many families have gone to live in the provinces
since the air attacks on the capital began.
It is too early yet for the results of this vast new scheme
to bear fruit, but if the war drags on until 1942 and there
seems every prospect of it doing so the R.A.F. will be
assured of a useful contribution to both flying and ground
crews.
For those boys who are not yet old enough to join the
A.T.C. the Boy Scout Movement has formed a new
section, known as the Air Scouts. Boys can receive an
elementary form of instruction in Service subjects, and
when they attain the age of 16 they can, if they so wish,
then join one of the cadet squadrons.
Should the unexpected happen and the war come to
an end "before any of the cadets can find their way into
the R.A.F. the scheme will still have been worth while,
for it will have improved the education of many boys who
would otherwise have started out in life with nothing
better than an elementary school knowledge and experi-
ence to help them.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE FERRY PILOTS
WHEN an aircraft has been built at one of our factories
or in an American or Canadian factory there remains one
important task to get it to a maintenance unit to be
prepared for operations and then on to the R.A.F.
squadron which will take it into action. With production
on such a big scale as it is today this calls for a large
number of experienced pilots which the Service itself
could ill afford to spare from operations or from instruct-
ing pupils. And so the war has called into existence what
is known as the ferry pilot.
All the ferry pilots are civilians; some of them are
women. Many of the men were formerly employed by
civil air lines, notably the old Imperial Airways and its
successor, the British Overseas Aifways Corporation;
others were members of civilian flying clubs who gained
most of their experience of aviation at week-ends. In this
country the ferrying is carried out by an organization
known as Air Transport Auxiliary; in the United States
and Canada by a body always referred to as "Atferro,"
which is an abbreviation for Atlantic Ferry Organization,
but on both sides of the Atlantic the delivery of aircraft
is controlled by the Ministry of Aircraft Production.
Atferro is something quite new. It has sprung up since
138 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
America started to send us aircraft. It is no secret in
fact Lord Beaverbrook referred to the matter in his
speech in the House of Lords in April, 1941 that some
of the American aircraft destined for service with the
R.A.F. never reached their destination because the
ships bringing them across were sunk by the enemy
either by bombs or torpedoes. Obviously, the less risk
of losses en route the better for all concerned except, of
course, the Nazis. It might discourage the Americans in
their big production effort if they could expect a big
proportion of their aircraft to finish up on the bed of
the Atlantic before they had even had a chance to fire
a gun.
It may safely be assumed that the aircraft which were
lost by enemy action were fighters, for any aeroplane with
a sufficiently long range has been flown across to England
ever since October, 1940. The complete machines are
delivered to Canada from the United States factories,
taken on to Newfoundland and then flown direct to re-
ception depots in this country. The success ojf this enter-
prising method of delivery has been extraordinary. Up
to the time when Lord Beaverbrook made the House of
Lords speech already referred to only a single aeroplane,
representing a decimal of i per cent, of the total, had
been lost. The author knows for a fact that that still held
good some time later. It may still represent the sole casualty.
Yet those machines have been brought across, week
after week and month after month, in weather which' was
often totally unsuitable for cross-ocean flights. Cast your
mind back a few years to the days when only a select
THE FERRY PILOTS 139
few men in the whole world could claim to have flown
the Atlantic and when a successful attempt was hailed as
a wonderful achievement. In those days the take-off was
frequently delayed for weeks and even months by un-
favourable weather reports. Nobody even dreamed of
setting out during the winter. Yet, without publicity or
any blowing of trumpets, here was this gallant band of
civilians not only getting across safely with valuable
aircraft but actually breaking records without breathing
a word about it. It was a glorious achievement, and it is
still continuing, continuing on an ever-increasing scale.
When war overtook this country the shortest time for
a flight across the Atlantic was 10 hours 33 minutes, set
up in September, 1937, by the Imperial: Airways flying-
boat Cambria during an experimental flight from Bot-
wood, Newfoundland, to Foynes, in Eire. Atferro had not
been functioning very long before a British ex-civil air line
pilot brought the record down by nearly an hour, whiie in
the spring of 1941 some of the American bombers were
getting over in 8| hours. And, remember, they could not
come down at Foynes. One has actually crossed in the
almost unbelievably short time of y| hours.
