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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0109.PDF
FEBRUARY I, 191 7. paratively safe, and that therefore in peace every one whocan should take it up as a means of travel and a means of recreation. The great factor against aviation for suchpurposes is our uncertain climate, but with experience and with reliable engines it is possible to fly in almost any weathershort of a thick fog, a hurricane or a violent thunderstorm. All these can be avoided by skill in navigation and a certainamovfnt of weather wisdom. " I am always racking my brains for possible improve-ments in our system of training, and perhaps to-night I shall get some ideas. But all these improvements areimpossible to any extent during the stress of war, because the supply is for ever trying to catch.up the demand, and thedemand is for ever increasing both in numbers and quality. Sir Douglas Haig needs a certain fixed number of squadrons,and we must produce them or try to. In peace we cut our coat according to our cloth. The most unexpected peoplemake good pilots, and very often the most promising ones never attain more than mediocrity in the air, and for thisreason it has always seemed to me undesirable to lay down a stereotyped process of training. Personally I think thatany sound man with sound nerves (and women, too, for that matter) can make a good, useful pilot, but it is only theexceptional individual who will make the really brilliant fighting pilot. Even the unsound—we have deaf peopleand people with wooden legs, &c. There is always a great controversy as to the best age forflying. I think that there is no doubt the best age to learn to fly is as young as possible, just as a boy learns to ride, butduring war this is impossible, as the pupil would be too young to fight. We take a few below the age of 18 now, butgenerally speaking 18 is rather young for the great strain of active service, and I prefer the man of 20 to 2 5. When youcome to the older category I think everything depends on the life which the individual has led. A man of between35 and 40 who has lived a hard life and is a good horseman will probably turn into a good pilot quicker than the man offrom 25 to 30 who has spent his life in an office or doing nothing, but as a rule the older man will not stand the strainof active service fighting as long as the young man. The quality of horsemanship is quite a useful one in any would-bepilot. The requirements are just the same—good hands, a good head, steady nerves, and judgment. Flying is perhapsa little easier than riding because you sit in a comfortable armchair in a quiet machine instead of on a slippery saddleon a very lively horse. Generally speaking, I think it is only youth that makes it possible to become a really star pilotwho can do almost anything in the air without loss of nerve. Probably the young man of 18 to 2 5 makes the best fightingpilot, whereas the older man will do best on long recon- naissance and artillery work, where less dash and more experi-ence and endurance are required. . Very much depends on the character and temperament ofeach man, and the ideal in training would be to teach almost every pupil somewhat differently. " A point of interest in this connection is the relativestatus of pilot and passenger, flying oilicer and observer. The Germans and ourselves are quite different. The Germanshave a certain number of officer pilots, but a good many N.C.Os. Their observers are all officers, and arc supposedto take charge when in the air. As a rule 1 think their observers very seldom become trained pilots. "In the R.F.C.. almost all pilots are officers—^-and theN.C.Os. very soon get commissions if they do well—and the observers, although officers as a rule, are absolutely underthe control of the pilot. Our observers after a certain period of successful work in that capacity are allowed to learn tofly, and usually make very good pilots. Two completely opposite theories, of which 1 think ours has proved to be thebest. I think there are certainly cases where German N.C.O. pilots have shown cowardice, and the officer observer hasbeen unable to control them. Anyway, we go on with our system, and it works well, its only drawback being that welose our observers just as they are getting really experienced, but experience is often equivalent to tiredness and caution." Another point of interest is the danger connected with training in flying. During peace the first consideration wasto avoid accidents, which roused foolish questions in the House, and in consequence delayed progress and wasted everyone'stime. Since the war started we have got away from that sort of nonsense, with the result that we take far greater risks thanwe used. In spite of this, the percentage of accidents has not really risen appreciably very much. A good many deathsare reported in the papers and frighten a certain number of people, but when you compare the number of deaths withthe very large number of pupils in training and the very large number of hours in the air accomplished every day, the price,is not great, and in the present stage of aviation the fact must be fearlessly accepted that no progress can be made withouta certain cost in human life. Under peace conditions the ruling consideration will be the safety of the pupil, and we shall thenbe able to keep a man under training longer and take him much more slowly in the early stages, give him more instruction onthe ground by means of various mechanical devices, and render him almost immune from the ordinary accident.There is one very satisfactory feature in looking back through the accidents which have occurred since the beginning of thewar in training—there have been extraordinarily few cases of breakage in the air, which speaks very well for Britishconstruction and inspection. The most common type of accident is engine failure, followed by an effort to turn sharplyinto a possible landing-place and losing speed on the turn, which results in a nose-dive and serious smash.1 Even goodand experienced pilots are prone to do this, and to me the only cure appears to be the avoidance of engine failure.This will assuredly come in peace, when we can devote more energy towards real reliability in the engine instead of extremelightness and exaggerated performances. fz~. " As an iofficer who has been responsible for training inthe War Office now for four years, I feel that 1 have been ARMY AVIATION TESTS IN THE UNITED STATES.—The pilots of the twelve aeroplanes which madethe test flight from Hempstead, Long Island, to Philadelphia, lined up, with instructors, just before the start. The group includes Capt. J. E. Carberry, R. C. Boiling, Lieuts. J. E. Miller, W. G. Kilner, N. Carolin,Sergts. E. W. Noyes, E. A. Kranes, Corpl. H. H. Salmon, and Messrs. J. B. Stetson, G. Osborn, E. W. Bagnell, A. M. Coyie, P. C. Millman, H. W. Blakeley, and L. W. Bonney. TO9
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