THE LOOP.
THE LOOP.
CLASS INSTRUCTION.
GUNNERY IN TEXAS.
Before moving to Texas many American cadets had nearly finished their training. Their first flights in their own country were over aerodromes situated amid open territory with no timber and comparatively flat. Excellent material these men, the best the U.S. could supply, most of them fresh from great American universities, young, keen and quick to learn. There were very few who did not turn out excellent pilots. The supply of machines was satisfactory, the standard of flying was good, and daily acrobatics took place. Formation flying was popular. On one occasion a formation of six machines, all piloted by newly graduated cadets, were seen to loop several times consecutively, retaining their formation, a most unusual performance at that time at any aerodrome in the United States.
A summing up of the work in Texas shows a total of 67,000 flying hours between November 17th and April 12th, spent in turning out 1,960 pilots trained and partly trained, both U.S. and R.F.C. Besides these, 69 non-flying officers and 4,150 men were trained in their respective duties. The flying fatalities were 1.88% of pilots trained—an excellent record. The medical percentage is equally good, showing 3% incapacitated from all causes.
Flying conditions were found to differ somewhat from those in Canada. The atmosphere was much dryer and less buoyant. Calm air was the exception, despite the comparatively flat country. The temperature range was much wider, and on the arrival of a “norther,” the air became chilled with extraordinary rapidity, the thermometer dropping from 70 to 20 degrees Fah. in a couple of hours. This sudden drop was more trying to many than the colder but steadier temperature of higher latitudes. Texas, though presumed a dry state, departed this winter from its custom, and suffered heavy rainfalls and even snow, which reduced the aerodromes at times to a drab plain surfaced with a sticky blanket of mud, from which undercarriages and propellers suffered grievously at times. No less than 40 propellers were broken in one morning, and the average for one month was 10 per day. So troublesome was the mud that finally the brigade was forced to adopt the use of wire mesh mud guards. No provision had been made for sub-draining any of the fields. These periods, however, were but occasional. For the rest, the winter was one of favorable weather with high, clear skies, dotted from daylight till dark with innumerable machines.