New-York tribune., 1918-03-31

hrt less is known OF the problems that
members of the medical corps encounter
:, connection with aviators III service.
From discussion of the British air
force medical service in The London
Aeroplane" it appears that, among other
.,;nes aviators develop illnesses which
make them, to the average medical men,
sort of wild man, to be dismissed from
the service as incompetent The point
of the discussion, parts Of which follow,
;r that the air force medical service needs
mon trained to an understanding CT the
oviator's psychology as we'll as in the or
dinary methods of medicine and surgery
For the airman is a lonely man He has
M comrades at his side to influence him
through mob psychology" Hence pc
c,liar things sometimes occur:
"Many q good man has been turned out
of the services because he was judged as
being permanently unfit to fly, whereas in
fact he was merely suffering from some
Temporary or minor ailment which could
have been cured by rest. proper treatment,
or perhaps 9 minor operation.
"Sone considerable time ago case oc-
cured Of flying officer who was TUNED out
of a fighting squadron because he confessed
that he could not fly in the acrobatic man
ner required in a successful chaser pilot.
So far as one knows he was eventually
turned over to the infantry despite the fact
that he had passed his full course Of train
nr and had done q considerable amount of
active service flying without ever crashing
machine-a fact which, one would imagine,
would increase his value as a pilot though
it certainly decreased the amount which his
training had cost the country.
"1n this particular case It was not loss of
nerve nor lack of ability to fly; it was the
lamentable fact that what is commonly
known as 'stuntng'-id est, looping, SPIN
ming cork-screwing, boot-laclng' eall-sllo-
ing side-slipping, and so forth-simply
made him physically sick He applied to be
turned over to reconnaissance machines, ar
tillerv observation, photography. night
bombing. or anything where he would not
have 10 stunt. He did not want a 'cushy
lob as q ferry pilot or at an acceptance
park He wanted to so on flying on ac'lFe
service. The spirit was willing. and the
aesh-barring the storach-was not weak.
"None the less some one or other put mo
apnlication down to plain, common colo
foot, IF he had admitted to cold feet he
might have been given ferry or acceptance
mark Job by way of a rest But, because
he knew his own symptoms and argued the
noint he was turned down altogether as IN
fit to fy at all Possibly he argued IN an
improper manner, and his keenness to go
on flying may have been set down as IN
subordination. but the fact remains that
he was turned down.
"Now there is precisely case where
medical man who at once physlologlst
and PSYCHOLOGIST might have given the
bo,- uSefll DilOt
for the service No doubt any pilot with
long experience of flying can recall many
cases which if not precisely similar to this
are equally good proofs that a doctor and
not a commanding officer may be the right
man to Judge whether a pilot should De
turned out of the service or not. And even
a Psychologist of the ordinary type IS far
from being a reliable Judge.
"All those who are intimately acquainted
with the flying services Will recall cases
where perfectly priceless pilots have been
turned out not because Of physical disa-
billties, not because they have become in
capable of flying for any reason whatever,
not because they have lost their skill as
Eun-killers, but simply because they
impossible in an ordinary squadron under
an ordinary commanding officer. In some
cases they have been turned out medical
grounds, politely and officially stated
physical disabilities contracted on active
service or some such euphemism. Really
the reason has been that, according to any
ordinary standard to which the common
civilian general practitioner, or the Ram
corps doctor, or the naval farrier Is ac-
customed they are mad.
Every probably they are. In the cases Of
some Of ones greatest personal friends one
knows they are. But one confesses to being
unable to any reason for preventing our
best lunatics from going and killing Huns
in their own particular way.
"There are some such who have been
turned out of the service altogether There
are others who, having been promoted to
minor commands, have let their lunacy--or
perhaps it would be more civil to say their
high sprits-run awav with them, have
been 'unstuck,' or, they call it them-
selves, 'degomme,' and have reverted 20 a
lower rank. Yet, as one Of them remark ed
some time ago. il only all the 'd6gommds'
could be collected into one bunch, under the
right commanding officer, they would form
force, estimated by him at the strength
OF p. F. c. wing, which would kill Huns
faster than any other force Of equal num-
ber in the service, ct any rate till they
themselves were all killed off.
"The formation Of band Of Ishmae,s. a
'Cohort Of the Damned Of this kind may
SrTA' A|N~aSbtE 10 a "tii~CTGcffH fEiIu, DuL
1t is worth considering. There are some
things they do better in France besides
cooking, and this IL ore of them. The
French method IL 20 take the impossible
person, put him and his machine in a corner
ot an aerodrome away from every one else,
let him pick few mechanics for himself
and tell hin! 20 20 and kill or be killed a
bes. pleases him, go long as he leaves
everybody else alone. But il might be bet
ter still to form special fighting 'circuscs'
Of such people, under degommG command
ing officers, and set them In direct corr
petition with the more iaw-abidlng squad
rons. The mere humor Of their position
would probably hold them together, and
make them take special pride in belonging
20 sueh circus
Where the air force medical service