You, if you have certain definite qualifications, can help in the building.
The qualifications are simple and concise. They are:
(1) Good health and a strong body.
(2) A common-school education, or better.
(3) An interest in mechanics and a flair for adventure.
If you have these things, and with them an impelling desire to pioneer in a virgin field, aviation offers you an opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Of course, everyone cannot be a pilot or a flyer any more than every man on the baseball team can be the pitcher. For every person in the air there must be at least ten men doing work on the ground, and many of you will find your opportunity there.
Aircraft companies will need Aeronautical Engineers, Mechanics, Motor Experts, Airplane Builders and Designers, Assemblers, Salesmen—and as the industry develops the need for men trained in this field will increase, just as it did in the automotive industry. And aviation is growing by leaps and bounds.
The second question—how to learn aviation and get a job in the flying game—is more complex and more difficult to answer. It would be best to divide the answer in two parts; (1) for the fellow who can afford to take a course in aviation instruction; and (2) for the fellow who has to make his way while he learns.
If you have between $500.00 and $1,000.00 dollars to spend, you can take a complete training in the theory and practice of aviation; and with this training you should be able to get a job that will repay your investment—and with interest. There are hundreds of schools and private operators who can teach you the business of flying. Several of our leading colleges offer technical courses for more advanced students. There are even organizations that offer courses in aeronautics by correspondence. The prospective student has a wide choice.
Air Stories will be glad to help you in the selection of a school to meet your own requirements if you say the word.
If you have to make your way while you learn, you might well consider the chance that is offered young men interested in aviation by the United States Army Air Corps.
The soldiers of the Army Air Corps are offered intensive courses which not only qualify them for specialists’ ratings and higher non-commissioned officer grades, but also give them a training that should enable them to make their way in commercial aviation after their enlistment is expired. There is also the opportunity for soldiers to gain appointment as Flying Cadets. The Flying Cadet’s course qualifies the student as an expert pilot. At the conclusion of this course the student is honorably discharged from the Army and becomes eligible to take examination for an officer’s commission in the Reserve Corps.