But just as he anticipated, Tom had to start at the bottom of the ladder again, and undo much that he had already learned. As for Jack, he began to despair of ever being able to master the intricate education that every French air pilot must pass through before he is allowed to go to the front.
Each one entering the school is placed where it is believed he will do the most effective work. One applicant may be better qualified to man a bombing plane than for the more dangerous calling of a fighting unit, where great dexterity and lightning-like quickness in making a decision mean everything.
The bombing planes are much larger and slower, for, as a rule, when going out on a long trip to damage the enemy’s lines of communication these are fully protected by guards in the shape of Nieuport pilots, who will defend them against the enemy airmen, if such should rise to waylay them.
Tom went forward with astonishing rapidity. Day after day he was in the air, and his instructor took the greatest interest in his rapid progress, for he felt he had what he called a “prodigy” on his hands. He realized that unless some unfortunate accident cut Tom’s career short, the Lafayette Escadrille would soon receive another recruit whose record in time might equal that of any of its most shining lights, some of whom had already given their lives to the service of France.
The youths found that making successful landings was a very important factor in the education of an aviator, and had often to be attempted under difficult conditions. Clumsiness at this has played havoc with many a bright pupil’s hopes, and even taken lives as its toll.
From one class Tom passed into another. Jack strove earnestly to keep abreast of his more accomplished chum, and was doing very well, but still fell far behind Tom’s record. Indeed, the marvelous manner in which Tom Raymond climbed the ladder made him the talk of the camp. The Americans there were proud of Tom. They believed that, given time, he was fated to become one of their best and most famous flyers; and none of them, placing the service far ahead of his own personal hopes, showed the least jealousy because of his rapid promotion.
Various types of machines were given to Tom to handle, and he seemed to be perfectly at home with them all. It was “born in him,” as his genial instructor explained it, and everybody agreed that he was a wonder.
Eventually he was allowed to mount to a very high altitude, further than he had ever gone before, so that the snow-capped Pyrenees seemed on a level with his machine.
His first trial at such a high altitude flight was exciting enough, though its successful accomplishment soon made it an easy task. In the little Nieuport he mounted to the great height. Then the machine was made to dive rapidly for a short distance, after which Tom gave a sharp pull on the controls, forcing the machine to climb suddenly, at the same time shutting off the motor.
When the little plane lost its speed, it fell over backwards. Just at the proper second, when the machine had reached the line of diving, Tom turned on the spark and once more resumed his flight, to repeat the experiment again and again until it became an old story with him.