Evening star., 1923-05-13
ASSIGNING PHOTOGRAPHIC PROBLEMS TO THE YOUNG BRDMEN

colder the air becomes. and If he is
not warmly clad he will be numbed
and unable to handle his plane.
Another division of the studies con-
sists of what is known as ground
gunnery. This is practical ground
range firing with aerial machine
guns and simulated firing with cam
era guns The latter take pictures
Of the objects shot" and the student.
when the films are developed. can see
if he has scored a hit. The former
practice is largely to give the cadet
the feel of the gun as it discharges
its bullets and also to acquaint him
with actual firing conditions and how
to prevent. if possible. jams. by which
is meant the stopping of his gun from
discharging it's leaden missiles with
| the desired rapidity. He must then
take up the subject of bombs. pyro-
technics and releases, for there must
be general study of explosives.
fuses and pyrotechnics and their care
and storage. He must know how
bombs are constructed and how the
bomb release mechanisms are oper-
ated.
The next forty-five hours must be
spent in the theory of photography,
for during the last war picture TAX
ing, as some called it. played most
important part. II was not an uncom-
mon thing for some of our men to fly
over the cnemys lines and within an
hour have an accurate map of the
terrain held by the enemy. Sometimes
numbers of these photographs were
taken and then made into one map,
which was called a mosaic. 1t was
remarkable how clearly certain OBJ
jects could be picked out of the print
made from the negatives
The cadet studies the general con-
struction and operation Of aerial cam
eras with particular application to
their use from the air.
| DY this time the young man has be-
II bun to wonder when he will take
his first air trip or hop" as the men
designate it. He is tired of waiting
some of the older students climbing
into their ships and sailing merrily
away and while he is well aware
| that he has learned a whole lot more
about flying than he ever imagined
there was to it, yet he is anxious for
the day to arrive when he will be or
dered to put his foot in the stirrup
and get into the machine for he feels
that when he has once taken his seat
the rest of the flying game will come
| easy. His troubles, however. have
but started. for before his first flight
ie ho x,-il1
place of a bird is no easy job.
Thumpty, thump. goes the cadets
heart for at last he is going into the
air. He is going to take a hop, and
| from this day on he will no longer be
| ground man. He has come into his
own. Forgotten are the long lessons,
the tiresome days OF learning this and
that. and at the nod of the instruc-
| tor he takes his place at the side of
| the ship. He is shown how to strap
| on his belt, and this is most neces-
sary, for an airplane is not always on
an even keel. He is shown how to
take his seat. how TO settle himself
, and all the rest of the things necessary
to know. The mechanics swing the
propeller or prop" as they call it,
a roar greets his ears, there seems to
| be great gust of wind rushing past
his ears. the instructor makes motions.
| the holding blocks are pulled away,
and down the field they go. a million
miles a minute, it seems to the cadet.
| Speed is gathered and then gently
| the plane leaves the ground. His
| thoughts are of whether or not he
| was foolish to come into the flying
game, but he quickly decides that
| having gone this far he will go the
| rest of the way. The earth Is now
getting dim, the plane has zoomed
| and they have reached goodly alti-
! tude. The pilot signals that he is
going to make a turn and the cadet
| thinks that the blamed thing is going
/ to slip and crash to the earth, but
really the expert is but making
gentle bank. There is nothing OF the
dangerous about the performance. He
straightens out and on they go.
Then comes a spiral, a side slip, and
all of the other things that he has
been expecting. Again a signal and
| they dart up in the air. For an in
slant the pupil thinks the world has
turned upside down. but 1t Is really
the ship in the first stages of that