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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 1088.PDF
SEPTEMBER 26, 1918. YOUNG America'seems to take tg the air as the proverbialduckling does to water. We quote from the letter of a newly- made pilot in France to his home folks in New York :—" Feeling a bit c.oltish, I went on over the chateau, dropped low over the beautiful Corot forest, and came back. Lookingdown I could see the backwash of my prop, waving the trees. " Zooming is great fun, and I tried it some more. Techni-cally it is ' contour-flying,' and is strictly defendu for such as me. I know I shall be ruined for anything else from now on.In Middle Tennessee they say if you teach a horse to jump fences he is no good after that because he likes it too well." I dipped into the valley, picking up speed all the way. I headed straight for some tall Normandy poplars, andactually I climbed them, or rather jumped them. After that I zoomed every lone tree in a field, and hopped every hedge,although, in fact, it was getting so dark that it was risky. I went down to speak to every farmhouse, and when thebarnyard fowl began to run for cover I would shoot up into the sky again,"It is as different from ordinary flying as riding an Indian or a Harley-Davidson is from motoring, only it isa hundred thousand times more thrilling than motor-biking. It is smooth like motor boating and you have the same wavemotion, and the sensation of rushing movement. It is more thrilling than aqua-planing, that kingly sport, consisting ofbeing towed on a board behind a fast motor boat. It partakes of the elements of all these." The ground flows past in a magnificent stream. Flying at an altitude is like floating, and if it were not for the beautyof the clouds above and landscape below it would be mono- tonous ; but not so with flying low, where one has to be alertand quick. Don't wocry, I won't do it too often—I can't afford to take the chance when I am needed up at the front." WE had an opportunity recently of a talk with an officerwho is perhaps best known to the public by his pen-name, " Boyd Cable," and were greatly interested to hear from himsome account of the good work he is doing for the aircraft workers, and, through them, for the whole Air Force.It appears that a year or more ago Boyd Cable, who has been at the Front since 1914, was asked by the Air Board tocome over to England for a few weeks and give some short talks to the workers in selected aircraft factories, telling themof air work at the Front and how their productions were being used. The first trip, to which in the past reference has been madein these pages, was such a success and was so enthusiastically received by workers and managements that Boyd Cable wasimmediately asked to repeat it, and has since made several journeys over from the Front and round the factories.Out of his meetings with the workers he came to realise the great need for spreading such information as he couldgive, and has since been given permission to extend his activities in several ways. Perhaps the most appreciated ofthese is in the letters he writes from the Front to various factories, keeping them in personal touch with the work oftheir productions and of the Air Force. Being in the Fiela and with the squadrons there himself, he is able to gatherinteresting and accurate information of all sorts of fights and incidents concerning the various types of machines, engines,magnetos and parts. Occasionally"~he picks up in France portions of crashedenemy machines, and sends these home to the factories. When he finds a machine captured intact he gets permission,if possible, to have it sent on exhibition to the factory which built the machine and engine flown by our victorious pilot,and writes the factory telling them the story of the combat. Lately he obtained permission for an artist to go to theFront, and, from the descriptions of participants, to make pictures of fights and so on. These pictures are publishedin leading journals, and the factories concerned are then given the opportunity of purchasing prints at cost price. THE whole of Boyd Cable's work aims at interesting theaircraft workers, telling them how their productions figure in action, and impressing on them the urgent need of thebest possible output in quality and quantity, and only those who know the soul-killing monotony of repetition workwill properly appreciate the good work he is doing. Cer- tainly both the workers themselves and the managementsof the firms do, as the letters he constantly receives from both bear witness. It is a pity that similar work has notand is not being done for all kinds of munition workers. Now comes a very important item to note :—If any air- craft factory with which Boyd Cable is not in touch cares to be included in any of his planr for informing the workers, we shall be glad to pass on any letter from them sent to him through us. Getting an R.A.F. " baby Ministry of Information. bomber into position in an aerodrome on the British Western front inFrance 1088
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