Evening star., 1940-12-04

research now in progress In England
and probably in Germany, too-is
research into methods Of intercept
ing night bombers. When q hole
proof method is found, death and
destruction in the dark will be de-
feated and the whole Hitlerian
technic based on terror will have
to be revised-because bombing by
night is the last card in his hand
which can still take tricks.
As to where this research stands,
the English have a device with
which
(At the request OF the British
government second deletion IS
made here)
Night fighters do not really fight.
They simply strike down in the
dark.
Problem to Find Enemy.
The flight fighters problem is not
how to kill, which is easy once 1t
has located its enemy, but how to
locate it. The enemy 1t seeks to
destroy is moving through the air
at 300 or more miles an hour some
where between three and six miles
high. Without eyes. with eyes only
of electricity, 1t must locate its en-
emy and bring itself close enough SO
that the pilot can see when and
where to strike. The practical dis
tance for night killing is 100 yards
and that is very close to get to an
unseen pin point in infinity.
The pilots who fight by night are
chosen after exhaustive tests. 1t has
been found true that one man sees
better than another in the dark.
There are men whose eyes are more
nearly like the eyes Of cat. When
these men fight at night their night
vision is found to improve by the
administration of drugs which af-
feet the nerves and muscles OF the
eye and improve their sight in the
dark. That is why they are able
to shoot straight at 100 yards while
they are moving several hundred
miles an hour in the black.
Night Bombers Defenseless.
When this device is really per-
fected so that it can be used not
merely experimentally but practt-
cally night after night and on q
large scale, the night bomber will
be finished. Because 1t has no de-
fense whatever against a night
fighters cannon crashing into 1t out
of nothing. The attack is always q
surprise attack. 1t is all over before
the crew In the bomber know what
has happened to them.
But for the practical purposes OF
maintaining industrial production
and defending military objectives,
the R. A. F. has already won by con-
fining German mass bombing to
night raids.
AS to particulars Of night bomb
ing accuracy it is now well estao-
lished that many Of the bombs
dropped by the Germans on London
are not released by the bomber in
the plane but are dropped automat-
ically by radio control from the Ger
man base. Air-minded Americans
are already familiar with the radio
beam by which our commercial ships
fly out Of sight Of land through fog
from one port to smother.
The German night bombers come
over Britain on radio beams from
occupied France. These beams are
crossed over London with beams
coming from German-occupied Nor
way The pilot simply steers his
course along the beam from the
south. When his ship intersects the
beam from the east his bomb load
is released automatically.
Beam Bombing Inaccurate.
The flaw in this ingenious ar
rangement is
at the request OF the British
government another deletion Is
made here. See preceding note.)
Hence the phenomenon I have ai-
ready noted on the ground, OF the