The Top Ender Magazine October November 2020 Edition

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Croc Cove Colouring CompetitionNAME: ....................................................................................AGE: ....................................................................................................ADDRESS .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................POST CODE:...............................................................................................EMAIL: .......................................................................................................PHONE: .....................................................................................Entries close on Monday, 19 October 2020.Send a good quality image of your artwork toadmin@thetopendermagazine.org.au or post it to PO Box35874, Winnellie, NT 0821. Winners will be notifiedby post/phone and announced inThe Top Ender.Congratulationsgo to Hariet, aged7, from Lyons, forwinning the colouringin competition in theAugust/Sept issue.Congratulations!58 The Top Ender | Tri-Services Magazine Incorporated
RegularFeatureCaught in the Spotlight!Searchlights were an essential defenceagainst night air-raids during World War II,and there were plenty of batteries operatingin the Northern Territory.They were originally developed for use against ships, so that landguns could fire against harbour raiders. In turn, with the developmentof electricity, lights were invented for use at sea, and then, asmilitary aircraft began flying at night in World War I the use of lights tofind aircraft developed so that gunners could see them well enoughto fire at them. In WWII they were grouped around vulnerable targetssuch as towns and military installations, and as the Allies movednorthwards towards Darwin in WWII, the necessary searchlights wentwith them. The more efficient the searchlights and their operators,the more likely they were to light up an enemy force before seriousdamage could be done – the element of surprise was lost.The lights were mounted on a wheeled trolley and were powered by adiesel-electric generator on a trailer or truck, in conjunction with a soundlocator. As electronics developed, the searchlights switched to radar detection,capable of locating an aircraft at 30,000 yards (27 kilometres) andassessing range, bearing and elevation with moderate accuracy. A rangeoperator watched a screen and brought a ‘strobe spot’ onto the echo (orreceived signal of the radio waves bouncing back off the enemy aircraft)he wished the light to follow. Two other operators (elevation (angle tothe object from the horizontal) and azimuth (angle of object from northor south)) with their displays attached to two antennas each, assisted therange operator in pin-pointing the target.By the end of the war all Australian searchlights were tropicalised and inthe main operated on a three-ton truck, or even in aircraft. The searchlightunits generally operated with their own machine gun protection, whichwas sometimes needed as the searchlights were targets themselves. Forexample, on 20 January 1943, two Betty bombers attacked the Allied WorksCouncil, and the Anti-Aircraft searchlights at Ironstone Lagoon near Darwin.By 1941, the 54th and 64th Australian Anti-Aircraft Search LightCompany was operating from camps at Ironstone Lagoon, Lee Point,Peanut Farm, Quarantine Station, Nightcliffe (spelt with an ‘e’ in thosedays), Fanny Bay, Dripstone, Leanyer, Bagot, Emery Point and Dudley Point– all within 20kms of Darwin, with a posted strength of 283 people. Bymid-1943, there were 24 searchlight locations around the Top End of theNorthern Territory, operating 90cm, 150cm and Sperry projectors.Dr Tom Lewis OAMMilitary HistorianIn WWII they weregrouped aroundvulnerable targets suchas towns and militaryinstallationsBy a WarCorrespondent ofThe WestAustralianSearchlight Importance –Speed and EfficiencyWhen, during the recentfull moon, the Japanesemade their seven abortiveraids against the Darwinarea, the most importantpart in our defence againstthem was played by searchlights.Theirs was the jobof finding the bombers assoon as they came withinrange, flashing their millionsof candle-power deadon the planes, and holdingthem in the dazzlingglare, so that the ackack[anti-aircraft guns]could gauge its targetaccurately. They workedsplendidly in every raid.By mid-1943, there were24 searchlight locationsaround the Top End ofthe Northern Territory,operating 90cm, 150cm,and Sperry projectorsOctober/November 2020 59
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