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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0569.PDF
MAY I, 1919 AN INSTRUCTIVE IN connection with the Clinical Meetings of the British Medical Association, a highly interesting and instructive demonstration of the K.A.F. Medical Service Physical Effi ciency Tests for Pilots was given on April 11, at the Royal Medical Society in Wimpole Street. In the absence of Col. Flack, who was to have conducted the demonstration, this office was verv ablv performed by Maj. T. S. Rippon, of the R.A.F. Medical Service. Before commencing the demonstrations, Major Rippon pointed out that these tests are intended to give the Medical officer an indication as to whether or not the pilot is in need of an overhaul. They are not intended to supplant the clinician, but to give an indication of the need for his being called in. The aircraft pilot has a definite standard of work to carry out, and in order to do this work efficiently he must be up to a certain physical standard of fitness. As a result of a very great number of examinations of fit and unfit men, THE R.A.F. MEDICAL SERVICE EFFICIENCY TESTS FOR PILOTS.—1. Shows a candidate undergoing " Fatigue Test " with the U-tube manometer. 2. Is an illustration of an aeroplane body, fitted with ailerons, rudder and elevators. This machine is placed in the slip-stream from an airscrew driven by the engine seen in the right-hand side of the picture. The candidate to be tested must maintain his balance by operating the controls. This apparatus was designed by Capt. de Havilland, and built by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. 3, is a nacelle, centrally pivoted and operated by the candidate by a stick control. This machine was designed by Maj. Rippon and Lieut. Manuel in collaboration with Mr. F. Koolhoven, of the British Aerial Transport Co. 4 and 5 show a pilot and observer going for an altitude flight to test an oxygen apparatus. 5 shows them with the masks in place, ready for flight. DEMONSTRATION certain facts have emerged, which facts it is the objects of the tests to ascertain. The first test was the breath-holding test. It has been found that the length of time a man can hold his breath is an indication of his fitness for flying at altitudes, the diminution of oxygen in the lungs as the breath is held beinp similar to the way in which the oxygen becomes scarcer at altitudes. If the pilot cannot hold his breath for a certain specified time, he will be found unsuitable for flying at great altitudes. The time of holding the breath is also tested after a physical exercise, and the decrease in time during Which the pilot can hold his breath should not exceed a certain amount. If it does, it is a sign of unfitness. A second test consists in measuring the expiratory force, by ascertaining how high a column of mercury the pilot can support by blowing. Test No. 3 is a mixture of the first and second tests, being a fatigue test with a U-tube manometer. One 569
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