Handbook

The most complete and useful handbook yet put out for Americans on blackouts, fire protection, air-raid shelters, camouflage, etc., is the January issue of ARCHITECTURAL FORUM. Junking most of the issue it had planned, ARCHITECTURAL FORUM turned to and produced, a Civilian Defense Reference Number that draws liberally on the bitter experience of Great Britain, finger-points many a British mistake and lesson, stacks up well with the latest practice there. Some points on two subjects:

Blackout. Most Britons, after more than two years of the physical and mental wear & tear of blackout, would tell the U.S.: "Leave on the lights as long as you can." Says ARCHITECTURAL FORUM: "Assuming continuance of the present balance of military, naval and air power, most of the U.S. need never be blacked out. All of it, however, must now prepare for the possibility. . . ."

In the proposed schedule for actual blackouts, home and business lighting would be clicked off at the first warning of approaching bombers, but not before; street lights only when the bombers were five minutes or so away. In Britain, where blackout is continuous and total (except for dimmed automobile and street lights and signs), many a citizen would prefer the U.S. system, but British authorities still argue that only continuous blackout is effective. Even so, R.A.F. flyers say that the dimmed stream of automobile lights always provide a clear guide to airdromes on highways near London.

Of ARCHITECTURAL FORUM'S sketches of suggested blackout installations, most interesting are those of ventilated curtains. British experience has proved that, regardless of curtains and screens, windows must be closed during blackouts (lest curtains blow open). So in British homes, even in big hotels and theaters, millions of blacked-in Britons nightly smother, breathe quantities of bad air, do their morale and health no good. With valances and light baffles, light can be kept in, air can be let in at the same time.

Camouflage. For protection from bombing, arsenals, military posts, factories, etc. need not always be completely concealed. The important thing is that they should not be spotted without careful study. Reason: at 30,000 feet, flying 200 m.p.h., a bombardier at best has only about 60 seconds in which to locate his target, set his sights, release his bombs. If he flies lower he may see better but has still less time to spot his target. So if camouflage confuses him for a few vital seconds, he misses. The important thing for protection is that a building should not be a landmark or close to a recognizable landmark.

Zealous property owners should never go camouflaging on their own. Slapdash, Sunday-supplement zigzags, faked trees and gardens on roofs may simply make the buildings stand out. Objects seen from the air may not look at all as they do from the ground. Camouflage must be done by experts, with a careful eye to blending with the surroundings. By proper methods, whole fields, farms, neighborhoods can be altered to confuse visiting bombers. The extraordinary effectiveness of photographic reconnaissance sometimes detects the best of camouflage. The R.A.F., by repeated photographic flights over altered targets, has cracked many a skillful German job of confusion, has put bombs squarely on obscured objectives. But unless the enemy gets air bases close enough for reconnaissance, this is of less importance in the U.S.

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