Evening Star Newspaper, August 7, 1927, Page 63

MAGAZINE SECTION he Sundiy Sta? AUGUST 7, 19217. ILLUSTRATED FEATURES WASHINGTON, D. €., SUNDAY MORNING, Part 5—8 Pages Rigid Tests Are Applied in Selection of Youthful Navy Airmen CoMDR. F.H.MoLONY, head of the FLIGHT - ScHoOoL -~ ASSISTANT SECRETARY 7 of the NAvy ROBINSON ond ADMIRAL MOFFETT inspect the FLIGHT TRAINING SCHOOL. L e | STUDENTS are taught to™ FIELD ” before landing P— Jhe STUDENT sits aft i TRAINING PLANE; “the INSTRUCTOR forvard the subsequent joking of their ime structor by his fellow officers. * Kk X ¥ ONE of the lessons that the young student sometimes has difficulty in | acquiring aution, and. in fact, cer- {tain pilots never get it. It is the wise aviator, however, that tries out a new plane carefully and then comes back BY A. G. WEST. HEN the President reviewed the United States fleet at Hampton Roads, a few weeks ago, one of the most _thrilling as well as one of the most impressive parts of the entire parade of the mighty grey- hound sea was the escort by the Nation's aircraft past the yacht of the Chief Executive. The silver wings of the “eves of the scouting fleet” flashed in the sun- &hine as the submarine and destroyer squadrons_slipped out between the Virginia Capes, while a_dozen mod- ern planes swept down the long dec of their carrier, the U. Langle with the graceful precision acquire in the long months at flight training | &chools maintained by the Navy and in subsequent maneuvers of the Bat- tel Fleet Air Squadrons. A skillful pilot is not-made in a day, or a week, or even in a year, nd while the call of the air is strong, a very small percentage of the men who respond to it are permitted | 1 receive the gold wings that mark | the military or naval aviator of the Government service. The increaslqg interest in aviation, particularly in the last few months, since the re- markable flight of the air mail pilot, Col. Charles Lindbergh, across the Atlantic, has, of course, centered the attention of the general public on the possibflities of aircraft for business s well as for social affairs. But the | impetus to the several governmental | azencies, especially to the Army and Nuvy, has been tremendous. 3 At Hampton Roads, where the air | station is in the charge of Comdr. | A. C. Read, for example, the Navy| maintains a flight training school that | offers what is known as an “indoctri-| nation course.” This is given to select- | ed groups of young ensigns from the | Secouting and Battle Fleet after they | have had a tour of duty at sea, and | those who pass the required tests and | seem to be promising material for | aviation are then sent down to Pensa- | cola to take the full course required of a naval aviator. This preliminary training, however, i of considerable value, in that it eliminates the unfit at an early mo- ment, before too much time has been | spent on him. In addition. the | cougse inducts the students into an fntimate knowledge of what it is all | ahout, so that on their return to the | fleet they will have a better under- | standing of aviation generally and be | hetter fitted to appreciate the advan- | 1azes and the limitations of air work when the time comes for them to fill executive positions in later vears. STUDENT AVIATORS drilledin BomeinG Exercises —_———— chance to take off for his initial hop | in_a Government plane. During the World War it was learned that only 3 per cent of the total number of crashes were caused | by the skill and strategy of the cnemy, but that no less than 90 per cent of all crashes were due to the bad health of the pilots themselves. With this set of alarming statistics in hand, the physicians of France, Great Britain and the United States put their heads together and decided to climinate the unfit pilot before he en- dangered his own life or those of his | passengers. | The flight surgeons not merely in- vestigated his_heart, his lungs, his eves, ears, and a few essentials like that, but they put him in different kinds of machines to sce what he would do when he hecame cold, or dar v or frizhtened. Then, if he ill survived, they bezan digging back | FLIGHT INSTRUCTORS making up Jhe ability to bringa PLANE backto thé BEACH safely is aru important part of the STUDENTS lesson ) under various conditions, and he is ad- | vanced to the extra specialties that give him still further contidence. Pilot- ing a plane for a machine gunner to fire at a towed sleeve is not much fun and is said to be most monotonous, but it is excellent practice, as are nav- |igation flights over the surrounding