The only further change made in the system of instruction at the School of Aeronautics, was the introduction of the block system in October, 1918, under which forty hours were allotted to engines, twenty-seven to aerial navigation, twenty to wireless, twenty-six to rigging and thirty to artillery observation. The observers’ flight was carried on independently of the above, and the ninety hours’ instruction given to the latter on technical subjects covered all requirements.
In concluding this very brief sketch of an extremely important section of the brigade, it is desired to specially acknowledge the services of not only the instructing officers but also of the non-commissioned officers and men on the staff. It fell to the duty of many sergeants and corporals to demonstrate the principles and theories of highly technical appliances, and to demonstrate them moreover in many cases to men who were much their seniors and who had had the advantage of a modern and expensive education. It was, however, uniformly observed that the non-commissioned officers who occupied this highly responsible and difficult position, discharged their duty not only with a dignity beyond all praise, but also with an exemplary clearness based on an intimate knowledge of the subject. They were confronted very often with questions which would have confused many who laid definite claim to higher attainments, but it has not yet been found that any one of them was lacking either in the technical qualification or the power of self expression which was necessary for the satisfactory discharge of their duties. The marked improvement in the all-round ability of cadets arriving at the various flying wings after the School of Aeronautics had had time to finally find itself, is due to the excellent work done by officers and non-commissioned officers alike at this unit.
[ARMAMENT SCHOOL.]
It is a far cry from the one-time pilot who, between the vagaries of his machine, took pot shots at his opponent with a revolver or sporting rifle, to his successor of to-day armed with a machine gun that discharges bullets at the rate of 600 per minute through a four-bladed propeller revolving at the rate of 1,200 times a minute. It was, therefore, the object of instruction at the Armament School to so train the would-be pilot that he might have a thoroughly grounded knowledge of the weapons he was destined to use. The need of special tuition there given was further accentuated by the increasing pressure on the instructors at the School of Aeronautics.
In March, 1918, the O.C. proposed to the War Office that this School be set on foot immediately, and matters had been so far advanced by May that necessary construction was well under way. Here again the R.A.F., Canada, was fortunate in being the recipient of much consideration from Canadian organizations. On learning that accommodation was required for the purposes of the School, the Canadian Westinghouse Company Limited, one of the most important industrial concerns in Canada, most generously offered the use of a large factory in Hamilton free of charge, together with adjacent grounds, and shortly afterwards the brigade was further helped by permission to use the area of a 9-hole golf course immediately adjoining. This very considerate proposal was made by the Hamilton Golf Club, and was gratefully accepted.
These preliminaries successfully arranged, the matter began to move rapidly.
