Casco Bay breeze. [volume] (South Harpswell, Me.) 1901-1917, 1916-07-27
army AVIATORS
MUST STUDY LONG
French Give Men Most Thorough
Training Before License
Is Issued
TARGET PRACTICE IMPORTANT
Science Is Now So Highly Specialized
That a Series Of Schools Is Nee
essary-course Takes About
| Five Months.

farlS.-Ihere was time when an
aviator was expected to become an mir
hghter in much the same way as q boy
is taught to swim by being thrown
into deep water and expected to strike
out TO save himself from drowning. So
the pilot had quick firer placed on
ms aeroplane and was turned loose in
TO the air with the expectation that he
would get as near as he could to an
enemy aviOn Can avion is q military
aeroplane) and shoot him down before
being Shot down himself.
The training that army pilots now
undergo lasts some five months, and
the many Americans who have taken it
or are taking it will, if they survive
the war, form valuable asset to the
American nation if preparedness" is
carried out to the extent of forming
AVIATION corps, as, it needs hardly to
be added, it evidently should be.
Schools Becoming Specialized.
1t was soon found necessary to spe-
cialize aviation schools and devote
each to some particular work. Four or
nVe are solely for learners, where they
begin, as on 'penguins," rollers which
do not rise into the air, on which they
run in straight lines for half q mile.
AS soon as they can run with the tail
OF the machine in the air they pass to
three-cylinder Bleriot, which leaves
the ground, rising about q couple of
yards. On this machine pupils learn
to leave the ground, to control their
motors, regulate the gas, ETC., and then
pass to siX-cylinder Blerot, which
can rise IL to 20 yards, on which they
practice landing. Landing is the most
difficult part of the work, so that it is
during this stage that most wood is
broken" as French 1iers say of smash
ing machines.
A 4o-hOrSepower Bleriot, which
mounts to between $50 and 300 feet.
then enables the learner to make wi
RACES" (turns) to the right and left and
trace out fiSure-eightS and circles.
he is then promoted to a 5O-horse-
power Bleriot GOO to 900 feet alti-
tude), when he learns to shut off his
motor at the highest point and descend
to 400 feet and then to restart the
motor. He also learns to make q quar-
WI ''pAi tii, a Hull anu SDlT0l
with his motor shut off.
He is then ready for his official tests
for his license. He has to make an
official spiral with Paragraph at
tached to his back to record his descent
from 1000 feet. The Paragraph will
snow straight line for q perfect
spiral, but an irregular one for bad
ly made descent. He then takes q
voyage machine, 60 horsepower, on
which he makes two trips, 60 miles
and 90 miles. Then on an SO-horse-
power voyage machine he makes q tri-
angular flight Of $50 miles, during
which he has to land once to take on
new supply of gasoline. An 8O-hOrse-
power or.parasOl machine is used for
two height tests above 5000 feet, with
Paragraph to register the altitude.
Having successfully negotiated these
tests, he is awarded his "brevet," or
pilots license, If he has put in ut least
70 hours actual flying during his train
ing,
diminishing Off" Schools Also.
The newly licensed pilot is then sent
to the finishing off school at Pau. He
has now said good-by to slow machines
and will start to perfect his skill in
landing, probably on q three-cylinder
Morane, as the Morane has the same
kind of landing fitments as the Nieu-
port and 1t is much cheaper in case of
smashing wood" He is promoted to
six-cylinder and ten-cylinder Moranes
until he has made ten perfect landings.
He then mounts 23-meter (75-foOt
spread Nieuport as passenger with q
monitor, WHO shows him what Nieu-
port can do. Then he tackles this
Nteuport alone and when he has made
~ perfect landings on it he Is allowed
to mount 60-foot Newport, q smaller
but more powerful machine. On this
he makes spirals and test altitude
flight Of 6,0OO feet.
At this school at the present time
are about eighty graduates, almost all
officers, few noncommissioned officers
and few Americans, who are treated
by the army officials as If they were
officers, whatever rank they may have,
even If they are merely prlvates.
The pilot who has sufficient aptitude
then passes to the "ecole de combat"
or fighting school. Others are sent in
to bombarding work or signaling. But
those fit to fly scout machines or
"avions de chasse" (for hunting down
the enemy take the further course.
Here on fast Nieuports pupils learn
to maneuver in escadrille formation.
To become a perfect Newport fiier
an aviator has to master many ma
chimes, chiefly to acquire the art Of
landing at speed of from 80 to so
miles an hour. He will train with %
horsepower, 45-horsepower, 60-horse-
power and 80 horsepower Bleriot mon
oplanes, then with Moranes and then
with Nieuports of decreasing size un.
I'll he reaches the celebrated "Baby
NiennortW nnlv 90 foot srrnnd ,,,itI,