Evening star., 1918-07-22
ITALIAN PILOTS SAID
7 TO Be CRACK MEN
Have Sixth Sense, Detect De.
fective Motor 1000
Feet Up.
U. S. COMMANDERS VIEWS
Of n. A,.ee....a .r....

correspondsnes Of ths Associated Frees.
AMERICAN sEAPLANE TRAINING
CAMP. Italy. juno 2s.-Amerioan ads
miration for italian eficiency and
hospitality IN one Of the sentimental
facts which has developed here since
the establishment Of this camp on
the edge Of an inland lake by Joint
agreement OF the navy departments
of the two nations.
I'VE can't say enough nice things
about our italian friends from any
point of view," explained the Amsri-
can commander Of the students. Their
efficiency is only eaualed by their
capacity for friendship. Their hos
pitality IL unbounded. They don't
seem to be able to do enough for u.s."
This is certainly no place for boob
hiers." declared one of the young en-
signs who. having obtained his brsvst
at Pensacola, Fla, has come down
here with group OF others to learn
the Italian water machines THE
Italian Instructor pilots are all crack
men and the Italian machinists are
the most competent crowd have met.
They have the sixth sense, all right.
They can detect a defective motor
when the machine is two thousand
feet high and flying at eighty miles
an hour. When a man learns to fly
here he can fly anywhere in any ma
chine
One of Many Dozens Of Camps.
the many dozens that have been es-
tablished all over Italy in connection
with Italy's ambition to conquer in
the air. When Senator Pho Foa COM
planned in the Italian senate that
there were SO many aviation camps In
cultivation was being unduly occu-
pied he was not very far wide OF the
mark.
For the past two years italian ON
GERS have been insisting that victory
would come only through the air, and
these camps are the result Of the
effort in that direction. According to
Commissioner General Of Aeronautics
Chiesa. Italy today has 10000 men in
various branches of machine manu-
| facture.
That American aviators are ut last
looming into Italy first for training
and later for fighting is q subject of
satisfaction to all Italians and par
,ticularly to the Italian Aviation Corps.
Proud to Train Americans.
As a mark of Italy's pride at having
Americans to train, one of the navy's
most distinguished air machine on
GERS was instructed to build the camp.
He Is technically in charge Of the
camp, with an American commando.
to control the training Of the Amer
lean students.
The work of turning out men for
active service either as observers or
pilots has gone on rapidly. The big
problem Is to keep the men flying,
to give them the practice necessary to
make an ail-round man. Thirty hours
In the air is generally required for
each man. This seems like a small
amount of time until 1t 10 realized
that this means At least 120 flights
(of fifteen minutes each and that II 10
not always easy to give each man rs
much as one flight of fifteen minutes
a day. Flying Is like farming. It u
regulated by the weather.
Seaplane dyinE II quite q different
art from that Of so-called landplane
flying. In both the landing II dim
cult. but In seaplane flying the land
ing cannot be made without danger II
fhere Is mist hanging over the water
or II the waters surface Is mirror
like, since in either case the flier can
not judge distances and in nosing pre-
1iminary to landing he may hit the
water too soon, drown himself and
wreck a valuable machine. Further,
every condition varies according to
the type Of machine being used.