The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1918-08-02

similar to shooting a rife; First. you
set your sights and wind gauge, then
You hold the rifle properly and finally
you pun the trigger at the proper mo-
ment. Then, il your ammunition is
standard you hit the target. II is the
same with bombing. If you set your
s&hts correctly. fly your plane cor
rectly over the objective, and drop the
bomb at the proper time, you will hit
the target. Then. If the ammunition
manufacturers gave you good bombs,
the objective viii be destroyed.
The elemental training IS given the
bomber and the bombing pilo: alike at
the preliminary or ground school. It
includes theory and practice in every
thing except work in the air. This in
struetion is intended 10 make the fu-
ture officers intelligent and efficient
in military duties and flying practice.
II consists OF hard grind for about
three months, but the men learn dis
~cipline and drill. and become familiar
with thsi 'eastoms OF the service by
the time they graduate Their speci-
al technical training includes the the
-ory OF fight aeronantic engines and
Instruments aud airplanes Some Of
them could build workable machines
by the time they are through.
II is after this preliminary work
that the men are Sc ected for the
special branches Of the air service
A certain number who stand well in
their class is permitted to volunteer
as hombers.
The hombers first receive a week OF
goQeentrated theory on bomb explo
Mvhs,. exploding and sighting devices
Ind all the theory pertaining to lay
ing an egg on the Hun" as this new
form Of fighting is termed. II is a
this stage Of the game that the bomb
4ers and bombing pilots meet but il il
an earlier class Of pilots with whom
the bombers are paired The pilot
are reserve military ayiators and cal
f. do all the stunts" Nv cross countr
OF by compass and maps They ar
, a so trained in formation or squadron
5 ayius.
Il SIN fhis period. known as the prepal
; dtory bombing stage. the b0mbin
+ crews learn to fly a proper cours
{ over camera obscuras and Batchelo
. mirrors. These Instruments, locate
r. in houses on the ground are open {
% the sky. so that the course of tn
i planes flying over them can be trace
1 on charts The charts show up eve
I. the smallest errors in the movement
of The crew
40 Whemthe embryo bombers CON
! down eNperi instructors correct the
+ errOrs 81 owing them how to impr0N
It their work
B. When all their faults have been q
q rec'ed and the crews have been shit
r. ed aroprgl Hnti the most efficient co
4 bnations have been secured the me
pass on to the housekeeping stag
y They are started flying at low altitu
. es. With cpnditons made as easy
n ncssible. hen they are sent up to b
!. tween 5000 and 1000 Feet where tn
continue o practice until they can !
he target The target is a circle
feet IN radius painted on the groui
and would not be very hard to
I. with rife from that distance. pl
yided steady platform was ava
abe. BIZ. these men. nearly a mile
vs. the air. are under way all the til
s and the plane is far from stead
They pass over their target at spe
Of more than n mile 4 minute VIII
- they Shoot
y Foreigners claim that America
% are prone TO exaggerate. but in Il
case the proof is available at {
~ fields NIe ont of ten bombi
~ crews can score seven hits out of
~ shots at this stage.
~ The next neriod Of training tai
pr he men higher in the air They
81. ceud to between 5000 and $4,000 fe
81 Here, while in training, they do
!" have TO worry at all They VOL
but little more in action; for in
OF higher levels Of these ranges. :
er 10000 TO 12OOO feet the Boo
'ur doesn't average better than one hit
on every $4,000 anticraft shots. So :
us hombers will be comparatively s
re cnoueht at these heights.
oP Besides their training in bomb
lS' these aviators and observers have
"a, tAoroneh training in aerial gum
va with fixed and flexible machine gu
re- which shoot accurately at 100 va
ar and at 600 shots per minute.