Learning to fly in the U.S. Army

by E. N. Fales

Guide Posts on Airdromes.—Some fields have pot holes in them, and these holes should be marked in each case with a large high red or yellow flag. Do not use short, small flags, as they will frequently be invisible to pilots taxying on the ground. All telephone wires, etc., should have large blankets or other suitable signals hung over them to warn the pilot away.

Commonly accepted marks for designating a landing spot on airdromes are as follows:

For day use a large letter “T” lying on the ground, made out of white cloth strips 15 by 3 ft. This letter T is shifted with the wind so that its long leg always points in the direction of the wind and the pilot will therefore have nothing to do in landing but approach the letter “T” from the bottom, so to speak.

For night flying a system of four flares is used, so arranged that the pilot in making a proper landing will pass flare A on his left; within 50 yd. further on, flare B; then 100 yd. further on, flare C, also on his left. In passing flare C he will have a fourth flare, D, 50 yd. to his right. That is to say, the four flares make the outline of a letter “L” and the pilot approaches the letter having the long leg on his left. The flares may be made by putting half a gallon of gasoline into a pail. This will burn for 30 min. and will be visible 8 miles away. Sometimes at night instead of flares white sheets can be spread on the ground and a shaded lamp used to illuminate the sheets.

All searchlights on the landing field should point in the direction of landing. All other lights within a distance of a mile should be extinguished, and red lamps should be used at danger points.

On moonlight nights the same signals and guides may be used as in the daytime.

Pegging Down an Airplane.—In landing for the night do not stay up until it gets dark but choose a landing place which will allow you to come down 1 hr. before dark; this amount of time will be needed for laying up the machine over night. As you come to the landing ground note the time so that you can compute the actual duration of your flight in your report, then make a good landing. Taxy the machine to the spot where you intend to leave it over night, such as the lee of a hedge, etc.; or if there is no choice of position taxy the machine to the approximate location from which you will make your start next morning; this will save trouble when you get ready to start.

Dismount from your machine, lift up the tail enough to leave the wings edgewise to the wind, the machine, of course, facing the wind, and jack up the tail in this position by the use of any convenient prop. Lash the control wheel or joy stick fast in a fixed position so that the wind can not flap the control surfaces around and damage them.

Choose a sunken trench if possible in which the wheels may be sunk; if the wind is going to blow and there is no sunken trench it will be wise to dig one so that the effect of the wind on the airplane will be lessened. If the trench is not necessary, at least put chocks under the wheels. Peg down the wings and the tail to stakes driven into the ground using rope if you can get some or lacking this in an emergency fence wires which you can secure by means of your wire cutters. Do not lash tightly enough to induce strains in the framework of the machine.

Next, fill up the tanks if a supply of gasoline or oil is available. Put the covers on the propellers, engine, cowls, etc., in order that rain and dew shall do no damage to these parts. The wings and body are varnished waterproof and will not be seriously damaged by a little moisture; to avoid the collection of moisture in the wings small eyelet holes are sometimes set in the wings at the trailing edge to let out the water.