Evening star., 1942-02-28


Of wings that Henry McLemore.
angels wear in order that the
youngsters of this country may get
the silver wings of pilots.
Theirs is a thankless job. The
awards. the medals and the praise
of the populace are reserved for the
combat pilots. That's all right,
brother. They deserve it, but they
don't have any monopoly on danger.
The instructors don't operate over
enemy territory, but they are up in
the air six to eight hours a day with
youngsters who, at the start, scarce
ly know the difference between a
rudder and safety belt.
This is one of half dozen train
ing bases I have visited where I
have picked up stories of what these
teachers experience day after day.
Their trials and tribulations while
up in the air with greenhorn at
the stick-and a greenhorn who may
freeze" at the stick, too-are dou-
bled by the fact that they know so
much themselves. Their suffering
might be compared to that OF a
great musician being forced to listen
to small child practice six hours
day.
Here in Atlanta the commander,
D. Ward Harrigan. was the first
man to make a night landing" on
the dirigibles Akron, Macon and Los
Angeles. He did it via hook and
eye arrangement. 1t. Kenneth
Kuehner was the front man for the
Atlantic Clipper Che took small
plane out for patrol work to deter
mine weather conditions).
1t. Owen MacRobert is another.
You will recall Lady MacRobert of
Scotland, who, after two sons were
lost with the R. A. F., donated
100000 for a bomber to be called
"MacRobert's Reply" 1t. MacRob-
ert, a second cousin, was invited to
go to England and fly the bomber,
but he refused, saying that he
thought his efforts here as an in
structor were of more value than
any individual effort he might make
in flying "MacRobert's Reply"
Only few weeks ago, 1t. Mac
Robert was forced to bail out at
5000 feet when his student put their
trainer into a stall. He landed ia
a cotton field miles away and
trudged back to the base, parachute
bundled in his arms.
-
A few days ago, student flyer
did a sensational ground loop as he
landed and tore wing. Luckily he
and the instructor we're unhurt.
Up they went the next day and in
landing the student missed run
way and nosed the plane down into
a valley. Like Br'er Rabbit, pupil
and teacher scrambled out of the
brier bushes and came on home.
The student was called before the
big board and the commander, with
genial sarcasm, inquired:
do you think the Navy can re-
pair planes as fast as you can tear
them up?"
Don't you worry about that. sir"
the youngster replied in all seri-
BUSINESS. Il just passed the repair
shop and those two planes I messed
up are almost as good as new"
He is still flying, and is one of the
best aviators at the base.
One of the instructors, an old
time transformer who, his friends
say, could fly barn door if it had
an electric fan hooked to it. told
me of one of his students and cross
winds. AS they flew along he warned
his student of a heavy cross-wind
and told him to watch for it. The
student paid no attention to the
advice and made a landing that
involved three runways When he
had caught his breath the instructor
gave the kid bawling out, only to
get this reply:
I'm sorry, sir, but I kept looking
out the side for a cross wind and I
swear never did see one"
This same ex-barnstormer who
has walked wings among other
things, said his Biggest thrill of all
time came when he had a student
up for his dual instruction. The boy
had never flown before. At 5000
feet the instructor called through
the speaking tube for the youngster
to take over. Just at this moment
the instructors seat adjustment
went haywire, slipped down and sat
the instructor down on the floor Of
his cockpit. where he could neither
extricate himself in a hurry nor
see what was going on.
IF you don't think that's a re-
markable sensation, you're crazy"
the former transformer told me.
ITO be flying gaily along at 5000
feet with a pilot who hasn't had
quite 30 seconds in the air! Boy, I
did myself a mess of scrambling!"
These are just few of the stories.
After hearing them not only sing
I shout-a song for these unsung
heroes.
distributed By McNaught Syndicate. Inc)