The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-06-29
NAVY SCHOOL
SEEMS LIKE A
BIC PLAYHOUSE
BY WILLIAM ii. ADAMS
United Press Staff Correspondent

OnlVeu ETcSS StdII Correspondent
Washington, June CUP)-In
an abandoned automobile service
station on H Street in Washington
is what seems to be pin-ball play
er's paradise, an adults playhouse
for war games and an airplane
parts and material shop where all
the props are make-believe.
Actually. 1t is none of these
things. 1t is the home of the Nays
synthetic training devices, where
pilots and gunners. are schooled so
that when they take the air they
will be ready for it.
1t is designed to save lives and
time and aircraft, and the Navy
believes it is achieving its purpose.
The three-story structure houses
everything that goes into an air.
plane. Here student pilots and gun
ners can shoot BB-shot through
machine guns at paSteboard mod
els of enemy planes, or they can
climb into training turret and
hear the sound of motors through
earphones, look through make
believe telescope sight and see
images of attacking planes lunge
toward them from every angle.
Can Play Records
A pilot also can listen to records
that are actual reproductions Of
conversations between military pi-
lots and commercial airline control
tower operators. These converse
tons are essential in flying certain
commercial radio beams in war
time, and is becoming familiar with
the language filters use when con-
versing with civil anyways ground
Crews
If the flier wants to know how
such conversations are carried on
at sea he can learn the bugle, bell,
siren and boatswain's calls. thus
conditioning himself to react in
Stinctively when on shipboard,
where so many calls in wartime are
emergency messages. Better yet, If
the pilot would like knowing be-
forehand how his enemy will look.
he can use the steroscopic range
estimator, which came right out of
lis SIdIlIlllOUll6l ,
This gadget shows color film
slides of U. S. and enemy aircraft
in three dimensional aspect, at va
rious ranges and attitudes.
Synthetic Air Fights
A more thrilling version of this
machine is the aerial gunnery
training card, 8x5-inch placards
showing enemy airplanes in attack
positions. The path and speed of
the gunner's plane and the speed
of the enemy plane are given, and
the students does some lightning
arithmetic, grips a make-believe
machine-gun handle and let's fly.
A solid line shows the path of the
bullet, and a dotted line shows the
path of the attacking plane. 1t
doesn't take long for a man exposed
to this sort of training to eliminate
the reasons for his faulty aiming.
The latest thing in simulated
machine gun operation Is provided
by the BIB machine gun installa-
tions, which are made on non-critf-
cal material and shoot BIS or plas-
tic pellets. A spotlight mounted on
the gun makes the shot shine like
tracer fire. The gun requires no.
volt circuit and shoots $50 rounds a
minute at a muzzle velocity Of 200
feet per second. A clapper nearby
convinces the gunner that he has
his hands wrapped around the
stock of a real machine gun.
An air machine uses ITS pounds
of air pressure and achieves muz-
zle velocity of 600 feet per second.
firing from 400 to 600 rounds
minute.
Navigation instruction by other
ingenious devices, and instruction
in high flying are also provided at
the school.