The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-09-19

left their grasshoppers and were in
double-control machine accompanied
by an instructor. They were getting
the feel of the machine in actual
flight, and il the rudder was not ma
n1pulated deity the instructor was
there to make the correction. And it
was necessary here to learn how to
come down as well as to go up and to
come down at definite point. Small
numbered flags marked the landing
point Of each machine, and the de-
scent must be made close up to this
flag.
The captain of field No 3was about
to step into the Flying Dragon" one
OF the most curious machines of the
fleet, for besides being a very fleet
15-meter car, it was famous for its
dragon body, with flaming scales and
tentacles and great red eyes. Here on
this field the aviators entered single
control machines, without an instruc-
tor and for the first time took their
own risks.
On. Field 4 it began to develop
whether the aviator could qualify as
combat airman, or for bombardment
or scout observation. He was now in
fast machine with a wing-surface of
Is meters and was beginning to make
dips and high air maneuvering. He
was being accustomed to all types of
machines. There was fleet of one
of these strange types drawn across
the plain. Their chief novelty was in
having ball-bearings on all their me-
chanism giving a hair-trigger response
to the slightest touch.
If you sneeze, you loop the loop"
was the way the officer explained the
delicacy of this mechanism.
Roosevelt in Charge.
Progress is rapid now that it is evil
dent what flyer can do. He enters
very fast machine at No. 5, with Is
meter wings capable of making 100
miles an hour. ONE of the men drop
out of the training at this point as it
has become evident that they lack the
deftness or get faint at the height or
the heat of the motor. The rest go on
to Field No. where they begin pur-
suit work. and some of the early stages
of acrobatic nose dives and slips.
| There is nothing freakish about
these acrobatics," said the officer "for
they are one of the most essential
parts of combat aviation To be a
chase and pursuit pilot one must be
able to out-maneuver the enemy avia-
tor; to make quick turns under fire
and get above your adversary or on
1 his TAIL One or the other will be out
manoeuvered, and the fastest man
wins the game. The enemy is very
| skillful at acrobatic, and he must be
| beaten at his own game
Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt was
| in command of Field No. while he
was here and the car of the late offic-
er stood in the hangar with a group of
flyers about it paying tribute to the
splendid qualities and daring of their
late leader. His good humor was re-
called by the name he had given his
| car DOC Yak" and the doctor with
his flowing whiskers was painted in
| flaming colors on the side of the car.
This is the field on which formation
Tying is begun, in squadrons up to
eighteen machines, but usually with
five. The squadron f1ys in V-shape,
with the commander at the apex of
| the V, carrying streamer which sig
| nails the commands. A fleet of fifteen
machines was starting as we passed,
| and another had just come after two
hours in the air, ending with a figure
eight, a difficult evolution executed
by crossing the controls" so that the
rudder serves as elevator and the ele-
vator serves as rudder. At night this
field is lighted by. powerful search
| lights. and night flying goes on from
10 o'clock until daylight.
Men Anxious to Fight.
On the combat and acrobatic fields
Nos. s and 9, scores of machine guns
| were in the air going through their
| fighting evolutions or dipping and loop.
ing. The combat airplanes carried
| camera guns, a novel device combin-
| ing dummy machine gun, and pho
| tographic camera. 1t looks like gun,
but as the trigger is pulled, the cam
era takes a picture of the target,
showing just what would have been
hit if a shot instead of a lens had
blazed ahead.
1t was over the acrobatic field that