The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1938-05-16
Attack on New York,
Air Defense Power
To Be Seen Tonight
Long Island Area
Is battle-ground
In War Game
BY ROBERT G. NIXON

G E N ERAL HEADQUARTERS
AIR FORCE, mitchell FIELD,
N. Y. May Is G.N.S).-The fear
full fate which may some day
strike New York and other popu-
lous American cities from the
skies, and the Army's defense
against it, will be demonstrated in
spectacular fashion tonight.
For the first time since the air
plane became dreaded and highly
lethal weapon of modern warfare,
an American community will
undergo a "blackout" to combat
aerial bombardment.
Jittery European and Aslatlc
capitals - Berlin. Paris, Rome,
London and Tokyo-ever fearful
of a sudden attack by an aerial
armada. have in recent years be-
come accustomed to the heart
stopping scream of the anti-air-
craft siren and the sudden scurry
to bomb-proof cellars in practice
drills. but the experience is new
10 ILLS COuIlGlS'
TOWN is GUINEA PIG
Tonight, the little community
of Farmingdale, out here on Long
Island. will blossom to the size
of New York and act as guinea
pig" for an Army laboratory test
in "blacking out" metropolitan
areas for defense against aerial
attack in event the United States
is ever beset.
The experiment is one Of the
most spectacular of the numerous
tactical problems being conducted
by the Army's GHO air force in
it's mimic war in which it is de-
Tending the Eastern seaboard
against invasion by two fleets OF
q theoretical coalition Of Europ-
can aggreSSors.
The Army would like to "black
out" the city of New York in the
test. but from a practical stand
point, to avoid the consequences
of disrupted traffic and the stop
ing of all normal functions of life
in a great city which would be
caused by plunging a metropolis
into utter darkness, Farmingdale
has been selected. In theory,
Farmingdale will become New
York for a time tonight.
LIGHTS OUT!
At 1882 p. m. the scream OF
sirens, warning of an imminent
bombardment, will SCUM d.
Throughout an area five miles in
diameter all lights will be extin-
guished.
From Seversky Field, swift
deadly pursuit planes OF the
Thirty-sixth Pursuit Squadron will
climb into the skies to hover i'm
patiently at 10000 feet for the
enemy bombing planes to arrive.
And on the ground three-inch
anti-aircraft batteries of the Sixty
second Coast Artillery Regiment,
with their sound locators and huge
searchlights, will be alert, ready to
60 into instant action when the
drone of the approaching bombers
is picked up by the sound devices.
The bombing attack will be
made by a group of Douglas B-1S
bombers, great silvery, whale-like
dual-engined monoplanes, fro m
Hartford, Conn.
Throttles wide open, these great
bombers, theoretically loaded with
tons of high explosives, will come
looming in from the sea at better
than 200 miles an hour and at
$4,000 feet.
4O-MILE Spoilers
From an area 40 miles around
Farmingdale, in the intricate setur
of the Army intelligence, alert
ears will pick up the approaching
bombers and telephone their loca
ton.
Then the anti-aircraft details
will chart the bombers' location
and the path of their approach
beams from eight mammoth
searchlights. each Of eight hun
dred million candlepower, viii
rake the skies to spot" the
bombers and hold them like moth!
in their brilliant pencils of light
so the anti-aircraft artillerymer
and machine gunnerS can do theil