Among the American aircraft which have been brought
over in this way are the Consolidated P.B.Y. flying-boat,
known in this country as the Catalina; the Boeing 6-24
heavy bomber (British name, the Liberator) ; the Lockheed
Hudson and Lockheed Viga Ventura; and the Boeing
B-iy (the v "Flying Fortress"). All five are excellent air-
craft, with the Catalina one of the finest of its type ever
produced.
140 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
Sometimes the uneventfulness of their flight over the
vast stretch of water is broken by the sighting of a German
U-boat. When the powerful bomber swoops down on it
the submarine crash-dives in a swirl of foam and spray.
Sometimes the ferry pilots have spotted survivors from a
torpedoed British ship, gamely pulling along in their little
boats, hundreds of miles from the nearest land. On more
than one occasion the aircraft's radio has brought timely
aid to men who might otherwise have died of thirst or
been drowned in the mountainous seas.
The Germans are furious at the success of the Atlantic
ferry service, for it shows up the hollowness of their oft-
repeated statements that American aid for the R.A.F.
has come too late and that these islands are virtually cut
off from the rest of the world. They would have liked the
world to believe that their Condors and Kuriers were in
command of the air over the Atlantic, at any rate near the
approaches to Britain. For months their propagandists
were telling everyone who would read or listen that we
were giving up the idea because it had proved too ex-
pensive. They would like to believe it was true.
The delivery of American bombers and flying-boats,
then, presents no difficulties. But how about the fighters?
They haven't anything like a sufficient range to fly across
non-stop. Lord Beaverbrook must have gladdened many
hearts when he was able to announce that preparations
were in hand for bringing fighters as well by air. Obvi-
ously they must be coming by a different route, but what
that route is let the Germans find out for themselves.
So much for the Atlantic ferrying.
THE FERRY PILOTS 141
The way in which Air Transport Auxiliary came to
take over the delivery of British-made aircraft is a strange,
almost romantic, story. Though it is doing the job with
conspicuous (or perhaps one should say inconspicuous
success, for it works "behind the scenes"), A.T.A. was
never intended to ferry at all. Shortly before the outbreak
of war Sir Francis Shelmerdine, Director-General of
Civil Aviation, worked out a plan for using aircraft to
replace land communications which might be put out of
action by enemy action. For that purpose a number of
experienced civil pilots were recruited for general air
communications work.
But the "phony" war got well under way and still the
anticipated German attacks on Britain did not come.
Meanwhile, the A.T.A. pilots were kicking their heels-
with little or nothing to do, and, to borrow an R.A.F.
expression, they were getting "browned off." During the
autumn of 1940 the R.A.F. asked for the loan of a few
civilian pilots to ferry the new aircraft from the pro-
duction line to the squadrons. The Air Transport Auxiliary
men jumped at the chance of doing some useful work.
They did it so well that they have been doing it ever
since.
A.T.A. started as a small concern. (In those days our
production of aircraft was such a little trickle that it
didn't need to be big.) But as the numbers of British
bombers, fighters and trainers grew, the ferry organiza-
tion had perforce to grow with it. More pilots had to be
called in, some of them "week-end fliers" whose experi-
ence was confined to light aircraft. Accordindv a con-
i 4 2 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
version course was arranged and the men were afterwards
sent out to two R.A.F. "pools."
Throughout that bitter winter of 1939-40 A.T.A. carried
on doggedly with its exacting work. The pilots had to
be adaptable, for they never knew whether on the morrow
they would be flying a heavy bomber or an elementary
trainer such as a Puss Moth. The membership of each
"pool" gradually expanded until forty or fifty civilian
pilots were employed full-time. Still their numbers proved
inadequate.
