A practical four-day
test of an aircraft warning signal system got under way at 6 a.m.
yesterday, when Coast Guardsmen and American Legionnaires and other
citizens in the four states comprising the New York – New England
area began observations in the search for “enemy” bombers
participating in the trial.
In Suffolk County
alone, besides the Coast Guard stations, there will be several
scores of observation posts. In each of the latter, Legionnaires
will take turns listening and watching as part of their contribution
to the system.
The observers have
been instructed that when airplanes are seen or heard note should be
taken of the exact time, direction of the airplanes from the
observation post, the number of planes observed, types of planes,
approximate altitude, and direction in which the planes were
traveling.
The observer then
picks up the telephone in the observation post and calls the
headquarters of the air defense command at Mitchell field, with
which he is connected by special service provided by the telephone
company. The observation facts are noted on a master plan to
determine the general movement of airplane formations.
A total of about
10,000 civilians and Coast Guardsmen, manning 650 to 700 observation
stations from the top of the Empire State building to Cape Cod, will
be scattered across the 18,000-square-mile area, comprising New
York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, a section vital
to the nation because of its industry.
There will be no
spectacular mass air formations, as only about 35 defending planes
and about 15 bombers will operate in the entire test. The primary
purpose of an aircraft warning service-and the one receiving its
test at present will be the nucleus of the first permanent one in
the United States, is to give warning of and enemy bombing attack in
ample time to allow defending pursuit planes to take to the air and
intercept the bombers before they reach their objectives.
In the current
test, Patchogue Legionnaires will maintain observation posts at the
Domino Yacht club in East Patchogue and at the Patchogue Police
pistol range on Shaber Street. Other posts to be used in this area
will be at Yaphank, Sayville, Bohemia, Lake Ronkonkoma, Medford,
Center Moriches, Port Jefferson, Sound Beach, Smithtown, Riverhead,
Calverton, Westhampton Beach and in every other village of any size
in the county.