Evening star., 1923-05-13

pected to know. The men in charge Of
training in Washington are Lieut.. II. S.
Kenyon and Harry c. Sgourney. The
latter was honorably discharged from
the Army after the ending of the war,
but still remains with the service be-
cause of his love Of the flying game.
X X
THE summer camps do not aid the
i air service. because the time the
men are in camp is far too short for
them even to get rudimentary idea of
flying. OF late the National Guard has
taken up flying, and many of those who
are on the reserve list are assisting the
National Guard units in forming the
groundwork of what might be an i'm
portant set of units in case of war.
The present size of the Army per-
mits the training of 1870 cadets at
any one time. but under the amended
national defense act the number
could. if there were sufficient money
available, be $500. The number now
provided would not last squadron
one month in time of combat, Vet
every other nation of anywhere near
more men than we are.
Now we have the Young man all
logged out in uniform. He has re-
ported at Brooks Field. San Antonio
Tex. for the primary instruction
course; he has been thumped and
looked over by the surgeons. and
pronounced fit. His lessons begin.
First he is taught the theory of flying.
These lectures are of sufficient scope
10 acQuaint him with the fundamental
principles of aerodynamics and the
genera! operation of the airplane.
The next thing, he is taught the fly
ing rules of the school: regulations
pertaining to flying over cities and
the reporting of forced landings.
The third section is the theory of
radio, and he learns elementary cleo
tricity and magnetism. radio circuits.
propagation and reception Of electro
magnetic waves and the general study
of radio equipment used by the air
service. Then he is put on what is
known as brzzer practice, and when
he ends this portion of his Army
education he must he thoroughly
qualified to send ana receive not less
than twelve words a minute.
The next subject to which he is
Introduced Is meteorology. This
course is the study of meteoroIogy as
1t applies to flying. and includes the
study of winds and weather, and
weather forecasting. Then comes
aerial navigation. and now he must
learn about instruments used in
IT, :,
distance computations. interception
problems, and elementary astronomy
with its application to aerial naviga-
ton. So far, he has spent approxi-
mately go hours of study. and then
comes A period of 100 hours devoted
to machine guns and their accesso-
ries. for the airman must know all,
not part. about his gun or he may
become an easy prey for his antago-
| mist. The cadet studies nomencla-
ture. the tripping. assembling and
malfunctions of aerial machine guns,
the firing control devices, the sights
and gun mounts, and he must be
capable of fixing a gun without a
moments hesitation. for in this part,
as in all other divisions of the air
thing and at once. There is not a
minutes time to stop and try to
remember wha. he was told to do by
the instructor. The thing has to be
Gone and at once, or his friends will
have an opportunity to read his
epitaph. The student must also spend
about twenty hours in the study of
the instruments that have to do with
his ship as the men call the air.
planes, and also with the instruments
that are connected with his engine.
I IRON this point of instruction he
l. goes to the study of airplane mo-
tors and on this course he spends $50
hours. He has to learn the theory of
internal combustion engines and he
has to do practical shop work on ap-
proved service type motors. This in
cludes a general overhauling of mo-
tors. trouble shooting and the install
lation Of the motor in the airplane
He must know this branch Of the
work. for unless he is thoroughly ia
miliar with his motor he may take
part in one flight and that may be his
last. There are no service stations
in the air from which he can summon