countryside under test conditions. |are in the plain with dual instruction jand 15 hours with special training of { various kinds, in order to familiarize them with the usual work required of all naval aviators. A close watch is kept on all the students, not merely | from day to day, by the instructor as- signed to them regularly, but by dif- ierent members of the staff of the The course is 25 hours, 10 of which | to the rest of the bunch and reports, | “I know one thing about that plane, |and that is 1 don't know much.” But it is the effort to teach that to their pupils that gives the flight instructors their gray hair overnight. According to Capt. A. W. Marshall, who graduated from the Pensacola |school as an aviator last year, and with Capt. J. J. Rabie had the honor |of attaining the coveted gold wings | though 30 years older than many of {the younz men who take the course, |air currents are the speediest of all {the currents. There are none on land, |and water currents are the next in | swiftness, and in some instances, as | between two islands on the west coast |of_Scotland, may run very rapidly. | The steamer Thomas W. Raiston was lost in Pentland Firth, as the | tidal current runs through there, and | with a contrary wind may create such a sea that even a huge battleship may find itself in difficulties. It may even {run as high as 12 miles an hour, or making for 2 miles an hour drag backward, but air currents may be as high as 120 miles an hour. Capt. Marshall found his greatest | thrill in flying when he first learned (to fly his plane from the field. In some cases the aviator student gets | his biggest “kick” when he is turned looss and has the plane out for his | f solo hop, and his second thrill | when he makes his first loop. Early in the game the act of banking and similar maneuvers are mechanical and require the attention of the pilot. Later on this becomes instinctive, and it is then that the aviator may be sald |to be at home in his plane, as much {so the average person is in his | automobile. | An aviator must have the great gift of judgment and always have a pos- sible place in view during the flight where he could land in an emergency. It isn’t the fall that is dangerous; it's the stopping, or, as the bricklayer said on his way down the 18 stories, I'm all right so far, down to the last half inch.” There are many things besides the actual art of managing a plane in the air that the young pilot has to learn hefore he is ready for his “wings,” and one of the most important is a | knowledge of weather conditions and how they affect possible cross-country hops. It is usually a surprise to the pupil to discover that the average model day, with a “perfect sk: . cording to the landsman, is a far from | nto the sort of life he had led as a | g A noy, to see what his reaction to anger NE of the chief difficulties in the | o Gther impulses had been, as such | path of aviation in our militar: {gest‘;: had been ;()und (o]h'e of ;-;lm.w; i in determining how a pilot might be | o ” a rs in ervices has been that officel | expected to act fn an emergency at | the older branches have lacked the | cejling of ten or twelve thousand | requisite training to command air | feet, when the motor suddeniy “cut | SRR ki int of actual | on_ him.” and prompt action was re- rquadrons, from a standpoint of actual| g\, 0'(o make a safe landing. knowledge, Aviation iS a YOung! “mpug the young man who enters ame, but it is obviously im-| tng jndoctrination course of flight practicable for the younger officers 10 | ¢raining at Hampton Roads or the 11 positions for which only years of | yoliminary Army course at Brooks discipline and experience can At | pucia™ oY I red that he is a them. | specimen ‘of almost perfect health. He | * % ¥ ¥ flight school under Comdr, F. H. Mo- [ 04 e ot CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS et SFhock ser Gomr, i 1 Mo | herteet arrangement when viewed on (viha hesrrh [;;md observe the erratic [ *[2llY. iip conduct of their young charges i ot Hold it. Hold it.”