Evening star., 1944-02-22

Thomas R, Henry. way for the
bomberS, who are given special
training which enables them tc
locate specific places on the ground
below, and who drop flares to in
dicate these targets to the bombers
who follow them.
They have practically revolution
lied night bombing. The Path
finder force was organized nearly
two years ago. At first it was high
ly experimental The methods on
which they depended were new and
untried in actual fighting condi-
tons. Scientists constantly have
improved them and the men them
selves become more experienced in
their use. AS a result, the bombers
now prefer a cloudy night. They
used to delay their missions tc
cloudless, moonlit nights. Now they
tend to avoid such conditions.
Targets Found Easily.
The Pathfnders may not have g
single landmark to guide them. Still
they have no trouble in picking out
the area to be attacked and outlin.
Ing it with special target indicators
and "sky markers" Often the
bombardiers see nothing in theil
gun sights except these sky markers
yet photographs taken later have
shown perfect hits on buildings be-
low. A good deal depends, of course
on the skill of the Pathf1nders them
selves. They must be men with a
great deal of experience in air navi-
cation.
The sky markers are short-burn-
ing flares, regularly replenisheo
throughout the attack so that there
is no likelihood of late arrivals be-
ing misled. Wind speeds are cal
culated as carefully as possible to
insure that these flares have drifteo
to the right point by the time the
first part of the main force arrives
theoretically with such assist
ance, the delivery of bombs on the
target is simple matter. But, OF
course, the bomber crews are try
ing to dodge flax and at the same
time keep clear of German night
fighters. So the success of a night
raid in the final analysis depends
on the skill of the crews themselves
Nazis Find No Reply.
The Germans, SO far as known
have nothing like the Pathfinder
technique. At least they have not
demonstrated it in any of their raid.
over England. And they cannot
initiate it over their own country
to lead the bombers astray, because
the colors, pattern and specia
qualities of the markers used art
such that they cannot be initiated
At the start of the war, the German
technique was to have the mair
body Of bombers preceded by plane!
carrying incendiaries.
1t was expected that the resulting
fires would light up the target fol
the men who followed. Actually
observers here point out, the methoc
never was much of a success. The
night bombing, except on moonlit
nights, often was wide of the mark
At that time, it hardly can be sale
that Allied methods were much bet
ter. 1t was relatively easy to throw
bombers off their target by smoke
screens, dummy lights and ever
dummy targets. Methods developed
by the Pathfinders outdate such
tricks.
The first important aids to night
navigation came in practical form
from the scientific laboratories early
in 1912, but a considerable period OF
trial and error was required before
they could be adjusted to actual
flying conditions. Meanwhile the
scientists have been bringing them
to greater and greater precision and
more and more men have become
competent in their application.