Evening star., 1943-10-27
BY MIRIAM GUTENBERG,
Star SfafI Correspondent

PENSACOLA. Fla, Oct. 27-
Under hood that shuts him away
from the outside world sits the
pilot, his hands on the stick, his
feet on the rudder pedals and his
eyes on the instrument panel.
What he's learning now may help
him find his way home through
pea soup fog-and his teacher is a
WAVE.
AS one who spent a rough half
hour being tilted backwards and
forwards in a Link trainer-to say
nothing of dozen or so spins-this
reporter can testify that the pilots
who take that punishment deserve
to get home safely.
I can also testify that WAVES
make good teachers. At the end of
a half-hour of patient instruction I
was able to maintain straight and
level fight for a full minute before
an incautious push on the rudder
sent me spinning again.
OF course. I spent a good portion
of my time 500 or more feet under
ground, but the WAVE was most
polite about it. Through the ear
phones came a pleasant feminine
voice:
Pull back on the stick. You're
way below sea level"
1000 WAVES Graduated.
The IL neWspaperwomen who
came here to see the WAVES at
work and were inveigled into climb
ing into those pretty little toy air.
planes saw the girls learning how to
be Link trainer instructors at the
naval air station at Atlanta. The
school itself has been virtually
taken over by WAVES and they've
already turned out 1000 graduates
At Atlanta the girls spend two
weeks learning how to "fly the
Links. Then they go into radio
navigat ton, direction finding, how
to take the Links apart and put
them tooether again, the theory of
fight. They spend their last two
weeks as apprentice instructors.
From Atlanta, they go TO training
stations all over the country where
future pilots are learning how to
fly blind" instead of "py the seat
of their pants"
At Whiting Field near here,
WAVE link instructors are replacing
men at the rate of 30 month and
there are already $50 of them at
tached to the squadron where the
pilots take their instrument course.
Instructors Rotated.
Each day, the pilot gets a differ
ent WAVE instructor-that's to keep
down "visiting' She logs his pro-
gress so the next WAVE will carry
on from there
For the first five hops" the pilot
simply learns how to keep his Link
from getting out of hand 1t can't
loop because it's mounted solidly but
1t can go up and down and sideways
and does. Later the pilot learns
how to follow radio signals.
While he sits incIosed in his toy
plane. his WAVE teacher follows
his progress at desk nearby. On
her desk are instruments to match
his, showing the direction hes fly
ing, the "air speed" if the trainer
altitude That's how the WAVE
instructor knew when this reporter
went underground.
She also mas a crab" a little ma
chine which travels in coordination
with the trainer at the rate of "a
of an inch a minute. The instructor,
watching the crab drawing its red
line, can tell when her pupil is off
his course Then she has a set
of simulated radio signals which
she transmits to teach the pilot
how to ride the radio beam.
When the pilot climbs into his
earth-bound plane and puts down
the hood, the conversation goes
like this:
Take her up to 1000 feet"
The box with toy wings doesn't
move, but the instrument panel in