New-York tribune., 1918-06-05
City Bright Last
Night Compared With
London, Says Filler

The. story of how London prepares
FOR the German air raids and how
British aviators drive them off was
told last night by Lieutenant John j.
Lynch, of the British Royal Flying
Corps, who participated in some Of
the first fights waged against the in
vaders.
Lieutenant Lynch, who has been fly
ing in France since October, 1914. until
recently. when he was discharged be-
cause of physical disability, said that
New York City last night compared
with London when in festal dress.
That you may understand just what
London has been like at night since
she prepared for air raids which re-
suited IN the numbering of women and
children and patients in hospitals"
SAID Lieutenant Lynch. "frst imagine
mat you are in an airplane at night,
flying over London. All you see below
is darkness, except the Thames river
and a small pond here and there which
reflects whatever light there may be in
the heavens. If you were over New
YORK tonight you could pick out every
thoroughfare and bridge by aid of the
street lamps.
Street Lights Hooded
Were you on foot in London at
night you could not see a ray of light
in single dwelling place or other
building. If you did and waited
around you would see the owner of the
light arrested summarily, and if it was
his first offence he would get off with
fine of $50 the next morning. The
street lamps are all hooded, the tops
being protected with a metal shield,
and tae lights so dimmed that the re-
fection on the street is not observable
from a housetop.
"The fiues of factories also are hood
ed so that the flares from the Chin
neys are not visible from aircraft The
automobile headlights also are dimmed
so that their reflection on the road is
not visible from the heavens. This is
accomplished by pasting a piece of
paper inside the glass of the headlight
And as for bridges-they, too, are part
of the general blackness-for q bridge.
beng one of the most important means
OF comunlcatlon, is a primal object of
attack by hostile arcraft"
Lieutenant Lynch then told how Lon
don is warned and prepares to meet the
German air raiders.
Tells of London Defences
almost the moment the enemy avia-
tors leave the field for raid on Eng
land" he continued, "the information
is sent across the Channel by wireless.
The alarm is then given, and British
aviators stand beside their machines
while searchlights .llumine the sky.
And just as the Huns are nearing our
shores word is flashed to all the air
plane bases of the direction Of the Ger
mans and then we go into the air to
meet them.
1--WE watch the search1ights, and
when one of them picks out the speck
which we at once recognize as a Ger
man airplane other searchlights con-
centrate their shafts of light on him,
and we dash forward to attack.
Meanwhile the anti-aircraft guns
are pumping away at Fritz, and his
stay, if he survives, is very brief. And
while the raid is in progress the citi-
zens take refuge in cellars and dugouts
whose every opening is protected by
thick blanket or other heavy hanging,
for the German drops gas bombs which
seep into the deepest places where
these precautions are not taken, and
while adults generally recover from
the gas, it is fatal to babies and chill
dren."