Evening star., 1940-10-25
Sweeny Takes Pride
In Eagle Squadron,
Training for England
Veteran Of Many Wan
Hears Constunt Praise
Of His U. S. Flyers
BY GAULT Mcgowan,


SQUADRON, SOMEWHERE IN
ENGLAND (N.ANA.). - Charlie
Sweeny-Sweeny of the Legion, but
they call him group captain now
has an increasingly confident
twinkle in his steely blue eyes that
match the color of his new uniform,
the habit Of the r. A. F. He had
just shot an appraising eye over the
American pilots who are going to
carry over the traditions of the
Escadrille Lafayette on English soil
and he feels they are all right.
AL right" is high praise from
Sweeny. You would not expect a
soldier who has seen war in Ven-
ezuela, Mexico, Morocco, Flanders
and other fields to be overenthu-
Slastlc. He leaves that to the Brit
lsh pilots here, whose job it Is to
initiate his boys into the tricks of
the ships they've got to fly. And
whenever they see Sweeny, they
hand him so many bouquets that
he has feeling they may be trying
to get his squadron away from him
before he gets it together.
Or rather, before Squadron Leader
w. E. G. Taylor gets it together.
Because, when it's finished. it will
be the Kansas kids squadron.
Sweeny, being group captain, will
have the supervision of the whole
group of squadrons that he hopes
will arise out of this one.
Training May Serve @. S.
| tn fIn Ir 1F
Fess Kennerly, the senior Of this
1910 class:
There are lot Of pilots out in
California where I come from who
ought to be along here with us.
hope lots OF them will Join us now
that we've got started and share
with us the advantages OF the in
valuable military training we have
been receiving. If the United States
ever gets into this war, we in the
Eagle Squadron expect to be 10
jumps ahead Of pilots that wait
for the draft"
And Group Capt. Sweeny thinks
that they will come along, too.
Tell any one who wants to join
10 write TO me at the Mount Royal
Hotel. Montreal" he says. land I've
an agent there who will make it
easy for them, providing they have
done $50 hours flying. There is
no time to teach pilots to fly over
here. We give them a course in
the military side of aviation-that's
all. Then we expect them to be
ready for the fighting line"
There is West Point atmosphere
about the training school where I
watched the eaglets at work today.
L sat with them in a lecture hall
where three OF them who were short
on knowledge of British engines
were having workout on the mil
lion gadgets that seem TO connect
with the modern instrument panel
facing the pilots seat.
Then I was shown cockpit drill.
When you walk up the gangplank
to a passenger ship. you lust walk
IN and sit down. When you get
IN military aircraft, you sit on
parachute, strap yourself in and
connect yourself up with telephones,
guns and things
Practice Bailing Out.
And you need a lot Of instruction
on how to get out-maybe in a
hurry. You have to rehearse that
until you can bail out without hesi-
tation. Only if you know exactly
what to do and when to do it can
you hang on to the last possible
moment.
The British squadron leader who
is instructing them won the Dis
tlnguished Service Order for having
shot down II Nazis confirmed and
eight he could not confirm. as he
did not see them crash-having
bailed out once. His aircraft was
on fire, but he knew his drill so
well that he went on fighting till
his boots and gloves were burning.
Then he jumped and beat the
flames out of his clothes on the
way down.
Another trick which takes the
civilian pilot little while to learn
Is formation flying. These British
pilots fly so close together that
watchers wonder why a sudden gust
OF wind does not blow one into the
other. And when you have learned
why that does not happen, you have
to learn follow-your leader tactics
in the air that have all the eff
fects OF Buffalo Bills Wild West,
cavalry of the sky and Hollywood
death-defying dramas rolled into
one. The ultimate aim is to make
a charge of the Eagle Squadron a
spectacle of terror for any Nazi
circus that may be in the offing.
Just what they have in store for
the Germans 1 was shown at the
machine-gun butts. where the Gag
lets are training with Brownings on
the ground before they start firing
from the air. What the boys learn
there fits them for later dives on
ground targets.
Of Lakehurst, N. j., the thrill Of
training to fire shot for his an
cestral Poland almost compensates
for the threat of his wife to di-
vorce him when he joined up. He
is hoping she will reconsider her
decision when she gets a picture
of him in his British uniform-her
picture, in her wedding dress. is the
sole mural decoration of the little
cubicle that is his exile bedroom.
+ II just could not resist the chance
to join up and help the valiant Poles
to win back their native land" said
Pilot Officer Kolendorski. II was
born in Jersey City, my father was
an engineer on the Central Railroad,
but always wanted to fly. I have
the loveliest wife in the world, but I
guess she just does not like me to 60
adventuring without her.
Now In big Flying"
Adventure I wanted I guess
that's why we are all here. We
wanted to get into big flying. Now
we are in it.
And these English boys are grand.
I've been treated so royalty. Every