The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-09-17

j Ilc Iutu YAH lutIl ldAtSs luty NGIt
skipping about sngly and in squads.
Two were having race across the |
plain, and one taking a dive buried its |
nose in the ground. This was the cir |
Gus part of flying, at the start, but |
there was plenty of very practical work |
beside with motor instruction gunnery |,
trap shooting, rifle range and machine |
gun firing. Small dummy enemy air
planes dotted the field as targets, and !
the bounding grasshoppers took their
shots and were rated by the watching
instructors.
On the second field the aviators had
left their grasshoppers and were in "a
double-control machine accompanied by
an instructor. They were getting the
9 feel of the machine in actual flight,
and If the rudder was not manipulated
deftlv the instructor was there to make
the correction. And it was necessary
here to learn how to come down as
well as to 90 up, and to come down at
q definite point. Small numbered flags
marked the landing point of each ma
chine, and the descent must be made
close up to this flag.
The Captain of Field No. was about
to step into the F'Flying Dragon,' one
of the most curious machines of the
fleet, for besides being a very fleet Is
meter ear it was famous for its dragon
body, with flaming scales ard tentacles
and great red eyes. Here on this field
the aviators entered single-control ma
chimes, without an instructor, and for
| the first time took their own risks.
On Field 4 it began to develop
whether the aviator could qualify as a
combat airman, or for bombardment or
scout observation. He was now in
fast machine with d wing surface of
eighteen feet for high air manoeuvring.
He was being accustomed to all types
of machines. There was a fleet of one
of these strange types drawn across
the plain. Their chief novelty was in
having ball bearings on all their mech
anism, giving a hair-triggcr response
to the ,lightest touch
IF you sneaze you loop the loop
was the way the officer explained the
delicacy of this mechanism.
Progress is rapid now that it is evil
dent what a flyer can do He enters
a very fast machine at No 8 with 10
meter wings capable of making 100
miles an hour. Some 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 90 on
to Field No. 6, where they begin pur
suit WORK and some of the early stages
Of aerohatic 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 chase and
pursuit pilot one Ihust be able to out
manoeuvre the eneIhy aviator; to II axe
quick turns under fire and get above
your adversary or on his tail. One or
the other will he out -manoeuvred. and
the enemy is very skillful at acrobatics
and he must be beaten at his own
game"
Lieut.. Quentin Roosevelt was in com
mand of Field No. while he was here,
and his machine stood in the hangar
, with group of fliers about it, raying
tribute to the splendid qualities and
daring of their late leader. HIS good
! humor was recalled by the name he had
given his ear, doc Yak and the
doctor with his flowing whiskers was
t 'ainted in flaming colors on the side OF
' the ear
$ This is the field on which formation
e dying is begun, in squadrons up tC
0 Eighteen machines, but usually will
i've The squadron flies in V-shape
e with the commander at the apex of tn,
", carrying a streamer which signals
{ he commands. A fleet of fifteen ma
t hines was starting as we passed. ant
G mother had just come after two hour
h IN the air, ending with figure eight
/ = difficult evolution executed by "cross
$ ne the controls so that the rudde
k serves as elevator and the elevate
Y 'ervcs as rudder. Night flying goes OF
/ from 10 o'clock until daylight.
:, On the combat and acrobatic fields
y Nos. and ., scores of machines wer
d N the air going through their ightin,
volutions or dipping and looping. TIL
d combat airplanes carried camera guns
|, novel device combining a dummy ma
? hine gun and Photographic camera
IS looks like a gun, but as the trigge
Il $ pulled the camera takes a picture o
: he target, showing just what woul
ave been hit if shot instead of
ems had blazed ahead
~ was over the acfODatlc held tina
he real wonders were going on, in tn
L critical virage, spirals and wing slip.
spectacular as these seemed to be, eac
'ad its use in the fighting game. Tn
'vrille' is that dizzy head first tun
;. de, and the chief thing is not to do
/, )ut to undo it and come out of it.
5: las its uses, too, in deceiving an en-,
I'd my into the belief that the aviator Ina
been hit and is tumbling, then as til
nemy is off guard, attacking him su,
y lenly as the aviator comes out of h
Nv headlong dive. One of the fiers mao
H. tour vrilles as we watched
ut 1t is dangerous only when near IL
ground, said the escort. ''High
the air there is comparatively no da
Tor ger, for there is plenty of time to s.
=, "a your levers so that you re sure to con
~. out of the vrille. +"
ed Others were doing the spiral anoth
Nv. form of head first dive, except that Il