 This was followed by another report at the request of Churchill , this time by Admiral Tom Phillips . Phillips returned his report on 16 October , calling for standing patrols by Hawker Hurricane fighters guided by searchlights , the so @-@ called cat 's eye fighters . Dowding replied that the speed and altitude of modern aircraft made such efforts almost useless , stating that Phillips was proposing to " merely revert to a Micawber @-@ like method of ordering them to fly about and wait for something to turn up . " He again stated that AI was the only solution to the problem . Phillips had not ignored AI , but pointed out that " At the beginning of the war , AI was stated to be a month or two ahead . After more than a year , we still hear that in a month or so it may really achieve results . " 
