"We"

by Charles A. Lindbergh

© Wide World Photos

CURTISS FIELD, L. I.—JUST BEFORE STARTING ON THE BIG ADVENTURE

Our first “Benzine Board” met about a month after the start of school and reconvened more or less regularly from that time until we were ready to be graduated from the primary school and transferred to Kelly for instructions on service types of planes.

With the washing out process our barracks became less congested. It was not unusual to see the fellows on both sides pack up and cheerfully depart for destinations in different corners of the United States. After a few weeks there would be one bunk standing where eight had been—this in some part of the barracks on which the decisions of the “Benzine Board” had fallen hardest. In another case an entire bay was washed out and left entirely vacant. We never knew who would be next to go, and we could only continue to plug along as best we could with our flying and study a little harder on our ground-school work while we waited for the almost weekly list of washouts to be published on our bulletin board. We were in the full swing of cadet life and under the constant apprehension which accompanies it.

Along with our trials and worries went the fascination of flying together with the priceless goal before us of graduation with an Air Service commission. The wings of the service would be for those of us who were able to survive the rigid training and discipline of a year in the United States Army flying schools.

Always there was something new to look forward to. The start of actual flying; the first solo; learning various stunts and maneuvers; transitions from Jennies to faster and quicker ships; and finally our transfer to Kelly Field, the alma mater of Army fliers.

The Army Air Service was an exacting instructor. There was no favoritism shown and no amount of politics could keep a cadet from being washed out if he fell down in flying. As a result, only a small per cent of those entering Brooks ever graduate from Kelly. In our class of one hundred and four, thirty-three finished their primary training and only eighteen of us received our wings. This appears on the surface to be an unusually low number but as a result of the rigid requirements and careful instruction, our Air Corps schools rank among the best in the world today. They have an extremely low fatality list, not one man in our class being seriously injured.

Probably the most exciting period in our flying training was when the soloing began. The instructor would climb out of his cockpit, tie a white handkerchief on the rudder as a danger signal, indicating that the ship was usually out of control, and signal his student to take-off. In some cases the plane would take-off nicely, circle the field and make a comparatively good landing. In others the landing would amount to a series of bounces, resulting in the necessity of a second or third attempt before the wheels would hold contact with the ground more than a fraction of a second at a time. In one particular instance, after several futile attempts to get down, the cadet began circling around overhead. His apparent idea was to clinch the chances of landing on his next attempt by waiting until the gasoline ran out. His instructor was out in the field trying to flag him down without the slightest success and for half an hour we watched the ship intently for the first signs of a lowering gas supply; hoping that the fuel would not hold out much longer as the morning flying period was nearly over and we were all anxious to see him land. After half an hour, however, he apparently regained enough courage and determination to make a last attempt at a landing, which turned out much more successfully than the others.

When the solo flights were more or less successfully completed the flying instruction was divided into two periods of forty-five minutes each. One of these was used for dual and the other for solo practice.

The instructor would attempt to smooth out the rough points in his students’ flying and demonstrate the method of going through new maneuvers so that the cadet could be given the opportunity to go up alone and try out the maneuvers for himself.