| fivers are trained in, to “drag his | the air or comment favorably on some | Peautiful sunshine and_soft, fleecy Then when he says that two or three | fiel | promising pupil who seems to be|C'oUds that let the sunshine through times you decide to land, and instead | This means that they are taught to | making a good landing. |€o that there are areas of hot and of landing, you find you haven't lost | circle about n field a few times in| uComing fn too hot," for example, | honiil,fOF the plane to traverse. The Your fiying speed, so you pull the stick | order to regain the proper sense of | . '( OMIRE I too het.” f ample, | warm air tends to rise and the effect e | tonded Wight ‘of scveral nours, the | fast landing i 3 faking B dive In leatold Water when 3 e e | extended flight of several hours, the | 2 mash ing a e va v (s, of course, forces the plane on | ilat s deficient in that sense of ad. | PONtoon of a plare and make it neces- | he is going swimming and striking a porpoise (or hit the water and bounce)|Justment from the air to the ground, | G7% 0,08 & B WS I e OR. | spring. ! Bl ipeed. K. |and his observation must be restored | Of an instructor s on an| "A gray day makes for far easier and you lose vour flying speed. Be-|jot,0° ho attempts to make his|0ld truck and watch a plane soaring |flying. The atmosphere tends to be T e e it over the station and comment bitterly: | of all one general temperature, as the instructor may have clapped hishands ' 4 "5,y 1ate, “Shorty” forgot all| “Gee, they come over high. Those | ceiling isn't so high under the con- over his head to indicate what a fine | yic" 4 24 he came on down he saw | babics are afread of the buildings, but | tinual Jayer of clouds. The aviator In order to adjust this obvious | TPICITOl O Aoe B | 3 e o I may also be equally assured of the . rawback, and to have officers inj “<. 0 5 St : O arawback, @ |continued and attentve mterest of | [QUGGLES ORIENTATOR inaction | to what a fi . : : landing you seemed to be making, but | (¢ ‘he was due to hit a couple of | they don’t seem to remember about |thus learns to pay considerable at- at the first bounce he suddenly ceages|tojozraph poles. By heroic endeavor, | those fish stakes.”” Interpreted, this |tention to the weather reports issued command who have actual and not| all signs of approval and barks bit-| /" o2 00T, iive just between |means that unless the pupil manages |each day for his special benefit, so LMk sotun) DOtlthe flight surgeon in charge of the merely theoretical knowledge of aif’ | gents, who is said to be able to craft, both the Army and Na¥y QIO | tell almost at a glance just which of | L in observation, so that the [;i o 0 IR Lo e has been overdoing | trols. o that in the event of a spin|solo. Of course, he has the comfort|terly through the phone, “What are |y "3 10S% (0 G0 0t wings of | to land within a certain area near the | that he may plan for the conditions - or the captain of of partics or something the flight instructor can | of knowing that it he doesn't show 5 to do? Who fold you you | hic™ ihe "WHich " skated along until | hangar, he will find himself out in|and possible currents he may. meet = of age is given practical in- | T TN o0 peen humorously [at once save two valuable live up in a reasonable length of time. the Trying to kill me?” But, | it hounded up to a country store and | the water where the fishermen have |in the upper atmosphere. tion to the point that he cany o 550 0 Do know t One of the things the instructor | flight duty officer will send out rélief you don't say anything|jznged full on the porch. their stakes, and since these are al-| At the air station, watch is kept and a plane in an emergency, as well G008 B0 LS W0 I er than | tells him about is the altimeter, which | planes to guide him back to the home | The astonished owner and villagers | most invisible until one is quite near | of the various wind changes, and sy understand aevial photograbhy. |, % 4 i) “Since he can “beach” the |appears to be of considerable impor- instruc| However, some of the flight in-| rushed out and the pilot made what is | them, disaster is apt to occur in their | bols, such as a rep pennant and ball ing. radio, g tteet O *[latter without an argument if, in his|tance. It seems that if he is flying a | tor may | m: dsrratic and much | structors seem to have the idea that | considered “the classic remark, “A | vicinity are ‘installed on the tower of one of ]’;:gn“l:‘:"";‘” Ihe trainimg given (Professional opinion, the health of the, land plane and s to visit a f};;l(ln“xl::'ll:‘ll"?:g s e ra l)ruudh,lg on the hench will do n;(vhin.c pa;luge of cigarattes, please.” © } As each plane prepares to hop off, ;‘he hangars to warn the pilot before e Noring ensizns of {heifieet and|12iter makes hiim WnNtifor aMight. [lis 60 feet ‘atove & o Ot W ot AUhEY e ven! ,,h“s[,,'ln' teach the young ensign to fly, or,| Presence of mind is a gr ass ’;‘ man specially detailed as a time- |Ne attempts to come in for his land- e young e aia hat altimeter so that it reads 1 A “* las they press it, “A: that fellow [in aviation, and the young officer who keeper puts down the essential re.