Early in 1940 Mr Gerald d'Erlanger, of British Airways,
was given permission to take his A.T.A. pilots away from
the Service "pools" and form a separate "pool" under
his own command. The men pilots were now joined by
women the late Miss Amy Johnson among them and
until May of that year A.T.A. was concerned very largely
with clearing the factories around London. When the
fighting flared up in France there was a sudden urgent
call for its pilots to help in ferrying machines, stores and
equipment across the Channel. Unarmed, they flew day
after day to Amiens, where there was an aerodrome under
the control of the R.A.F. Air Component, and to Rheims,
headquarters of the R.A.F. Advanced Air Striking Force.
They came and went in any weather and regardless of
German attacks. A little later, when telephonic com-
munication between France and England was cut by the
rapid German advance across Northern Franc*?, they also
carried secret despatches to and from London. Their work
was of the highest value.
Soon the "pool" near London became so big that it
THE FERRY PILOTS I43
had to split up into three, and the factories in all parts of
the country became its "customers." The ranks were
reinforced by more civil air line pilots lent by British
Airways, while soon Empire, American, Dutch, Spanish,
Polish and other nations were recruited for ferrying
duties. In August, 1940, A.T.A. was given the additional
responsibility of ferrying to and from the maintenance
units, where radio, bomb-racks, armament and incidental
equipment are fitted, and so on to the operational
squadrons.
Even these large reinforcements gradually proved in-
adequate. The number of pools had to be increased until
they numbered about a dozen and even more pilots were
brought in. The women of A.T.A. stuck to their heavy
task like heroines, (They are, of course, the only members
of the fair sex allowed to fly in this country during war-
time.) Today, Air Transport Auxiliary is not only a huge
organization but it is doing a job which is essential for the
success of the R.A.F.
Each night its Central Control receives from the
Ministry of Aircraft Production a list of the aircraft to be
ferried the next day. It may be six bombers and two
fighters from Puddlecombe-on-Sea to Tiddlecombe-on-
Mud, or it may be three trainers and one reconnaissance
aircraft from London to Edinburgh. All these orders have
to be considered in the light not only of the actual ferry
duties but of the journey which the pilot must first make
to collect the new aircraft and to return to his (or her)
base after the job has been done. The journey may involve
flying hundreds of miles, for the factories, maintenance
144 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
units and squadrons are scattered throughout the length
and breadth of the country. It is not at all uncommon for
a ferry pilot to cover anything up to one thousand miles
in a single day.
The working day at each "pool" starts soon after dawn.
Orders are transmitted by loud-speaker to the pilots'
room, which looks very much like the fighter pilots' hut.
except that it is occupied by civilian fliers wearing a dark
blue uniform almost identical with that of Imperial
Airways. On hearing his name called the pilot goes to
the duty room to collect a "chit," or delivery slip, which
is prepared in triplicate. Next he goes to the store to
draw a parachute, and then, in company with several
others, he is taken to his starting-point in an air "taxi,"
usually an Anson or an Oxford, the pilot of which is not
infrequently a woman. One by one the pilots are dropped
at their pick-up stations and then their working day really
begins.
The way in which these civilians have adapted them-
selves to flying Service types is nothing short of a miracle.
Today they may be expected to deliver safely a fast
fighter; tomorrow it may be a heavy long-range bomber
or a trainer. As an official of British Airways said: "It is
like taking a bunch of suburban motorists to Brooklands
and pitting them against famous racing motorists, only
to find that they can hold their own with the best."
Flying at any time is a pretty tiring N business for the
person at the controls, but under war conditions it is full
of pitfalls. The ferry pilot must keep clear of prohibited
areas or he may be shot at by some lynx-eyed anti-aircraft
THE FERRY PILOTS I45
gunner ; he must be wary of balloon barrages and other
devices intended to confuse enemy machines ; he tnust be
ready at all times to give recognition signals ; he must fly
in any old kind of weather without the navigational* aids
to which he has been accustomed in peace time; and he
must find an aerodrome or a building which has been
camouflaged for the very purpose of being rendered
inconspicuous.
Most of the men doing this tiying but invaluable work
are past the age when they would be accepted for opera-
tional duties by the R.A.F. They proudly, if inaccurately,
refer to themselves as "Ancient and Tattered Airmen," as
though that was what the initials A.T.A. stood for. A
number of these fliers Amy Johnson among them have
given their lives in carrying out this work.
