Title
File entitled Aerial Observations of Smoke Screens [copies of reports] kept by E K Brodrick, L4 Division, London [Ernest Keith Brodrick, 1900-1948, father of the donor] who observed the screens from the air, 1942-1943. The district office was: Ministry of Home Security, L (4), District Office, Third Floor, 85, George Street, Luton.
[ The smokescreens were a wartime measure to obscure targets and to mask decoy lights and fires intended to lure enemy bombers to drop their loads on open country. For an account of their use at Luton see Luton At War, book 130Luton. pp74-76].
The reports are numbered and dated as follows:
(1) Radway, [Warwickshire], experiment no. 1. Observation of smoke screens over decoy lights and fires under moonless conditions. 9 May 1942
(2) Radway, starlight experiments no. 2 with aerial observation.
16 May 1942
(3) Second Liverpool Moonlight experiment with aerial observation. Includes map 27-28 June 1942
(4) Chatham, [Kent], no. 1. Attempt at moonlight observation,
1-2 July 1942
(5) Chatham, no. 2, moonlight experiment with aerial observation 3 July 1942
(6) Aerial observation of Corby, [Northamptonshire], Castle Bromwich, [Warwickshire], and Shirley [Derbyshire] in moonlight. 26 July 1942
(7) Aerial observation of Rogerstone, [Monmouthshire], and Barry, [Glamorgan], smoke screens in moonlight .29-30 July 1942
(8) Report summarizing Aerial Observation of Schemes during moonlight period 23-24 July and 3-4 August 1942.
(9) Reports on Aerial Observations, 12 August 1942
(10) Report of aerial observations of smoke screens at Luton, Slough, [Buckinghamshire], and Langley, [Bucks] 27-8 Aug 1942
(11) Report on (10) 8 Sept 1942
(12) Smokescreen observations; report by G R Parsons, Sept 1942
(13-15) Reports on aerial observation of Liverpool area in starlight, 10 September 1942
(16) Report on moonlight aerial observation of smoke screens at Slough and Luton 19 September 1942
(17) Report on remarks by Squadron Leader Browning, amongst others, that smoke screens were 'useless', with a note that this pilot was prejudiced against smoke and his observations were thus unreliable. 19 September 1942
(18) Attempted moonlight aerial observation of Newcastle, 22 September, and Barry and Rogerstone, on 26 September 1942
(19-21) Reports on aerial observations made in September, 5, 6 and 8 October 1942
(22) Memorandum about Smoke Protection of Targets by Dense Screens 19 October 1942
(23) Report on Aerial Observation of Castle Bromwich Smoke Screen 24-25 October 1942
(24,28) Memoranda on the smoke produced by Southam Cement Works, near Leamingham, [Warwickshire], 29 October & 30 November 1942
(25,31) Report and letter on the position of the balloon barrage, 2 and 28 November 1942
(26) Aerial Observation - October report. Castle Bromwich 100 yards spacing [of Haslar smoke machines]
(27) Report on alleged smokescreen interference, Woodvale Aerodrome, [Lancashire] on 27 October.16 November 1942
(29) Report on Aerial Photographs of Haslar Smoke Trails. [No photographs present in file]. 11 December 1942
(30) Report on aerial observation of Castle Bromwich Screen on 17-18 December 1942
(32) Smoke Screens; report on revised policy and operating technique. 12 January 1943
(33) Letter regarding provision of additional smoke generators,
23 January 1943
(34) Aerial Observation; December report on Castle Bromwich and the 100 yard spacing 12 January 1943
(35) Letter from E K Brodrick to Mr Bunker at the HQ of the L4 Division in London reporting that he is fit enough to resume flying, and commenting on operational priorities. 8 Feb. 1943
(36) Report on Aerial Observation of Luton (normal screen) and Slough (normal and augmented screens) on 16 February 1943, with follow-up reports mostly on the weather conditions
(37) Report on aerial observation of Billingham, [Durham], smoke screen on 18 February 1943
Un-numbered survey of progress in observation of smoke screens. 4 March 1943
Un-numbered report on aerial observation of Luton, Slough and Langley. 13 March 1943
Un-numbered report on observation of Crayford, [Kent], smoke screen 14 March 1943
Dorse of file:
Three one inch scale Ordnance Survey maps, with some data on smoke observations at Luton, Slough and Langley; Billingham and the Birmingham and Coventry area in 1942
Burning schedules, August 1942 - March 1943 (reverse date order)
E K Brodrick's schedule of flying hours on observational flights, including the aircraft used - Dominee, Blenheim, Anson and Oxford. May 1942- March 1943
Bundle of flight instructions, mostly March 1943