|inNg& that the wind has changed since groups of older office; r The instructor points out that as the operation of removing him i get “his parachute and flight gear even the possibility of its!yayks of the flight, including the | e hopped off. This is important, par- wds each summer WITH fhe dark clouds of the he aitimeter reisters barometrically, | from the class is familiarly termed? |and’ zet out and start his engine.” If | possession is Highly appreciited, and | yame of the pilot and passenger, time | Heularly for the novice, since the oy MORE physical examination happily | depending on the air pressure, and | Of course, there are a few St | he doesn't know how to Start 'em. far greater extent than the er-1,e'qeri tuve. the time due in again, | 1ANding must always be into the wind, il ,““ erve. all of ) arthe prospective aviator finds that if the plane is inland the’ pilot | things he must have at his finger d‘l’l what good does it do to sit on that ~ genius who can solo in an In-| 214 any remarks. The chart carried | Which tends to cut down his landing CASL IWo YRS |y self seated on a long bench as he [must change the reading, as the pres.| mere elementary items that a 1ad 0f} pench? By jingo, I get 'em out here | credible time, but who is seidom able | 1€ LV, FERENIE S S CORT SRR speed. s these stu- o0 his turn in one of the training ' sure is slightly less. The young stu-| 14 can learn in a couple of lessons, to| an4 put them to work. You can't|to show steady improvement two days top. and all this information is then | In the last six years, the Govern- coepted for a vear at <ea i L ith his personal instructor. |dent decides to make a special note | hear their fathera tell it around the|m,ke aviators out of them by letting | running. Such a man is soon elimi- [ (2%, 817 AU ths TnOrHeion I8 €08 | ment has managed to cut down the 1n 1he flect, n order to receive their | BTV T dod classes with his fel- |of this and wonders it he really will [ hangars. The ailerons, for "X“"‘P'_‘;- them sit on the heach. I work ’em |nated from the course, as his presence | (0 0 o',’flm In this way it is pos. | Rumber of crashes due to the fault of At*the flient train. |10W Students and learned a few things | remember to set that altimeter if and 1are moved when you push the stck{out, and, helieve me, I make them do|is a menace to the ‘instructor, who | Gub 08 G0 Fe, (T D VY. 0} "0 0 | pilots by no less than 50 per cent. Prior to entrance atihe bl LA labout the planes on the ground and |when he ever graduates into land|sidewise and the plane 18 banked, 80 | tHsic wtumr: the dubious pleasure of flving | 1 [0 KIED G or CoC G e o stay | This is an enviable record. but it has D e i a {had such ftems as the stabilizer con- | planes. that action on the left aller o @ ver:| This shrewd bit of comment from | With him. as well as to the plane he is | 200 T oy Sic, o0 meant_a steady, hard grind by the e T ot the stvers] | trol device and the two magnctos and | There are several other interesfing|a left bank, and so on. It 18 &0 PEF| cpiet Aviation Pilot “Pat” Brynne, | permitted to use. [ THotaantalis: thE Ils a story told | SNt Instructors, who must not only liminary course at one nfthe soveral | ir-speed meter pointed out to| details that swim through the ken of | fectly simple . . . on the ground. | ommonly known as “Irish,” by his PR L of s et equadron down at Xelly | teach their pupils to fly. but try also R eV Sand Dot i the prospective wearer of gold Wings, PR friends, has a lot of sound common | _ i they | Field e e ety ";,',‘ Sty | to_inculcate in them that “senss of s s, "AS a em.| He has discovered that the famous |as he sits on the bench alongside a i | sense to it, and especially since it| [N the advanced training they | HeC Lifte tab @ probem of fYRE to|the air” that will make them air- SRS L S ‘joystick,” now merely called the | other bench siznificantly marked “For, (YNE helpful asset is the telephone | cones from one of the ablest pilots on usually “check out” the pupil at|a certain town and return. e in- | worthy in the pinch. Lhey o ot e n in ex. | “Mtick.” is the rudder bar, and that | Officers Only.” He hopes that he is arrangement that links up thelthe station. As one of the mecha-| five hours, but with the primary |structor went along to see that every- | For “happy landings™ are no accl- Pensacola, '(' v ;“ ‘_‘“fl ) St e expression “giving her the gun”!going to recall about the gasoline|pupil with the teacher, so that