27 OCTOBER 1939, Page 6

The funeral honours paid to two German airmen at Edinburgh

have aroused some criticism, but there hardly seems ground for it. There is a cameraderie of the air as of the sea (you do not seem to get it in-the same way on land) and like tributes have been paid to British airmen killed in Germany. Chivalrous impulses like these are among the things we need to save from destruction if we can. These airmen were attacking legitimate objectives in fair fight. If the time ever comes when civilian populations are deliberately bombed honours to the airmen responsible, even though they were acting under orders, would be rightly condemned.