The nation should be grateful to every one of this
gallant band of A.T.A. and "Atferro," for they are as
much u on active service" as any R.A.F. pilot.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
OUR EYES AND EARS
No organization or body of men in the country Service
and civilian alike could make greater claim to have dis-
played foresight than the Royal Observer Corps, for when
the very word "war" was unpopular, when their activities
were frowned upon and they were regarded almost as
freaks, they kept steadily on, preparing for the time when
they would be called upon to perform a vital task in
defence of the whole nation.
With the entire population now keyed up to war pitch
it is difficult to realize that it was only a few years ago that
anyone who admitted that he trained to be able to identify
different types of aircraft was regarded as being slightly
abnormal; as a man who had failed to grow up and who
still liked to play at games which should have been left
behind with the donning of long trousers. Yet that was
the case. Not long before war started their activities were
either frowned on as something not quite in the best taste
or were smiled at with the superior intolerance of grown-
ups for adolescent pastimes. Heaven ^lone knows where
we should have been today had this fine band of men
been sufficiently thin-skinned to take - any notice of the
attitude of others.
Not only is the Royal Observer Corps an essential part
OUR EYES AND EARS 147
of our defence against air attack but in one respect it is
our first line of defence, for an early warning of the
enemy's approach is almost invariably given by one of
the watchers near the coast.
The Corps is entirely civilian, but contradictory as it
may seem, it is administered by the Air Ministry and is
under the operational control of the Air Officer Com-
manding-in-Chief the R.A.F. Fighter Command. In
addition it has its own nation-wide machinery. Great
Britain and Northern Ireland is divided into areas, each
with its control centre, and the control centres receive
the reports of air activity observed from the posts% Each
post is in direct telephonic communication with the area
centre, which, in turn, is linked, directly or indirectly,
with the R.A.F. fighters, the anti-aircraft guns, search-
lights, balloons, police and fire brigades.
The observers at the posts report any aircraft which
they see, irrespective of whether it is enemy or friendly.
Directly they see or hear an aeroplane, they speak to the
control centre, giving (if they can) its nationality, type,
location, direction and height, and they follow it until it is
outside their district, by which time it has almost cer-
tainly been "picked up" by another post in the vicinity.
In this way it is possible to trace the aeroplane to its
destination, and, in the case of an enemy machine, to
follow it until it flies out over the sea again or is shot down.
The posts are also invaluable during raids because they
can quickly spot fires or damage caused by high-
explosives.
The watchers who man the posts come into two
H8 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
categories "A" and "B" members but all of them, like
the staffs at the centres; are volunteers. The "A" members
are employed full-time, doing a 48-hour week, while the
"B" members devote up to 24 hours a week of their leisure
time to the work, in addition, of course, to carrying on
their normal occupation. All the "B" class watchers are
paid at the modest rate of is. 3d. an hour while actually
on duty, and this sum has to cover their travelling and
subsistence expenses, as well as any loss of wages their
special duty may involve. The majority of the men come
into this categoiy. The Class "A" observers are paid
^3 IDS. a week.
Each post is supplied with maps,' aircraft silhouettes,
binoculars, and a special instrument to assist the crew in
ascertaining the true height of an aircraft. This instru-
ment, for which there seems to be no special name,
stands on a tripod in the centre of the post: It consists
of a round dial marked to correspond with a section of
the larger chart at the centre. Above the dial there is a
height corrector and often a telescope. The spotters work
in pairs. One of them wears headphones, with a mouth-
piece strapped to his chest, and he reports the movements
of aircraft to the centre. The other manipulates the plotter
instrument. Many of the posts also have buzzers, con-
nected to armament factories or other places of importance
in the war effort.
Immediately aircraft are spotted the information is
handed on to the centre something like this: "Three
Messerschmitt nos approaching Sevenoaks at 14,000 feet,
flying north-west," or it may be "Six Hurricanes circling
OUR EYES AND EARS 149
over Deal at 9,000 feet." Apart from the constant practice
they have had since war' began many of these spotters
have had years of experience of identifying aircraft and
they are real experts in recognizing accurately the type of
machine, while their judgment of height, even without
their instrument, is sometimes uncanny. Some of the
newer-comers are not so reliable, but they do not often
make mistakes. Many of the observers have made a study
of astronomy, which helps them greatly at night.
