21st February 1941
SEARCHLIGHTS IN AIR DEFENSE

Dotted about all over the country and even in the most inaccessible places, one finds searchlight units out on their lonely vigil as sentinels of the sky. Some well-meaning but ill-informed persons have suggested that our searchlights attract enemy raiders. Those who wonder why a searchlight is located at a certain point must remember that the whole grouping of searchlights is carried out on a definite plan and one that is considered the most important strategically.

The success of searchlights depends not on their individual efforts, but on the right functioning of several. The position of a searchlight is no indication to the enemy raider of its proximity to a possible target area. Although we do not always consider the Nazi raiders as examples of what good aiming could be, it goes without question that they know more about their work than to regard a searchlight as an ideal target for their bombs. As a rule, these raiders are sent out with pre-arranged targets in mind, and it is not likely that they will set aside such intentions to deal with either searchlights or anti-aircraft fire which may be in the path of their objective. There have been cases of low flying aircraft machine-gunning searchlights, but rarely has a bomb been deliberately dropped to put the searchlight out of action. From 2,000ft a searchlight, the beam of which is constantly moving, is not too simple a target as might appear to the uninitiated. Those whose homes are within a short distance of a searchlight unit may rest assured that this position is more likely to be a means of preventing enemy action than otherwise. Ill-fitting blackout curtains, fires burning in rooms where curtains have not been drawn and similar acts of carelessness are much more likely to attract the enemy.

1941 INDEX