Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-07
MEN NEEDED IN
AVIATION BRANCH
Plenty of Chance For Promo
ton in Ground Organi-
Zation Behind Line

The skilled American workmen
who are being selected from all over
the country to form the great back
bone organization behind the Amer
ican Air Service in France, were
supplied by the Signal Corps today
with complete statement of details
as to the classes of men eligible and
as to the procedure for entrance into
the service. Practically all the men
selected will be formed into squad
rons for service abroad, as close be-
hind the lines as the AirdromeS can
be built, and in immediate touch
with the great American Air Army.
Men from all sorts of trades are
eligible, with Al trades especially
mentioned running all the way from
sail makers to gas works employees.
Upon these men will rest the respon-
Sibility of keeping every plane ready
for instant and constant service, for
tuning the engines for fighting or
8 miles in the air, for making sure
that no airman, with his costly skill
and equipment, comes to grief
through any mechanical flaw which
human care and ingenuity can avoid.
Practically two-thirds of the men
will be made noncommissioned Off
GERS, sergeants, firstclass sergeant
and corporals, highest noncommis-
stoned ranks in the army. Each
man will be assigned to that class of
work which his skill best fits him to
do in order that both he and the
Service may be assured oil the great
est value to the country from his
work.
Probably in no better way can the
compleXity of the Air Service be un-
derstood than through the kinds of
skilled men who will form the great
ground organization behind the lines
in France. In hardly any other
branch OF the War Department is
there so great a proportion of skilled
men needed. for practically every de-
tail of work about an airplane re-
quires the most delicate and skilful
work. Naturally under these cir
cumstances, while the need of men
is important, there is even greater
need for careful and painstaking Sc
lection.
Skilled Men
There is room. for instance, for
sail makers, tailors and cobblers to
rents and tears; cabinet makers and
rents and teears; cabinet makers and
boat makers for hand work about
the fusilage; riggers to assemble
planes, guard against the unlooSen-
ing of connections, and see that
W
tauter; coppersmiths to prevent a
leaky gasoline tank from causing dis
aster in mid air; armorers and ma
chine gun repairmen to see that no
machine gun jams in battle; 1nStru-
ment repairmen for air speed lndl-
Gators, altim eters, sight instruments,
magnetos, etc; VulcanizerS to keep
tires in perfect shape; and gas works
employees, rope riggers, cordage
workers for the highly specialized
work about balloons.
For keeping the engines tuned up
to the highest pitch, and examining
them constantly so that they may
run under full load all the time and
not stall in midair, and for shaping
new fittings in hurry, straighten-
ing out twisted rods and plates by
hand, and for all sorts of other me-
Chanical work, there is room for au-
tomobile mechanicians, automobile
engine repairmen and engine testers,
machinists, metal workers, black
smith, tool makers, 'WelderS, moi
ders and electricians.
For headquarters and general field
work there is room for craftsmen
to keep plans and designs up to the
last minutes efficiency; carpenters,
filters, plumbers and brick layers
to make airdromes, parks, antiair-
craft emplacements, ETC.; telephone
n0enen, operators anu dtlJuSltIS lOt
the intercommunication service;
chauffeurs to keep a stream OF sup
plies in motion; motorcyclists and
repairmen for rapid dispatchmen;
and office clerks and stenographers
for seeing that supplies are always
on hand, records kept and the busi-
ness of the organization maintained
at the highest efficiency.
Radio operators and photograph
,-c IrN inn
Air Service.
Trades Needed
The former will be entrusted with
receiving messages from alrmen rel
ative to enemy armaments, gun en-
placements and all other vital infor-
nation on which the American Army
movements will so largely depend.
Photographers including especially
fast newsphotographers and photo
physicists, will be entrusted with de-
veloping and printing photographs
from the air.
Skilled men of all these various
trades who are physically fit white
and not over 40, may enter the Air
Service by applying at the nearest
Army Recruiting Station. Men ac-
cepted will be classified by trades and
given two or three weeks special il
lustration as to how to apply their
specialized knowledge to specified
airplane work. They will then be
formed into service squadrons, their
best men to be selected as noncom-
missioned officers, and sent across
to France.
Men from the following AZ trades
are especially qualified for the Air
Service:
Chauffeurs, cabinet makers, mo-
torcyclists, auto mechanicians,
craftsmen (mechanicaD, telephone
operators. automobile engine repair
men, magnetic repair. men, plumbers,
office clerks, metal workers, painters,
carpenters, automobile engine testers,
gas works employees, radio opera
tors, tailors, rope riggers, buglers,
cordage workers, electricians. instru-
ment repair men, molders, cooks,
propeller makers (airplane), pattern
makers, coppersmiths, telephone ad-
1usters, armorers (machine gun re-
pair men, riggers> (airplane assem-
blers), BARRIERS, propellers testers
Cairplane) telephone linemen, sail
makers, photographers, tool makers,
boat makers, machinists, vulcanizers,
saddlers, blacksm:ths, welders, mo-
torcycle repair men, photographers
stenographers, packers.
r. w. LESHER.