The scene at a centre is suggestive of a giant game of
halma. Most of the space is occupied by a table to which
is fixed a chart showing the whole area under the centre's
control. The chart is sub-divided into many small,
numbered squares, each representing the area "covered"
by a post. Around the table sit a number of men wearing
headphones, each listening to certain posts. (The number
may vary according to the size of the area.) When a post
reports the presence of an enemy aircraft a counter is
put into the appropriate square, and as the aircraft travels
along the counter follows it on the chart. These men,
called "plotters," do four-hour stretches of continuous
duty. Around the room is a raised platform. Here the
"tellers" sit, connected by telephone to the various defence
organizations, notably the Fighter Command groups.
From a quick glance at the chart it is possible to see
when an air battle is about to develop, for the position of
the R.A.F. fighters as they close in on the enemy can be
followed with extreme accuracy. Anyone possessed of a
lively imagination could build up a mind-picture of a
dramatic battle being fought out many thousands of feet
150 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
above the centre and perhaps miles from it. As the raiders
pass out of the centre's area the information is handed on
to the next centre, and so on until it has passed beyond
our shores or has been destroyed.
In these times of large-scale raiding the centres are
hives of industry throughout the : night, and, in some
areas, during the whole of the twenty-four hours. It is
not at all uncommon for the courses of several hundred
aircraft to be tracked in # few hours. Each centre keeps an
accurate chart record of the activities during every
quarter of an hour. By this means it will be possible, after
the war, to compile a complete history of the raids on
Britain from the opening of hostilities to the last day.
The spotters at the posts wear civilian clothes but have
a "uniform" consisting of an armband bearing the words
"Royal Observer Corps," a black beret (rather like that
worn by the Royal Tank Corps), and a badge which shows
the Corps' lineal descent from the Elizabethan Armada-
watchers. The badge illustrates the beacons lit at the
time of the Armada's approach, over which is the appro-
priate inscription "Forewarned is Forearmed." Soon,
however, a personal issue will be made to all observers of
a new 'pattern one-piece uniform which can be termed a
"cross" between an overall and a battle-dress. The men
are issued with a storm-proof coat, sou'westers and oil-
skins, gumboots and steel helmets. This protective
clothing is very necessary, for obviously the watcher
must remain on duty throughout the worst raids and in
all kinds, of weather.
The officers wear a distinctive uniform with the letters
OUR EYES AND EARS 151
"R.O.C." in white metal, to match their buttons, on the
lapel of the tunic and on the shoulder-strap of their great-
coats. Recently, controllers and assistant controllers at
centres were accorded officer status.
From time to time doubts have been expressed regarding
the legal status of the members of the Corps, particularly
of the crews at observer posts who have been issued with
rifles for protection in case of attack, and it had been sug-
gested that they might be in danger of being shot as francs
tireurs if captured by the enemy. The entitlement of per-
sons who bear arms to be accorded the rights and privi-
leges of armed forces under International Law depends
upon their satisfying the following conditions: (i) they
must be commanded by a person responsible for his
subordinates ; (2) they must wear a fixed distinctive design
which is recognizable at a distance; (3) they must carry
arms openly; and (4) they must conduct their operations
in accordance with the laws and customs of war. The Air
Ministry's legal advisers have decided that all these
conditions are fulfilled in the case of the Royal Observer
Corps.
The Royal Observer Corps was granted permission by
the King early in 1941 to use the prefix "Royal" as a
recognition of its long and valuable services. The idea for
such a body existed in embryo towards the end of World
War No. i, when men stood on high ground here and
there in the areas which enemy aircraft were known to
cross, binoculars to their eyes. If an aeroplane or a
Zeppelin approached they rang up the police. Little de-
velopment took place after the Armistice, however, until
152 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
1922, when a few stalwarts got together under the leader-
ship of Major-General E. B. Ashmore, who had directed
London's air defence during the 1914-18 war. By 1925
the Corps was taking shape in its present form, but
because of the unpopularity of anything even remotely
connected with war the members were sworn in as special
constables.
