The Air Ministry News Service, on which the B.B.C. news
service draws so largely night after night, does the work it is there to do with great efficiency. Its detailed stories of raids over enemy territory often add a great deal that is impressive and dramatic to the austere record contained in the official bulletins. But if one of its functions is to " talk-up " the R.A.F., as it quite intelligibly may be, I suggest that it is engaged on the superfluous. The R.A.F. nee& no such lauda- don. And the descriptions of raids—one generally very another ; " several sticks of bombs were seen to burst t across the target "; " the pilots flew through thick cloud, there was clear sky as the frontier was a ossed "; " . he saw two Messerschmitts on his tail "—are coming to oc quite an inordinate amount of time in the principal n bulletins. We do want some .embroidery on the official c muniques, but not, I suggest, anything like what we are gets Measured by words, descriptions of night-raids ,over Ge or day-sweeps over France are given a prominence quite proportionate to other news. The R.A.F. would gain ray, than lose in prestige if the B.B.C. and the Air Ministry N Service between them could agree to put a curb on prolixity.
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