Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-12-02
AMERICA BEING
TAUGHT TO FLY
IN AIR SCHOOLS
Hundreds of Young Men
Preparing for Aerial Ser
vice Against Huns.
SIX THOROUGH CAMPS
UNDER BINGHAM PLAN
Promoter. Too Old for Field
Work, Establishes System
in Record Time.
COURSE RUNS EIGHT WEEKS
All Schools Under Direct Govern
ment Supervision, but College
Equipment Used.
SIX THOROUGH CAMPS
UNDER BINGHAM PLAN
COURSE RUNS EIGHT WEEKS
All Schools Under Direct Govern
ment Supervision, but College
Equipment Used.
by 4 LIEUTENANT OF THE AVA
rION SECTION

III l.iiIi TENANT OF THE .tNIt-
TiON SECTION.
y group Of thirty-six we'll set-up
young Americans. tho summers tan
Just fading from their faces are closely
studying a battle field. Within six feet
OF them is the rapid flash of shells
bursting in quick succession-not real
shells. but as close an imitation as de-
sirable in a lecture hall-and the men
arc behaving with the surcncSS and
precision which, as future officers and
pilots Of Americas great aerial battle
itcet. they are expected to display.
After each explosion, or, rather, flash,
is heard the buzz of the wireless as tho
men take or send message from
! "somewhere"-in California. or Massa-
chusetts, or Illinois. as the Gaze may be.
y second group of pilots. looking
down upon the others, are seated in
cockpits high above the miniature bat
tie field. They hear the ina ginary roar
Of Pershing's guns. and there is an
other succession Of lightning flashes
on various squar es Of the military map
below them.
"BuzZ-Z-Z. Buzz-zZ-z" goes the wire
less. as in actual warfare. where artiI-
lery fire is directed by the eyes of the
army; the pi'ots from the top Of the
by the artillery and signal the range
to the Gunncrs-in this case instructors
below.
'W-29D-I-9" is the message to the
rtillcryman-cryptic, of course, to
those who do not understand the
squared map and pin-point system in
use by aerial observers on the western
front. Perhaps IL is prearranged
shoot. in which case the clock code Is
handy for signaling how close the
hits" come to the dugouts of Kaiser
Wilheim's privates. or trench crossings
filled with huddled groups of the same.
or whatever else the target may be.
VT. B-6,' sings the buzzcr. And
the United States artillery officer cor
reefs the range of his big gun to suit;
at least. he will do so short time
hence. when our young pilots now In
training get the first real opportunity
OF showing their mettle to the enemy
across the Rhine.
STARTED SIX SCHOOLS
AFTER TEN DAYS WORK
The foregoing is n few minutes
work in what is a part--a very small
pari--ot the program of one of the
United States schools of military aero
nauticS. more commonly known IA
ground" schools. The man IN the
street has Il fair knowledge OF what
our flyers arc doing. BY sight and
hcarsay he is beginning to know OF
the work at our many flying fields.
! from the outskirts or which may DO
heard the roaring buzz of motors in
tho air as the birdmen make spirals
right and left. do figure SIS" make
turns around pylons with all parts OF
I "a. 4.
| radius. or glide along with motor
| thro,tled, like SeaGulls dying OH out
stretched wings. AS for war conditions,
| the average citizen carries "A vague
picture Of swooping birdmcn. loop and
| spiral dives rapid-iire duels high above
! the clouds. etc. But the man in the
street knows nothing OF the eight
weeks milling that these lads go
through before even stepping into u
! fusilaGc aud proudly calling Contact"
! to get the motor revolving for their
first ascent. In other words, he knows
nothing of our ground schools for the
! fundamental training OF aviators. OF
/ their startling development and rapid
progress. and. incidentally. OF the man
at the helm-recent promoted to the
rank OF lieutenant colonel for his sue
cessful woik--Iiram Bingham. Signal
Corps. United States Army.
The birth of the schools of military
aero.srutics came about QUITE suddenly.
To boz it down into II few words. it
80 hap. ened that Lieutenant Colonel
bingham. ut that time a Yale pro-
fcssor. deeply interested in aviation as
vital and. probably. determining fac
tor OF the great war. was making
II good many flights and studying the
subject from the ground up. with an
eye to becoming an aviation instruc-
tor. The age limit debarred him from
active service.
ON May /, General George 0. Sauier.
clief signal officer, United States Army,
Communicated his services and wired
for three professors from each OF the
universities in whose neighborhood il
was proposed to put the schools into
operation. Lieutenant Colonel Bling
ham and his band OF professors jump
ed up North. made a rapid but in.
elusive inspection OF the schools OF
military acronautics of the Royal Fly
ing Coir3. Toronto. Canada. upon
whose methods. to o largo extent our
schools have since been developed:
held prolonged conferences as to WAYS
and means of organization. and with
IN the record time of ten days had
sin good American ground schools
started on a defnitc program Two
other schools were shortly added TO
! this list.
The American schools are loca ted at
the following colleges: University of
Californi.. Cornell. Georgia School Of
Technology. Princeton University. Uni