New-York tribune., 1918-05-26
Perfect Sight, Coo5 Hands
and Confidence, First
Requisites
Are Born, Not Made
Fighting Airmen Guided by
Instinct-Revel In Des-
perate Chances

LONDON. April 24-(Correspondencs
OF The Associated Press How does
the British Air Service pick out from
Its thousands of airmen, the particular
men who are destined to become the :
star Fighters" at the front? This
question was put to an official of the
Air Ministry here by The Associated I
Press correspondent in an interview.
Here is the answer:
The pilot who is destined to fly the
single ater machines of the air force
is discovered almost as soon as he has
been baptized in the air.
ITO begin with he must have passed
certain physical tests with hundred
per cent result. Many wise men, doc
tors and organizers, sit in conciave
over these tests. They define certain
factors that go to make up a perfect
airman-perfect sight, age "a or it's
equivalent in physical makeup, a total
abstainer, good hands, quick brain,
keenness, confidence 1t is odd how
much emphasis, is placed on mans
hands by the examiners. who argue
that there is as much difference be-
tween flying scout and an ordinary
machine as there is between riding q
thoroughbred and a cart-horse.
Revei in New Stunts.
"Some men show their destiny from
the first moment of training. Men
like Ball and Bishop promise well
right from the start; they revel in
finding new stunts and tricks of their
own, long before their heavier-handed
brethren begin to attempt the things
that are safe on all modern machines.
"Other men begin slowly, and find
themselves through sheer pluck and
hard work. Having gone over the
Channel to pilot a placid artillery OBJ
-servation or Photographic machine
they give a good account of themselves
in the first scrap they get mixed up in,
seem to enjoy them. An observer in
his ofifficiffial report casually remarks
that Pilot So-and-so Is always want
ing to tackle the Huns instead of TAX
ing photographs or ranging guns. and
straigh tway his commanding officer
sends the trouble-huliter off to head
quarters with a recommendation
which lands him in a special post
graduate school or serial gunnery for
training in what the airmen call fire
eating
Here he meets the men-aces they
call the min France-who have been
fighting in single-seaters, and who are
resting or have been sent back for use
as instructors. The public knows lit.
tie about these postgraduate schools
for young eagles; the work is intensive
ana lHOIouSH, tHe SClSHCc VI dlA-
fighting is taught by stages up to a
degree of perfection almost unbe-
/ lievable.
Must Love the Game.
"To the airmen who fights, such
things as tactics and detection, ranges
and sights, must come by instinct.
The good fighting men, it is generally
believed, is born, not made. He must
have the quick brain that will direct
the hands with the Judgment of ex-r
perience. He must have keenness, and
also luck. He must love the game,
although it is not necessary that he
should have been sportsman, or a
yachtsman or racing motorst in his
pre-war days.
at is the general opinion among
pilots that a scout fighter who has
completed month on the western
front, has passed through his probation
and will be good for long time I'M
less bad luck of the laws of chance
bring him down"