El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-04-14

: a bit OF his face 10 the gale. They
have q helmet with chin and mouth
guard. to protect them Others veal
, the close fitting olive drab shirt and
1 breeches and leather puttees OF earth
duty.
Trimuess. promptness. youthful vigoT
characterizes everyone in sight There
are no drones here. All is life and
virility. Only the picked of physiques
are allowed in the air service and the
atmosphere seems TO make the blood
Jingle. like the zest Of an October foot
ball field.
Some still Paying Their Way.
Most of the students are still paying
their wav-and not q small price either.
After passing his flying test a student
must turn over a $500 tuition fee and
The student must weigh not more
than l9o pounds stripped and must
furnish evidence of having q college
education and be OF good moral charac-
Ter"
The pick Of the land Intellectually
and physically is the raw material Of
the field. out OF such promising nov
ices Uncle Same makes finished bird
men in thre mOnths-and now even
this brief training period may be cut
down.
When the young aviator is competent
10 handle his machine he is introduced
into more complicated work, scouting
and maueuverinS.
For instance. on g recent day mo-
to- car was sent on devious ten
mile journey over little frequented Long
Island roads. Its top was broadly
striped in black and white, but other
wise it could not be told from the
tens OF thousands Of other cars which
are constantly on the move over the
Island
Twenty-four army airplanes went up
to seek the car Twenty-one left here
and three came from the government
school at Governors Island. New York
City
The car with the striped top rep
resented the head Of an enemy con-
voy. The airnen were TO detect the head
of the supposed column while the lat
ter was still far from its objective,
the aviation field. for there must be
time to make the imaginary artillery
attack upon it effective
For the problem the map Of Long
ISLAND near the flying field was d.
vided into - sectors. one being given
found the car whirred back TO the
field in short order and Mineola was
saved"
In another problem three fast L W.
F. tractors We're sent to lar distant
point, which was not disclosed TO the
students. and there sent up "a scouts
Of an enemy bent upon taking photo
graphs OF the Mineola field. The stu
dents were to locate these machines
and drive them back by heading them
off They did this with ease
1t IS probable that the army avis
tors who recently searched the waters
near Moutauk Point reported TO be
lurking there, came from the Mineola
field. but the military censorship pre-
vents this being said for certain
Swift Machines Lacking.
Not all the feats attempted work
out well. because real swift machines
are lacking. The slower machines do
not stand up so well in gale, although
easter TO manage. 1t is
the fastest machines now
at the field are the L W T. tractors
capable Of 95 miles an hour British
and French scouts make 135 and 1SS
miles an hour. The new Moraine-Saul-
aier. according TO Miss Ruth Law. the
flying woman makes $50 miles an
hour. Airplanes much slower are use
less on the western European battle
front
Students start learning 70 ny at Min
cola on the poky J. y. Curtiss bi-
planes, which go at the snail's pace OF I
IS miles an hour.
However It is taken for granted that !
he deficiency in fast machines will I
zoon be remedied- All the art OF air !
plane building the French and British /
AVE learned in nearly three years OF I
warfare will be placed at the disposal I