Evening star., 1949-06-05
By John A. Giles

The Air Force has established q
concentrated radar air raid warn
ing system covering q large sec
ton Of the Eastern United States
10 train personnel and test new
Developments.
This was disclosed yesterday by
Mai. Gen. Gordon p. saville. chief
of the Air Defense Command. at
q "briefing" Of the Aviation Writ
ers Association at the Pentagon.
He emphasized that it was not an
integrated system and that when
Congress appropriates funds for
q complete protective radar screen
around the country the training
network might be changed en-
ttrely.
The system roughly encompasses
an area bordered by Montreal on
the north, Detroit and Chicago on
the west, the upper section OF
North Carolina to the south and a
short distance out into the At
lantic.
simultaneously, Defense Secre-
tary johnson announced that
thousands of citizen observers will
take part in a 10-State aircraft
detection exercise in September
the most expansive operation Of
It's kind attempted in this coun-
try since the war. More than
$4,000 civilian spoilers are slated
to take part.
1890 Posts To Be Involved.
The exercise, to be known as
Operation Lookout" will use the
services, on q volunteer basis. Of
enough civilians to man 1900
ground observation posts. as well
as hundreds of supervisors. Duty
periods at each post will be divided
among approximately 20 persons.
The region to be covered lies
roughly in the area between
Portland, Me-. and Wilmington,
Del. =.
"The exercise. extending over q
six-day period. viii measure the
efficiency Of combination OF
ground observers and radar sta
tions In operating an aircraft de-
lection and warning system" Mr..
johnson said. Aircraft simulat-
Ing enemy attackers will be tracked
and information provided for the
issuance of ample warnings to the
civilian population and for Air
Force interception purposes. No
public alarms or warnings will
actually be issued"
The Once Of Civil Defense viii
recruit the observers. Represen-
tatives Of the States Of Delaware.
Pennsylvania, New Jersey. New
York, Connecticut, Rhode Island.
Massachusetts, Vermont, New
Hampshire and Maine already
have pledged their cooperation.
Mr.. johnson added.
Areas involved have been
mapped in one-mile srids. Posts
will be about ST. miles apart. Or
the equivalent IN coverage 6f 81
Both fighter and bomber air.
craft will participate. flying at
various attitudes and from dif-
ferent directions and during both
day and night. Observers will re-
port what they see or hear via
telephone to filter centers which
VIII make evaluations before re-
laying them to the Air Defense
Control Centres.
No Absolute Raid Defense.
Gen. Saville. who told Congress
before the legislators passed en-
abling legislation for . Nation
wide radar screen that the system
was 20 bad 1t was almost q
blank" declared yesterday that
there was mo absolute defense"
against raids. The Air Force also
must balance its detection task
against the needs Of other tactical
missions, he added.
Existing radar detectors, vir-
tually all Of which were manufac-
tured for use in World War II, do
not provide complete surveillance
Of approaching aircraft. he said.
Ground observers are needed par
ticularly to detect low flying air
craft. which are not ordinarily
picked up by radar due To the