ROYAL FLYING CORPS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16142, 21 February 1918, Page 7

ROYAL FLYING CORPS.

A DAY WITH A. TRAINING

SQUADRON,

INSTRUCTOR'S ARDUOUS

LIFE,

A captain in the Royal Flying Corps, 0 formerly a corporal in the Canterbury ' Regiment, Main Body, in a letter to his parents in Chrisfchurch, gives a very vivid description of life with a ] training squadron of the corps. He y says:— y My many and arduous duties now in- • elude those of station lighting instruc--1 tor, doputy-fighting instructor for my 1 squadron, O.C. Crash Flight, and prob- - ably a Flight of Topwith Tups to look ' nftcr as well. So you see I am havP ing a pretty busv time of it. To iliustrate the arduousness of life in a " training squadron. I will give you a * brief resume of my day's work. i 1 get up before daylight and have brcak- " last and arrive down at the hangars s just as it is getting light. As soon as I can see tho ground clearly ' enough for landing purposes, I take a 1 machine up and see what the air is I like, whether it is fit. for pupils who have just learnt to fly alone or fit only 5 for more advanced pupils. Having 1 made up my mind, I como down " !, d send up what pupils I think lit, tel»!ng ' them to stay up for an hour and what evolutions I want them to practice. [ Now there are two machines left, and J two of the most advanced pupils. send one of them up in one machine with instructions to patrol at a gn en height between two points on the map \ not far from the aerodrome. 1 hen when he is well away I take the re--5 maining pupil in the remaining 11! a" " chine—my own—and go up alld ''S ll * " him for half an hour, taking a photo ' of him with my camera gun wlienevei ' in an actual scrap I would have been in a good position to lire a burst into him. Then we como down, the two pupils change machines, and we go up and do the same thing. When uie first hour is up all the pupils and myself return to the aerodrome, and the machines are filled up with petrol and oil by Uie waiting mechanics. By this time tin; other instructors have arrived, and thev take three of the machines lor giving instruction—dual control —to pupils who have not learnt to fly solo. In the remaining machines I send up another batch ' of pupils for another hour . with detailed instructions as to what I they are to practice-;—twOj whom I have already given fighting instructions to, ! dual control, and have myself fought in ( the air, to light one another, one to practise aerobatics, one to practise ■ landings, and so on. Then I take up in my machine a pupil who has dono three"or four hours' solo flying, and has ' learnt to handle his machine lairly well 6 for all ordinary purp:sos. Him I teach > all thote evolutions which are included i in that comprehensive term "aeroi batics"—vertical banks, with and with- - cut ejgine, sideslips, Immelmann.turns, E half-rojs, stalling turns with engine off, ; looping, spinning noso-dives, dives with j and without engine—all of which it is - necessary for him to be able to do withr out a mistake before he can attempt to do aerial fighting. And so on through--5 out the day. 1 On two days a week I give a lecture 5 on one of the various phases of aerial j warfare, demonstrating mv points by 3 means of small models and the photos . that pupils have taken of one another r in their fights _ of the previous three I days. I also criticise the work done by f each pupil during that time. Occasion- ! ally I give a lecture illustrated by , magic-lantern slides on Hun machines — how to recogniso them., their woak "points, and the best tactics to employ when attacking them. If during the day any pupil lands outside the aerodrome, I have to bring the machine back. If he is merely lost, and has landed all right, I fly him home, but if he has crashed, I take out a, breakdown party in a lorry {my whole flight, as a rule), dismantle the machino, and bring | it in. As soon as it arrives I set my men to work to repair tho damage and rebuild it. Scarcely a week goes by without my having at least two such on my hands. As soon as they are completed, I test them in the air to sea that they are rigged to my liking, and that the is 0.K., then hand them over into general use again. Flying finishes for the day at four o'clock now, when wo all adjourn for afternoon tea. From five to six I attend a lecturo on machine gunnery for squadroncommanders, flight-commanders, and assistant-instructors, then back to my quarters to change for dinner at 7.30. And so ends my day's work. In tho intervals between flights I have also to supervise, in the capacity of station fighting instructor, the work of the deputy-fighting instructor of tho other squadron, and to keep an eye on the work being done by my flight of riggers, 3o you gee, while daylight lasts, I have absolutely no time to myself, scarcely time even for a decent meal. Rain or fog are the only things that put a stop to my .work, and you can guess how thankful I am to see either. "Wind is no object—so long as it is not blowing more than thirty-five to forty miles an hour on the ground, I can 'still carry on. All my work I do on Aoros with the hundred horse-power Monosoupape engine, one of the most reliable machines and the easiest to fly that are at present in existence. When pupils come to me they have, as a general rule, done two hours' solo on Maurice Farmans and about four hours on Aoros. I train them for another ten hours, or uritil I consider them efficient, then they go on to Sopwith twoseaters. On this machine they do about six hours, including a crosscountry flight, when they graduate and go on to a scout; squadron. As soon as they can fly a Scout efficiently they get their "wings," do a certain number of hours on their Service machine, and depart overseas. And that : is the flying training of a modern scout pilot. Besides his actual flying I he kas, of course, to do his theory | course at a school of instruction, at--1 tend lectures on gunnery and wireless, do aerial firing, and attend a course of aerial gunnery. Although Aoros are very nice machines, flying them all day and every day is rather apt to make' one become set in one's ways, and for a pilot tnat is of all things to bo avoided. So if during tho day I get half an hour free. I take up ono of our recently-acquired Sopwith Tups for a joy ride." and proceed to throw it about. Of all aerial evolutions tho one I like best and get most sensation out of i s a stalling turn. Spinning makes one giddy, and is a strain on the machine; a loop any fool can do, but to swoop down then up, 1 rolling on to your back as you go, then swoop d9wn again till you art) right bids up. is t;> me the acme of sensation. I should very much like to bring a Tup homo with me. I think it would astonish the natives. Although it's a very paying profes- 1 sion, I've come to the conclusion it's too darned dangerous whi!e you're learning. ' I would not advise to start flying for another year at least. Nearly every flying accident that occurs nowadays is duo either to ignorance or to foolhardiness. The latter is only a corrollary of the former, really, for if a fellow has got any balance at all, ho is only foolhardy when he is ignorant and 1 inexperienced. Poor old had a 1 devil of a time when Jie went up for his first solo flight. Without a passenger, 1 the machine started to climb much faator than he was used to or likod; 60 to stop hor climbing ho shoved her ncso down, and then of course she picked up 1 speed and became almost unmanage- 1 able. He had the wind up, and I don t ]

blame him. pcor chap. A Maurice is a nasty thing at the best of times, and at a high speed is very heavy to handle, as I found out on my -way up from Portsmouth, at the imminent risk of breaking my neck. However, ho managed to head her for home, and landed all right, but it wasn't until lie was safely on the ground that he realised what he should have done, namolv. throttled down his engine. That is just one case in point, where ignorance and inexperience bring ;i fellow into danger. After that first experience ho was all right.