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Nottingham. The following is an extract from a
recent letter from the North Midland Civil Defence Region "The Regional Commissioner asks me to confirm my telephone request that the smoke screens at Derby and Nottingham should be operated on all nights of the month (i.e. moonless as well as moonlight nights)
The Commissioner understands the difficulty about the extension of the area, but made this request after consultation with the Military and R.A.F. authorities. been represented to him that, if the smoke screen cannot be extended to cover the whole of the town in which the target is situated, it would at any rate be extended as widely as possible. The R.A.F. authorities in particular, in this region appear to attach the highest importance to the smoke screen and state quite definitely that from actual flying observation the target protected has been completely obscured from aerial observa ti on. If
11.
The reports received so far from the Northern Ireland experimental scheme - and which are summarised in Appendix C - are generally favourable. Four aerial
bservations have been made. On the first occasion the target was not obscured - but there are factors relating to ground operations which afford a partial explanation of this failure. On the second and third occasions the R.A.F. pilot and observer renorted that the smoke would have rendered precision bombing difficult, and on some runs, impossible.
The fourth report is made by the observer of a "Wellington" bomber crew who have had night bombing experience over enemy territory and who were detailed to carry out a special photographic reconnaissance over the target. The R.A.F, observer reported that the target was not visible at any stage of the flight from 6,000 ft. or from 8,000 ft. and aimed bombing attacks would accordingly have been impossible. Difficulty experienced by the Wellington crew in locating the target appears to be confirmed by the fact that the series of photographs which they took covered an area 3 miles south of the target.
12. In assessing the results so far obtained in Northern Ireland, regard should be paid to the following considerations
(a) the experiments have been carried but in
exceptionally clear atmospheres where the smoke has received no assistance from mist or industrial haze.
(b) the experiments have been carried out with small generators alone using about 1,000 at a time and no attempt has yet been made to thicken the smoke by introducing any large (Haslar) generators, each of which emits 50 times as much smrke as one small generator;
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