The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-02-21

at Pensacola we found we had further
three weeks advanced course in ground |
school to pass In fact examinations
popped up in our face all along the line.
The first main course at Pensacola !
is the course in bombing. Preliminary
practice is gained by flights over the |
Bachelor Mirror and the Camera
Obscura. The student does not pilot
the machine but gives directions to the
pilot where to fly. The student signals
by wireless when he would have
dropped bomb and hy ingenious de-
vices the operators on the ground 1000
feet below can tell exactly where the
bombs would have hit. A student has
to make a certain percentage of hits
before he can pass the course and an
accurate record is kept of all his bomb.
ing. In this way, the student begins to
get rough idea of the science of
bombing and has a chance to put into
practice the theories he has studied
during the long weeks of ground school.
The next step is the actual dropping
Of sub-calibre bombs and this grows
more interesting as you can see the
bombs drop the major part of the. dis
tance and can see the puff of smoke
when they hit the water. The bomb
ing is done at 1000 feet altitude as
this is the height at which operations
against the submarines are carried out
The student is given number of
practice flights and then he has to fly
over the fest targets again, and
record is kept of his work. He first
has to pass tests over two stationary
targets. The last test is to bomb a
moving target. Some of the things you
have to take into consideration to do
accurate bombing are: the altitude at
which you are flying, the speed of your
machine, the speed and direction of the
wind and the speed of the moving
target. Good results can only be at.
tanned by solving the triangle of We
lccities. The navy has gotten out a
wonderful new bomb sight which makes
it possible to do bombing which would
surprise YOU The sight is most in
genious. 1t is really compass, meas
ure of wind velocity and direction and
a slide rule all in one. The sight is
kept pointed at the target and little
lights show on the dashboard to tell
the pilot whether to steer to the port
or starboard or whether to hold his
course. When the sight hits a little
rider, you know it is time to release the
bomb. OF course, you release the bomb
before YOU get to the target and this
dropping angle, as it is called. depends
ON the things enumerated above, such
as the altitude, speed of machine, speed
of wind, etc If you want to get a
good mark, it is a good plan not to
Tomb too close TO the launch which is
towing the target.
The gunnery course comes next and
the students migrate TO Camp Sanfiey,
eight miles distant, on Santa Rosa
Island. The trip over is made on the
sub-chaser. One week is spent on the
range and one week on the aerial shoot,
ing. The students have to operate and
clean their own guns and do all the
work. Ten different tests on different
targets and with different kinds of
| shooting have to be passed on the range
To my mind. the last test was the most
interesting The student waited with his
machine gun loaded and ready Sud
denly from behind the sand dunes at an
unexpected place, up would pop little
red balloon which bobbed in the breeze
As soon as you could get aim. you com
menced shooting in bursts of five. That
after every five shots the gun would
stop and you had to start it again Six
teen seconds were allowed in which to
hit the balloon You then changed mag
azines with your best speed. By this
time, another balloon would go up from
different place and You popped away
at this 1t was great sport to watch
them burst.
| The last test was an examination to
see what YOU had gotten out of the
course. If you passed this exam. you
were transferred to the aerial work
/ This was more interesting as it seemed
more like the real thing The first test
is to shoot the camera gun from the
ground at planes flying overhead. Cross
hairs on the negatives show exactly
where the bullets would have hit. Later
on You have to shoot from one plane
at another plane flying by you at differ
ent angles and again the instructors
have indisputable evidence of your
shooting.
Your actual aerial work begins when
you shoot the Lewis machine gun at
targets in the water. You usually shoot
from 1000 feet altitude You are
marked on the way you handle the gun
I'M general, the promptness with which
you clear jams and your care at never
pointing the gun at the pilot or the
| plane, especially the vital controls. 1t
| is q peculiar sensation to he standing
up in the fusilage for the first time
with the blast of the propeller upon
, you and trying to shoot machine gun
accurately. The wind-vane front sight
helps You to allow for the speed Oh
yeur machine. 1t is good fun to press
! the trigger and let ten bullets shoot out
into space, stop, wait second and ther
see the bullets rain into the water fan
below. After your aerial shooting i:
finished, You complete the course at thu
gunnery camp by taking a final exam
on both the range and aerial work.
l You are then transferred back to thu
main station and start the course il
! the flying of the big flying boats
equipped with two Liberty motors. TIL,
model H-16 as it is called, is truly /;
e wonderful machine. To see it in thu