Evening star., 1943-06-27
How the u Navy Training Aviations Toughest Fighters
BY William j. Wheatley.


scattered in almost all areas OF the globe,
the Navy Is now infiltrating in increasing
numbers the 'fightinest" group Of youth
ful aerial combat men any nation has
produced. The first of them are made
up of college men, but in a few short
months there will be literally thousands
of young high school graduates proudly
wearing the wings of a naval aviator on
their tunics, backed by stamina harden
ing process and fund of accurate shoot
ing and aerial combat training drilled
into them by habit-forming process.
going into the battle zones, with the
determination to kill and success their
only goal.
This determination to kill and to ac-
complish their objective by any known
means is instilled in them from the time
they report at the naval prefiight
schools, until they are graduated to the
various fleets and task forces. 1t starts
in the sports program in which each
cadet gets five hours of intensive work
out each day.
No Holds Barred.
On the field of sport the formal rules
are cast aside by the instructors, all of
whom are men who have become out
standing in some field of the spcrt world
in colleges and schools throughout the
country. The fouls and roughncss now
practiced by these eager youth which
bring smiles from the former college
coaches would have made them scream
to high heaven before the referees. But
students are impressed with the fact
that they are now in school which is
teaching them to engage in a serious
game with an enemy that knows no fair
play and who rides to victory on foul
play and treachery, and to preserve
themselves and their country they must
meet fire with an even hotter fire.
have just completed 2,o00-mile trip
by air as a guest of the Navy which
carried me through all of the phases of
the training 20 produce these youthful
naval ayiators out of high school grad
uates. I was so impressed with the
eagerness of these young Americans to
learn everything about their jobs ahead
and their restless determination to get
through the schools and out with the
fleets that was well on the way to being
lulled into sphere of complacency with
the observation that the situation is 60
ing to be we'll in hand when the schools
reach their full stride of production.
The personnel will be there, and given
the planes and the ammunition, this
force spells fints at least for those fighters
of Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito who
dare to pit their prowess against the
naval armada manned by these youths.
Building Brains and Muscles.
The development of alertness and
quick thinking goes along in stride with
the development of the body muscles
which will enable these young aerial
fighters to sum up a situation pre-
sented by the enemy, make decision
and carry it into successful effect in
the matter of seconds. 1t is for this rea-
son that the body building and muscle
development program is carried out
through the field of heavy sports. For,
as Capt. John P. Graft, commandant of
the Pref1ight School at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N. c.,
said no one ever had his mind de-
veloped by a few body-bending and
muscle twisting motions as carried out
in the formal Swedish setting-u exer-
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one another in games where they must
use their strength and muscles to carry
out their decisions which they make in
the heat of tussle for a goal.
In the military science instruction,
which they receive along with their
sports at Chapel Hill, there is one fact
which impresses the observer with the
necessity of quick decision. 1t is in the
recognition of airplanes and surface YES
sells of both the Allies and the enemy.
Each day the student is shown pictures
of two planes. They are described in
detail, but the student is impressed with
the fact that he must recognize them as
a unit, and not by some particular fea-
ture, such as low wings, long fuselage,
short engine nacels, ETC., because he
may not see them at such an angle, in
aerial combat, which will permit him
to observe only certain characteristics.
This usually takes i've minutes of the
hour.
In the Wink of an Eye.
Then for the remainder of the hour,
the instructor places slides of the differ
ent planes, in various angles of flight
in a protector, and flashes them on
screen at one-seventy- of second.
That's just about the wink of an eyelid,
and If you don't believe it, just take
your camera and look through the lens
as you trip the shutter lever. In that
short wink the student is supposed to
name the type of plane and the country
to which it belongs. While was in the
classroom there was not miss.
Everything that is required of the
young students during that time that
they are at the preflight school is
done for the sole purpose of developing
him to an all-around air fighting man.
For instance, the time of the students
from the moment that they arise in the
morning until they dig in at taps" is
occupied to such an extent that there
is little time to read newspapers even
if thew had them Hnueuer If thov