the|nicians put it, the more you know |course he is given around 10 hours | thing was in order and accor_dl}lg to | dent. They are the net result of long ptional cases or for the Hrelreaher | cans that one pushes forwar pressure gauge, which normally car-| latter, can issue instructions as re-iabout your plane the better. As a ito qualify. Only the best of the lot frules, but when the pupils nni\cdlal hours of patient and skillful tutoring. et 15 A, mation given ant|round knob marked with a big “T” | Vies thres or four pounds pressure,|quired, and offer words of praise. if | matter of fact, there is probably more [ stand a chance for the Pensacola | the rendezvous there was no ign |and like the famous Chinese cullnary Busiphysical ¢ et m it | that stands for “throttle.” About this | according to his teacher. Then there{any. There is only one slight draw-{kidding around an air station than|course which again starts the man |of him. ey therefore shot back a |expert, Joey Wing Low of Brooks B ane antents tstime he also begins to wonder it he the oil pressure gauge, which will| back, from the standpoint -of thelalmost any other branch of training. |at scratch. The report of the flight | wire to the air school, “All students | Field, who declared to the judge that s ‘been’ posaible for the acientis imight not have chosen a pair of | announce to him, at 00 or less feet, | pupil, and that is that he is equipped | The men work hard and they play | instructor of each student is marked |arrived O.K. but instructor missing. he could “fly anything,” the aspirants 10 make it With aiiplanes costing [ IUSAL P L EONS for a coat of arms, | whether the libricating system of his|merely with earphones, and thus the|hard, and they have a wonderful | up after every hop in the confidential [ As it happened, a fog had come |for gold wings must be able to do their anvwhere B e loss of a | especially 48 the instructor seems o |engine is functioning properly. flizht instructor can make comments, | sense of humor that helps them past | report book, and a check flight by |up. so that the wary fnstructor was |stunts in the oldest as well as in the nd dollars ench, the Toss of a | o granted that he ls going | Another interesting device, invented |and there is no comeback. Not that{a lot of trying places. another insiructor every few flights | taking no chances. and landed en | newest “ship.” But pet a third of Is Jmportant, quite asile fro o understand that dope about ad- | for his special benefit, is an inclino- | there would he any, of course. An exceilent example of this is sa that it may not seem biased, as|route, later returning to the base, |the pupils that pass their first check sualties, or 1he sl au o ating | your “horizontal stabilizer | meter, that some day will break the| As an example, ‘take the student|of the Army student, Shor well as to offer susgestions for the | which was the right and wise pro- | flight ever reach the high pinnacle of T o R e the plana de in fiight %o that |news that he is skidding or =HPPINE. | who 13 out in a seaplane, as he fin-|named hecause of his generous height, | improvement of any particular faults [ cedure. But his cocky youns pupils | reading orders that send them to duty b X o the ‘hiame wsems to be nose- | s well as the gyroseopic instrument ! ishes off what has heen rather a nice | who took a trip of three or four hours | that need special coaching. were very much pleased with them- |with the Air Squadron of the United i in the dailv papers ! v As the training advances, and as|selves for making the grade. and not | States Fleet. Those who do deserve day is one with | Pretty. Pretty. nently, issions. on the when 1he news of a disast s aining | <tvalgit course or turning. if a fog | very well pleased, and says encourag-| throttled his motor hut forgot one of [flizhts, he gains confidence in him-|where they found that their telegram | worn saying, “Only the brave deserve es are construc ho s ¢ e and so on | kaown as the “turn indicator,” that|flight around the bay. | cross-country. He had picked his . e nt eyt e B e vkt o e ™in alwavs |l announca whether ha is fiying 2| The flight inatructor seems to he | field and was coming in fo land, so he [ the student passes check after check |less so on their return to the school. | the grade, and to paraphrase a well t e e consttaciad with dual con. comed v while he is out on & check lingly through the telephone, “Pretty. the important things that all Army | self aad,In lls bandlne of the piansi was posted on the pilietin board 1o the air.* . ‘ \ .