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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0154.PDF
Sucker Jungmeister single-seater trainers of the Luftwaffeare fitted with Siemens Sh 14A radials as shown above. plain. In fact, it became too plain, as I did a 360-degree turn, to the obvious delight of the mechanics who were watching " der Englander." However, after that slight setback I headed into wind, and took off as carefully as possible, it being the first time that I had flown an aircraft fitted with duplicated ailerons. In spite of my care, the take-off was bad and the controls were pulled sharply out of my hands. After a few seconds the instructor waved both his hands above his head in token of having quit the controls, and I again took over. Climbing with plenty of speed in hand failed to please him, and a series of violent upward jerks with his extended right arm made me steepen the angle until the earth had disappeared altogether and I was con- vinced that we were going to stall; but we did not. A downward stroke of the right arm, and I eased the stick forward for straight and level flying. The left arm extended with fingers pointing left; I turn left, but not steeply enough, as extra pressure is put on the stick and we are turning vertically, or rather the machine is turning itself vertically, as there are the instructors' hands above his head again, and mine are gripping the seat! This small omission on ray part having been rectified. we continue the turn until I see the aerodrome coming into view, when 1 straighten out of my own accord. This appeared to have been the correct thing. After flying past the far end of the aerodrome, the throttle was shut off for me and a downward sweep of the left arm showed me that I was now expected to land. I did, after a fashion. The whole process was repeated several times, until after twenty minutes the instructor taxied the machine back to the tarmac. Followed a quarter of an hour's talk, during which I asked if people were trained right from the start by means of signs in the air, and I was assured that such was the case. The use of all controls and their func- tions would be explained on the ground first. Then a particular point would be taken, say the effect of the elevators being moved, and then the pupil would be taken into the air to move them for himself and to see what happened. My instructor informed me that he had never seen a JANUARY 18, 1940. pair of headphones until that day, when he had, of course, seen my own. He then passed to the next stage of my lesson, and told me to take the machine off myself, climb to 1,500 metres over the nearest lake, the position of which I was shown, and do a right-hand, and then a left-hand, spin. "You must take off, and land, on the left-hand half of the aero- drome, whatever the wind direction happens to be; the right-hand half is always reserved for military flying. Also, you will never perform aerobatics, except over water. That is a compulsory order to all pupils, at all flying schools." Two more things to remember and, thinking of the local Zee, I was quite glad for the parachute to be compulsory also. Having carried out the spins, I landed and was told that they were good enough. I was then to take a second machine, of similar type, and make six consecutively good landings. The idea in changing the plane was to make me concentrate more, as no two aircraft are ever rigged ex- actly the same for trim, and it was thought that over- familiarity might develop if I was not given the switch- over. After four passable landings I made an awful bump, and pushing the throttle wide open after ballooning I eased it back again, and then juggled the machine on to the ground with the aid of about five hundred revs. Half expecting a shower of green, or red, rockets, I took off for the last circuit in some trepidation as to my recep- tion at the end of it. I was asked to "Come into the office, please," and tottered in there thinking that a week's grounding would be the least to expect. Instead, I was informed that in view of the way that I had been seen to deal with what might have been an ugly situation, I was to be promoted forthwith to an Einsitser. In other words, instead of disgrace, my highest hopes were to be realised, and on my first day's flying in Germany I was to be sent off in the justly celebrated Jitngmeister. But first, some more instruction on the ground. "The machine that you will now fly is perfectly safe, if treated with respect, but it is not a toy. Remember, if you do not happen to value your own life, that the people on the ground value theirs. Do not fully open the throttle for the take-off until your speed on the ground has risen to about 60 k.p.h. ; she will get along very well on two-thirds throttle, and if you like can be taken off at that power, for with ailerons top and bottom she is far more sensitive than any other type in the world." Ttu1 engine was a 150 h.p. Siemens radial, type Sh 14 A. The view below (of a Biicker Jungmann) shows as close a bitof formafion flying as we can recall. z
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