The Washington times., 1917-09-28
FLYERS Of FRANCE
TRAIN IN HARDEST
OF WARS SCHOOLS
BY HEYwOOD BROUN.
CCopyrIEht. 1871

THE AMERICAN ENPEDTTIONARY
ARMY, Sept. 2S.-"Remember you are
a member of the most elite branch OF
the French army" says a notice to
young aviators posted in one of the
principal French flying schools. To
emphasize the distinctive quality of
the aviation service each flyer receives
a bonus of a franc a day in addition
to his regular army pay OF six sous.
However, the aviator is never in
service long before he realizes that
his is the banner branch of the game.
He battles with the Boche, but not
with the mud. He fires at a man and
not a trench, and when the last fight
comes armies see him fall.
First Learns 10 Hop.
And yet the aviator begins as the
most ridiculous rookie of them all.
His grounding days try his dignity,
for the aviator must hop before he
can ny. Even "hop" is too dignifed
term.
In the French schools the new
pupil begins on a tiny Bleriot called
a penguin. This is a clipped wing
contriyance. 1t scurries over the
ground at twenty or perhaps thirty
miles, an hour and only an expert
can keep il in a straight course. If
the penguin ever succeeds in getting
out OF control il whiTls around in q
short circle and collapses on its side.
When the novice has learned to!
crawl straight he is allowed to run a
machine which leaps in the air every
little while, only to flop again to-
earth. Then he is ready to fly a
Bleriot, though, Of course, his first
trips are made as a passenger. The
Blerfot is a monoplane. and 1t is al
most never used at the front now.
Also it is the most ticklish contriv-
ance Of them all. The Bleriot seems
to be. used for instruction. on the
same principle that a batter swings
three bats before he steps to the
plate. 1t makes what follows seem
easy.
Coming Down Hardest Trick.
Very little time is spent in flying.
Staying up in the air is no great trick.
Coming down creates most the trouble,
so students are drilled persistently in
. landing. 1t Is necessary to turn the
nose of a Bleriot sharply before COM
ing down. and a very slight miscalcu-
lation will wreck a machine. Accord
ingly many machines are wrecked and
some fiiers are killed. Probably a big
flying school would average about
three deaths a month.
j There are few half measures in avia-
tion. The lier is killed or he is only
shaken up. II he is simply Jared the
French believe in shaking the effects
of the fall out of him at once. The
wrecked machine is hauled away and
the damaged aviGtor is helped into an
other plane and told to- try 1t again.
They had me started again before
my nose stopped bleeding" said the
victim of one accident. II suppose IL
might have been worse il IA gone to
bed and thought about the smash-up
all night, but it was no fun as it was.
Usually you have a sense of absolute
security up in the air. It's only when
you begin to come down that you get
nervous. This time couldn't keep my
eyes off the ground. AS soon as l was
1000 feet up / had a sort of feeling
that the whole thing was irrational !
kept saying over and over to myself:
You don't belong up here. There's
the ground down there-that's where
you belong. Coming down was fierce.
but 1 made the best landing 1 ever
made in my life, and I've never had
that scared feeling since"
After the aviator has learned to
land with a reasonable degree of skill
he practices some of the simpler ma
neuVers of the air. such as sharp
turns. and at the end of about four
months after his entry into the school
he flies ninety miles for his diploma.
Cloud Work Can't Be Taught.
He is done with the Bleriot the
and begins work at a speciality school
with a Nieuport, which is the battle
type OF plane. He is supposed to
pick up this rapidly, and only a few
weeks are allowed in which to learn
the serpentine, the spiral, the hairpln.
the half loop. and other lodges OF the
air upon which his life may depend
when he comes to fight the Boche.
Upon the completion OF this course
the aviator goes to the front and
watches a little while before he goes
into battle work. The tricks of often
sive warfare in the clouds he must
nfcl- larUely bfn,seIf Thasa