The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1928-05-03
- An Epic of the Air
wv ~ Col. Char les
Lindbergh

An Epic Of the Air

out from the hangar to the line.
Sergeant Winston picked out one
of us, told him to get into the rear
COCKPIT and was off. The rest OF
us walked over to B stage, watch
ing for tarantulaS along the road
on the way.
In 1924, the Curtiss Jenny was
still used by the army for a train
ing plane, although the go H. P.
Curtiss OX-5 engines had been re
placed by $50 III. P. Hispano-Sui-
zas. The more modern types OF
planes for training were still IN
the experimental stage. The Jen-
MES had been designed during the
war and they were becoming OBJ
solete, but it is doubtful whether
better training ship will ever be
built, although undoubtedly the
newest type is much. safer. Jen-
MES were unjerpowered they were
somewhat tricky and they splinter
ed badly when they crashed hard
but when a cadet learned to fly one
of them-well, he was just about
capable of flying anything on
wings with a reasonable degree of
safety.
had been particularly FORUM
ate in my assignment of an instruc-
tor. Sergeant Winston, held the
record for flying time in the army
with about thirty-three hundred
hours. He was am excellent pilot,
and knew how to instruct if he
wanted to. When my turn came
he asked me how much flying time
I had had, and after / told him
about three hundred and twenty
five hours he turned the controls
over to me, with orders to take
the ship around and land it. l had
} some difficulty in flying with my
) right hand. The wartime ships
, which / was accustomed to were
, built to be flown with the left, but
after the Armistice it was decided
to change the throttle over to the
other side, on the theory that the
! right hand was the natural one tt
fly with. After three landings
, however, Sergeant Winston got ou
! of the cockpit and told me to fl!
+ around for thirty minutes and tr.
f to get used to right-hand plotting
: When we were not flying W.
were gathered around the stag
4 house watching the progress of on
: classmates and learning how t
o. turn the propellers over in start
T ing the engine without placing our
! selves in position to be struck i
case it kicked backwards. To
9 pilot, the propeller is the most dar
gerous part of his plane, and is
). constant source of worry to hi1
: when his ship is on the groun
= among people who vie with eac
/, other in seeing how close they ca
" stand to the whirring blade Will
!; the motor is still running. The
;, there is usually a contest to see VIII
% can be first to move it up and dow
: after it stops turning over.
i A cadet is usually given abol
- ten hours of dual instruction b.
u u fore he is allowed to solo. TIL
- instructor first takes him up, an
i after flying around for "a few mil
= utes, allows the student to tax
- hold of the controls to get an al
: proximate idea of the amount an
direction of movement necessal
- for gentle banks and turns. The
y the instructor throws his hands I
- in the air in full view of the ST.
&c dent the signal that he has turf
y ed over entire control of the ship
" The cadet is given the opportunit
ie suddenly to realize that flying
! not a simple operation of pullir
!. the stick back to go up and pus.
20 =, ing it farword to come down, b.
~ that an instructive and synchr
!. nized movement of all controls
~ ~ necessary even to Keep the m
le chine in level flight.