The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-15

A1nerlcan AViatlOn center, lSSOuouH, France.-(c -(correspondence of the Assocl- 1 ated Press. )-This American flying camp | is the largest in France and is said to be greater than any other in the world
 flying field of 36 square miles, the area of an American county. with nine separate flying fields on which American aviators advance to the stage of flight combatants, and airplanes-Liberties
 Nieuports, Capronis and all the others, with officers, instructors and newly equipped aviators swelling our squad .ons each month, these were some of the
 main features of this vast aviation ground.
 As the Associated Press correspondent, entered one of the fields a big gray ma
 chine rose from nearby field with
 loud droning noise.
 'VThere goes d Liberty airplane,' said
 one of the officers. It was one of the
 fast t-increasing number now coming and
 every flight was watched with keenest
 interest and growing enthusiasm by those
 who will put it to the supreme test on the fighting front. Only one opinion was heard among those men, that 1t was the biggest and fastest machine of them all. It was doing wonders in quick as- cent, and besides straight-away flight 1t had been put through all the intricacies of acrobatic flight and had been pro- nounced equal to the whole range. AIRMEN LINED UP Groups of aviators were lined up as we arrived, preparatory to taking the air. 1 They were 1.-the, stocky, young men, like |, two football eevens about to take the I field. The flying grounds stretched oft 1 for miles--nine fields of four square miles | each-aI aii-cnt stdp .elu, oit which the machines could light without 1 shock Above them circled countless planes, singly and in squadrons, drawn out like wild geese, looping and diving | and in all the evolutions of flight, with groups of acrobatic planes over to the f right making headlong spirals. wing i slips and reversements.
 I In the foreground rose city of bar racks, one -torys pine shacks. 100 feet | long, not very highly ornamental but 1 very practical. Fully 1000 of these bar 1 racks had risen on this, level plain to house the army of flying men on the way ! to the fighting line.
 l We went from field to field to note each stage in the development of con- 1 bat avators. Generally speaking, it was 1 explained, there are three distinct 1 branches of this aviation for warfare ! Chase and combat work in which most of the fighting occurs, bombardment or {, enemy forces, camps and towns ana scouting of reconna ssance work for pur- poses of observation of enemy activities. 1 It is for combatsand bombardment that the training is done here, and of those 1 going forward monthly about four fifths are combatant and one-ffth lombard ment pilots.
 GRASSHOPPERS FOR TRAINING These are the 'grasshoppers, said i the captain as we came to field NO. l, where the-initial ground work and theory of flight begins. The grasshoppers were | diminutive machines with just enough horse power to jump over the ground,
 and occasionally rise 10 feet. The men 1 call them taxis and roulcrs. They were l skipping about sinsly and in squads. | Two were having race across the plain, and one taking dive buried it's nose ! in the, ground This was the circus part l of flying, at the start, but there was plenty of very practical work besides, with motor instruction. gunnery. trap | shooting, rifle range and machine gun firing Small dummy enemX airplanes dotted the field as targets, and the bounding sgrasshoppers took their shots I and were rated by the watching instruc- 1 tors
 On the second field the aviators had l left their grasshoppers and were in q double control machine accompanied by l an instructor. They were getting the 1 "feel'' of the machine in actual flight. and if the rudder>>was not manipulated
 deftly the instructor was there to make | the correction And it was necessary l here to learn how to come down as well ! as to go up, and to come down at def- l mite point. Small numbered flags marked the landing point of each machine, and the descent must be made close up to {, this flag.
 The captain of Field No. was about to step into the Flying Dragon ono of the most curious machines of the fleet, for besides being very fleet 15- meter car 1t was famous for its dragon body, with flaming scales and ten
 ltacles and great red eyes Here on this field the aviators entered single-con- trol machines, without an instructor
 and for the first time took their owr risks.
 On Field it began to develop whether the aviator could qualify as 2 combat airman, or for bombardment ol | scout observation. He was now in z fast machine with a wing surface o | l1S meters and was beginning to mak' dips and high air maneuvering Ht i was being accustomed to all types O. machines. There was fleet of ont
 
 lthe plain Their chief novelty was il having ball-bearings on all tbeir mech Ilanism, giving a hair-trigger respons l to the slightest touch.
 If you sneeze, you loop the loop, was the way the officer explained tn ldelicacy of this mechanism.
 Proress is rapid now that it is evi ldent what flyer can do. He enter very fast macbine at No. 5, with i5 meter wings capable of making 12 miles an hour. Some of the men drol out of the training at this point, as has become evident that they lack tn deftness or get faint at the height o ! lt the heat of the motor. The rest go o to Field No. 6. where they begin pur suit work and some of the early stage | | of acrobatic nose dives and slips There is nothing freakish abou these acrobatics." said the officer, "fo they are one of the most essentia