ABOVE THE BLACKOUT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 126, 21 November 1941, Page 11

ABOVE THE BLACKOUT

2ZB’s Relay From Observation Plane

HERE was a wailing of sirens, mournful and prolonged; from the Hutt to Karori to Island Bay to Seatoun the lights went out like so many snuffed candles; a few stars shone through gaps in dimly luminous clouds. Wellington was having its first trial blackout, a serious rehearsal for a grim possibility. Over a thousand E.P.S. workers and other officials went busily about their jobs, and on vantage points such as the Tinakori Hills, Mount Victoria and the heights of Brooklyn, a few people watched the blackout plunge the city and suburbs into darkness for half an hour. Most Wellingtonians, however, preferred to sit at home close by their radio, the broadcasting stations, in particular 2ZB, co-operating with the E.P.S. to broadcast a comprehensive report on the experiment. It was a notable demonstration of the part radio will play in an emergency. Highlight of the broadcast was 2ZB’s relay from an Air Force plane high above the city of a commentary by Ser-geant-Pilot Geoff. Lloyd, formerly of 2ZB’s announcing staff. For some time prior to the blackout, 2ZB helped the E.P.S. authorities by broadcasting instructions to householders and details of the procedure which would be adopted, and during the blackout the station gave point-to-point relays from the E.P.S. headquarters in the basement of the Town Hall, the Tinakori Hills, the 2ZB transmitter --

on Mount Victoria, and from the Air Force reconnaissance plane. L. E. Strachan, deputy information controller, was in charge of broadcasts from the Town Hall, Michael Forlong was on Mount. Victoria, and "Tiny" Martin and H. F. McDonald, head of the photographic section of the E.P.S., were on the Tinakori Hills. Following Mr. Strachan’s explanation, over a hook-up of all Wellington stations, of the procedure during the blackout, 2ZB crossed over to the reconnaissance plane for Sergeant-Pilot Lloyd to describe the effect of the switching off of Wellington’s many lights; then, at the relay unit on the Tinakori Hills, Mr. McDonald gave an "atmospheric" description from his vantage point; then all stations linked for a brief survey by Mr. Strachan of warden’s reports on the effectiveness of the blackout in different areas; 2ZB then crossed to Mount Victoria in order that the Mayor, T. C. A. Hislop, as commanding officer of the Wellington City E.P.S., might give more impressions; and this was followed by a further summary of wardens’ reports by Mr. Strachan and a description by Sergeant-Pilot Lioyd of the scene when the lights came on again. As the sirens died away, the recon- naissance plane, a distant roar of engines and a shuttling light to observers on the ground, circled once more over the city before flying back to ‘its aerodrome.