By the Munich crisis week of September, 1938, there
were enough trained men to have manned most of the
posts. About a month before war broke out the Air
Ministry gave official recognition to the Corps. In April,
1941, it gave further recognition of its value by adopting
an organization called The Observer Corps Club (formerly
known as the "Hearkers' Club") and giving it certain
financial support to enable it to widen its activities. This
organization has given valuable help in the training of
observers.
There is no need to stress the great responsibility which
rests upon the Royal Observer Corps. It is partly on the
strength of the information, first given by the post crews
and constantly received from the centres and co-ordi-
nated by a central organization, that our fighters are sent
up to intercept and engage the enemy, our gun defences
are warned of the approach of raiders, and the air raid
warnings are sounded in those areas over which the enemy
machine, if it continues on its course, will shortly be
passing.
That our fighters and anti-aircraft guns have been able
to destroy thousands of German day and night marauders
over and around this country is eloquent tribute to the
OUR EYES AND EARS 153
way in which this vital task has been discharged. It was
not an over-statement when, in September, 1940, Sir
Archibald Sinclair sent a message to the Corps in which
he said:
"By your vigilance and faithful devotion to duty you
are making an indispensable contribution to the achieve-
ments of our fighter pilots. Their victories are your
victories, too. J)
Information was recently made public concerning an
invention, known in aviation circles for some time but
not long since converted for war use. It is officially
called Radiolocation which, briefly, is a system of sending
out far beyond our shores ether waves which are un-
affected by cloud, fog, or darkness. Any solid substance,
such as an aircraft or ship, "which is in the path of those
waves, send back a "reflection" to the detecting station
and thus reveals its presence. These waves have been on
active service throughout the war and it is by this means
that our defences receive the initial warning of the
enemy's approach.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
OTHER STALWARTS
MORE than five hundred enemy aircraft have been shot
down by Britain's anti-aircraft batteries since raids on
our towns commenced. And what is more, the number of
rounds fired for each victim bagged is steadily decreas-
ing. The experts say that this is due to improved
methods of predication.
Since the last war the range and accuracy of our anti-
aircraft guns has undoubtedly increased considerably. In
those early days many thousands of rounds were fired
for each German machine brought hurtling to earth; the
number today is only a fraction of such a figure. Several
cases have been reported of direct hits being made with
the second or third shell. A Heinkel showed itself through
the clouds at 8,000 feet for one brief moment and was hit
first shot by a battery in the North of England.
There are different types of batteries. The "heavies"
have 4.5 guns which fire at machines which are nearly
always flying so high as to be out of sight. This dis-
advantage is partly cancelled out by the greater "field" of
their shells' explosion. They can miss by nearly 100 feet
and still bring down a powerful aircraft. The light guns
40 mm. Lewis and so on fire at visible targets, either in
daylight or in the searchlight beams.
A RAID ON ABBEVILLE AERODROME
Bombs on their way down
FULL-MOON RAIDERS
R.A.P. crews embark for Berlin
OTHER STALWARTS 155
The predictor is a delicate mechanism, possessed of
superhuman powers of finding aircraft. Highly-developed
as it is, there will no doubt be further improvements from
time to time. This, allied with the greater power and
explosive area of the shells, will no doubt increase the
guns' effectiveness still further. The difficulties of pre-
diction are caused by the fact that allowance has to be
made for so many factors: atmospheric conditions, which
vary at different heights and affect the flight of the shell ;
tactics of enemy aircraft, which deliberately fly on a
curved course; evasive action taken by enemy aircraft
when they know they are near A.A. batteries (change of
height, speed or course, or a combination of these).
Anti-aircraft guns are intended not only to destroy
raiders but to prevent them from reaching their target by
making it too "hot" for them and to prevent them from
enjoying in peace the thirty seconds period necessary for
laying the bomb sights on a particular target. In daytime
the guns also perform a useful service by directing our
fighters to the right spot by means of the puffs of their
exploding shells. On a clear day these can be seen for
many miles.
