Smyrna times., 1942-04-02

SMYRNA TIM E s,
IS actually a vast interrelated sys- I
tenn of flying schools, located over
an area of thousands of square
miles from Helena, Arkansas, down
to Coral Gables at the southermost /
tip of Florida, and from Benefits
vile, South Carolina, extending di-
through Georgia, Ala
bama, and Mississippi to Barksdale |
Field in Louisiana. In approxim-
ately forty-six colleges" that COM
prise this greatest university in the
world, the young student pilot
takes the systematic steps, through
elementary ground school, to the
basic schools where he feels the
first thrilling lift of wings, to the
schools for navigation and bombing
and gunnery, and at last to the adj
vanced schools where he pilots the
newest super-powered ball of fire
and bolt of lightning.
When a young man is accepted
as an Aviation Cadet he is careful
ly examined to determine his phys
ical and mental abilities for flying,
and, equally important, for his abil-
ity to become a commissioned Of
ficer in the Army of the United
States. Schools such as the South
east Air Corps Training Center
must in seven and a half months
time turn out graduates skilled in
flying and worthy of their degree,
that of second lieutenant in the U.
S. Army Air Corps Reserve.
To this end, fiedgling aviators do
a lot more than fly. The daily
schedule of an aviation cadet at an
Advanced Flying School is some
thing like this: bugles sound the
reveille at $50 a. m. and cadets
end their eight-hour sleep with a
quick shower and shave to meet
fine morning the way a man who is
going to fly in it should. Break
fast is served at 6:15 a. m. Then
back they go to their large, airy
rooms, eah fitted for three men, to
make their beds and "poliee up"
At 720 a. m. they report to their
instructors on the flying line; short
ly the mechanics gun motors, Keen
nerved men sit at the controls, and
another roaring squadron of new
airmen takes the skies. In the air
they learn and practice maneuvers,
aerobatics, landings and take-offs,
and all the facets of their compli-
Gated art. They began at basic
schools with small, loW-powered
ships, but now they have graduated
to the husky, fast, high-poWered
bullets that are more like nervous
thoroughbreds than pieces of ma
chinery. Pilots have a personal
feeling for their planes not unlike
that cowboy has for his "bronc. :
They leave the skies and go to
lunch at noon with enormous appe-
tites. Then at 1.15 p. m. they re-
port for their ground training. The
greater part of the 237 air-ground
hours in Advanced Pursuit Pilot
Training, strange as it seems, is de-
voted to ground school instruction.
Some 118 hours are consumed in
classrooms and laboratory work,
while seventy-nine hours actually
are spent in the clouds. Students
are drilled thoroughly to familiar
ize them with equipment and its
technical operation, armament and
gunnery, tactics and technique of
air fighting, squadron duties, main
tenance, engineering, technical or
ders and shop practice, employment
of aviation in the Army, aircraft
warning service, code practice,
anti-aircraft and its employment,
and tactical fire and signal COM
munications Pistol and skeet
shooting are also part of the currie-
ulum to sharpen" eyes of the stu
dents.
At 4.15 p. m. shooting is over and
the cadets go to outdoor drill and
athletics, or recreation of their own
choosing. A staff of seventy ath-
letic directors is on hand to advise
and direct calisthenics, men who
are experts of long experience as
college coaches and physical educa-
tion instructors. Their job is to
know which muscles pilots use and
how to develop them; what causes
the tremendous fatigue of flying;
how to strengthen pilots so they
will be able to Outright anything in
the sky or on land, for that mat
ter.
In flying, the sideward motion of
the control stick brings into play
muscles not used ordinarily. The
swiveling, side-to-side movement of
the neck, habitual with every good
pilot would place tremendous
strain on the average neck and
back muscles. The rigid posture
of the pilot in the cockpit is in it
self terrific strain on abdominal
muscles. Special exercises are Civ
en- to build the vital muscles, and in
addition q oaparal "tona-,,np n,.o