AIR FORCE HEALTH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 November 1941, Page 6

AIR FORCE HEALTH

MEDICAL OFFICER’S STUDY MISSION TO GREAT BRITAIN & CANADA. SUGGESTIONS TO BE ADOPTED IN NEW ZEALAND. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. Lieutenant-Colonel F. R. Chisholm, Assistant-Director of Medical Services (Air), who was sent to England and Canada by the Government so that the Dominion might benefit from knowledge gained by the medical profession of the effects of war operations on flying personnel, has reported to the Minister of Defence (Mr Jones) who says that thanks to the _ marvellous progress in the construction of aircraft, safety in flying today is almost totally dependent on the physical condition of the pilots, and it is therefore essential that certain minimum standards should be adhered to by medical examination and testing. Many helpful and useful proposals and suggestions have been submitted by Lieuten-ant-Colonel Chisholm, and some certainly will be adopted. In the course of an interview, Lieutenant-Colonel Chisholm mentioned that though tests for the R.A.F. are more severe than for the Army, there is an important difference. “We will accept for the R.N.Z.A.F. men with flat feet, club foot and various weaknesses of the arms and legs which would keep them out of the Army,” he observed. Replying to a query about carrots and night vision, he said carrots m the diet were valuable, but if the right diet was used airmen got sufficient Vitamin A without special recourse to that vegetable. As in New Zealand, medical officers concerned with the Air Force at Home paid the closest attention to the flying personnel. They were concerned with the health of every individual, and in addition to routine sick parades medical officers were expected to spend several hours daily in the crew rooms and hangars, and also to go on flights so as to fully understand the conditions under which the men carry out their duties. Airmen who consulted medical officers were given a private interview and great care was taken to trace the real source of the trouble. Sometimes the best remedy was a month’s leave. Medical officers were watching all the time for signs of fatigue or irritation, and if they considered a man unfit to fly he did not fly. Commanding officers accepted the medical officers’ decisions without question.