Evening star., 1942-07-11
Army Air Transport
Diseourages 'Dashing
Type ofPiIot
Men Must Be Afraid to
Spon Oceans SofeIy,
Officer Declares
Third OF q SerieS.)
BY JOHN LARDNER.

w ll6il IHdll bSllo ll1c 1lS HAS
no fear about flying the Atlantic or
the Pacific said Maj. Curtis A.
Keen of the Air Transport Com
mand, 81 look for trouble. And |
get it. To be truthful, only one of
our flyers has told me that-boasted
that he wasn't afraid. He didn't
last long in the service.
'These men must be afraid. They
must be sharp and expert and aware
of the chances for and against
them. We have a tremendous Job
to do, one that requires great skill
and steadiness, and we don't want
hotheads or hell-for- r-leathers. AS
matter of fact, that first trip across
the Atlantic and back for one of
our flyers is a cooling. maturing
process that can't be equaled for the
purpose. When he comes back from
that he's a real flyer
The men who pioneer the sky
lines. who deliver the stuff of battle
to the four corners of the earth,
ere drawn from many sources
from training schools, from the
regular Air Corps, from civil avia-
ton. There are famous peacetime
pilots like Dick Merrill and Bernt
Balchen in the ATC. There are
Army flyers with long and brilliant
records. But since a good many
thousand men are needed today to
fill the vast function of flying planes
and supplies and munitions to our
forces abroad and their Allies, and
to organize and service such flights,
the scope of enlistment must be
broad and comprehensive.
Advances to Larger Planes.
A newcomer to the ATC may have
no more than 300 hours of flying
time to his credit-the minimum
requirement for work in civil air.
craft. He will be assigned to the
smallest civil planes, Pipers and
Aeroncas and Taylorcrafts, for the
ATC does much necessary flying
here in the United States on vari-
Gus missions with every type of
ship. AS he progresses in skill and
experience the pilot is advanced to
larger planes. to trainers, to bi-
motored planes, first as co-pilot and
then as pilot.
Before being assigned to foreign
duty the pilot goes to school, the
four -engine plane school which the
ATC conducts III Albuquerque, N.
Mex. He usually has 1900 or 1000
hours in the air before he is given
command of one of our great four
engined bombers for ferrying or
transport service.
The skilled ATC pilot thus is a
man who can handle military or
combat airplane-and he may, and
often does. go int combat duty
from the ATC. This fills out cir
Gle explained to me by Brig Gen.
Harold l.. George, commander OF
the ATC.~
Our men can go into combat
the general said, land combat pilots
can Join us-for the sort of breath
ing spell that every fighting pilot
must have If he is going to remain
valuable In the air."
specializes IN Plane.
There Is no questioning the ability
of the fully qualified .ATC man to
handle a military plane. He spe-
cializes in the plane itself rather
than the route.
"a man may go east or west or
south or north" says Col. C. r.
Smith, executive officer and former
president of American Air Lines.
Learning routes or geography is
no great trick. But he must know
the plane. Without making a hard
and fast rule about it, we tend to
keep the man In one type of plane
until he has mastered it,"
And no man can fly in the ATC
for long without becoming resource
ful in every kind of emergency that
flying brings. He will be afraid
In the sense that he will be aware
but he also will be ingenious and
cool and courageous. I have known
ferry pilots to land big bombers on
an uncharted stretch of beach in
the black of night, on Timor Island
In the South Pacific, to bring out
Australians who were stranded
there when the Japs took the
island, landing under the noses of
the japanese, taking off in the same
fashion and then flying back for
more.
Carries Jungle Kit.
Going south from headquarters
the flyer carries jungle kit-long
knife, mosquito dope, rations, etc
which is constant reminder OF
the possibilities. the wild, thickly
grown region of the Amazon tor in
stance, where man surviving
landing would take hours to cut
himself a few yards of path. The
grim map of Greenland tells the
f1ver another story, and the mighty
wastes of ocean speak for them
selves.
Yet the men of the ATC have
conquered these ancient obstacles
Of nature so completely and re-
duced the planets time dimension
so quietly and casually that the
world will awake with start when
the war is over to find herself
rev size; in some respects new
world
A rev months ago Maj. A. l..
Harvey of the ATC made fight
from Moscow, through Iran. India,
Singapore, Australia, New Guinea.
Wake, Honolulu Los Angeles and
Forth Worth to Washington that
would have been current and pub
lie history in the press in peac.-
time. All records for ocean jumps
by land plane were smashed. But
this is wartime. and Maj. Harvey S
unheralded fight was part of the
days work.
(Released through the North American
Newspaper Alliance, 1nc)