Anti-aircraft batteries cover the whole of the country,
and the defences are carefully planned so as to give the
maximum protection to the areas whose safety is most
vital to our war effort. We can still do with many more
guns, but time and hard work is gradually putting that
matter right.
The gunners 1 job is hardly one that everybody would
like. The battery positions are often in bleak, exposed
156 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
spots, miles from any comfort or amenities. The crews
must be out in any weather which comes along ; they must
do most of their sleeping in the daytime. While raids are
on they are in constant danger from bombing and machine-
gunning attacks, and they must spend every second of
their working hours constantly on the qui vive.
The total of enemy aircraft claimed as destroyed should
not be taken as the true total. Often machines are
"winged" and come down many miles away; perhaps
even miles out at sea. There is no question, obviously,
of being able to follow up the crippled machine to see
what happens to it eventually, as can be done by a fighter
pilot.
Much of what has been written about the anti-aircraft
gunners applies equally to the searchlight crews. Their
task is a thankless one, for they can never hope to destroy
a raider, while they are particularly prone to low-flying
attack.
Now just a few words about othff? men who do great
service for the R.A.F. the test pilots. These men have as
dangerous a job as there is, for they take over new aircraft
from the factories and fly them for the first time. No air-
craft is passed as fit for operations until it has been put
through every evolution on the ground and in the air
which it may be called upon to perform during active
service. Needless to say, test pilots are without exception
men of great experience, the tip-top members of their
profession.
Scientists and technicians, too, are vitally necessary to
the Royal Air Force. They are always working with an
OTHER STALWARTS 157
eye to the future, devising something *new for defence
or offence. It may be a bomb or it may be a device for
finding enemy aircraft in the dark, but whatever it is, it is
something which is intended to keep us ahead of the
enemy in equipment.
The medical profession's contribution to our air strength
is not confined to treating sick or wounded men. The
effect of flying on young men daily working under con-
ditions of great strain is constantly under review. Special
attention is paid to the very great problem of cold, to
night vision, to a thousand and one other tricky questions
associated with modern aviation. Largely as a result of
their studies and researches the incidence of flying strain
has been considerably lower than was expected before the
war. Modern methods of treating burns, of dealing with
fractures, of restoring confidence in men whose nerves
may have been shattered all these and many more have
made an invaluable contribution to the R.A.F/s success.
The Fleet Air Arm has done great deeds. Nobody needs
to be reminded of the dreadful blow they delivered to
the Italian Fleet in the harbour of Taranto. The Royal
Navy would be the first to acknowledge the great value
of its ship-borne aircraft. The F.A.A. is a complete air
force in itself one which Hitler and Mussolini would be
prepared to exchange many hundreds of thousands of
troops to possess.
For torpedo attack the Fleet Air Arm has Albacores
and Sharks ; in the Roc it possesses an outstanding dive-
bomber ; while the Fairey Fulmar is perhaps the best Fleet
fighter in the world. It has many other types of machines,
IS8 HOW THE R.A.F. WORKS
including Americans. Only one other country the
United States has anything comparable to our Fleet Air
Force. Even those who shook their heads before the war
and said that the aircraft-carrier was the most vulnerable
target in the world are bound to admit that the, naval air
arm has justified itself over and over again.
Because the author has written without criticism of all
the different branches which combine to carry on our
fight in the air it should not be assumed that there are no
weaknesses. There are bound to be some, but they are
extremely few.
In any case, one is not going to draw the enemy's
attention to them ; let him find them out for himself.
Those who may be a little impatient for the dawning of
the day when we shall start to give the German more
punishment than we have had to take, may, if they have
been patient enough to struggle through this book, begin
to understand what a colossal task it is to build up a huge
Air Force.
Much of the leeway caused by several years' start on
the part of Germany has already been made up. With the
satisfactory increase in the amount of American help and
the ever-growing scale of our own production the day is
not now far distant when the enemy will feel the full weight
of the greatest Air Force the world has ever known.
