Norwich bulletin., 1917-11-22
HIS EXPERIENCE
 AT FLYING SCHOOL Leighton Nos~ordy Describes the Students First Flight.

AT FLYING SCHOOL Leighton Neswordy Describes the
 Students First Flight.
 In letter to his mother. Leighton Noswortly. Hampton boy, who is a naval aviator. gives very weird description of just how Uncle Sam is training the young men to fly.
 The first part of their instruction is given at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where there is a ground school in the science of flying The practice in the air follows this course and after forty hours "solo" flying the aviator is qualified to receive a commission as ensign. The letter fol- lows:
 Dear Mother:
 I am progressing slowly but surely on my way towards being an aviator. I have been getting a hop a day for the past week and have had over four hours in the air. I am promoted to the back seat for my next hop which Is preparatory to solo flying
 suppose yon read the story, A Young Mans Game, in the Saturday Post of Nov. 3. I think it was In ideas as to the training of aviators, will give you a complete resume of the governmental (navaD course of instruction and qualification as given here, and the methods used
 In the first place, this is young mans game, the Saturday Evening Post to the contrary notwithstanding. Aeroplanes are driven by feel, and course, 1t helps tremendously and is essential that one have a knowledge of what to do and why. but the feel is the thing
 To start in with the student gets his pay hop. He flies, probably for the first time in his life. The instruc- tor takes him. up and flies around the bay, making an altitude of $500 feet or thereabouts, turns, twists. spirals, slfdes to the water and makes land ings, does nearly everything, in fact, but loops, tailspins and nose dives. It is usually a burnpy day and the stu dent finds out what bumbs feel like.
 Then, when he is put under in structfon, the student goes up for his first instruction hop. He sets in the front seat fthe rear seat is the driv- ing seat of the plane, containing in it's dash all the instruments. There are no instruments in front.
 The group of controls used in the Curtis N9. the training plane are known as the "Dep'' control This consists of a rudder bar, worked by the feet in very much the same fash ion as the steering bar of a flexible flyer, except that when you push on the right side of the bar ("giving her right rudder") it moves the rudder to the right, hence turns the aeroplane to the right.
 Now the Curtiss Ns is a tractor plane with g. right handed propeIlor That is, the propeller is set in front of the machine, and turns to the right or clockwise. as viewed from the pill ct's seat The propeller creates a high wing and drags the machine after it, hence the name tractor" The twist of the propeller through the air (ca1l- ed 'torque") tends to turn the ma chine to the left, hence it is necessary to always hold the rudder over to the course. The course is held by sight ing ahead on some distant landmark OH the horizon. To tell whether the wings are level glance out to the side. struts at the same height on either side. This height is about two thirds of the way up at ordinary attitudes up to about 5000 or 1000 feet.
 After getting all this instruction from the instructor the aforesaid in dividual, MT. Enos in my case. directs the unfortunate student to keep all his hands and feet on the controls and follow their action. The rest of the controls are the oiler on control which ing wheel When this is turned to the right. the aeroplane tilts to the right and the same on the left. The upward and downward motion of the
  lowering the elevation or "fippers. The dippcrs are raised by pulling the wheel, which is set on a hinged frame work. toward you, and lowered by pushing the wheel forward
 The first instruction hep occupies about a half hour, circling the bay | twice. On the second hop, the stu dent is given control of the machine, or left turns as signalled by the in- structor. He keeps his hands on the controls and follows your movements correcting them when you let one wing get low or when you bank too l much or too little on a turn at bunpy places he takes control of the ma chine himself.
 i On the third, hop you begin to make ! landings. He signals lover the hemp and down you go. watching the water about six feet above water, then sink | ing slowly to the water as you have | flying speed. If you f1atten too high the machine will stall and flop into | too near the water. you don't lose l flying speed and "porpoise." bump on- to the water and bounce off again, or you dig her nose into the bay and have to climb up into the tail and take you back. So landing is bit o1 a ticklish proposition The instructor does most of the work in the first few { landings but let's you have the con troIs more and more as he sees that you get the feel of the thing. After the third or fourth flight you have | control of the machine practically the whole time with the instructor cor recting little here and there.
 | When the isistructor 1hinks you have got the 'feep of flying suff1- ciently. he puts you in the back seat while he is in front ready to correc, any errors. After from two or three | to eight back seat hops you are turn ed over for solo work. Before the solo however. you take some other instruc- i tor up for '.joy ride" The other in structor practically always passes you as fit for solo, the joy ride befns
 merely to see just what you can dc with the machine alone, for the in- | structor goes up purely as a. passen- ger and a safeguard against acciden, i Then comes the solo flight, the first time the man takes a machine UT alone. He is followed by the speed I boat to provide help in case of acci- dent. There never yet has been ar accident on a solo. The man is toe