R.A.F. Can.—Crash Comparison Showing Effect of Introduction of the Armour Heights System
And if it should be asked why those phases of the system which may be termed its humanities are of so recent development, the answer lies in the fact that what is termed “air sense” called for an investigation of personal phenomena in respect of which science had not a single landmark. Men watched the bird curving its wings to invisible gales, and hazarded numberless theories. Early machines were tricky compared to their successors. They lacked present efficiency, reliability and simplicity. The sum total of the powers of the pilot were busy meeting mechanical difficulties, and there was little opportunity for excursions into the psychology of the new art. The honour of service is equal, but the pilots sent overseas by the R.A.F., Can., in 1918, have in comparison with the pilots of 1914 a vastly superior technical and mental training. They have advanced step by step with the world’s knowledge of the air.
To reduce it to a sentence, the system of to-day turns out a pilot who is subdivided, so to speak, into two sections. One is subjective and does the flying. The other is objective, free for retreat or pursuit, defence or attack or any of the countless situations of aerial warfare which call for swift and fearless action.
[SCHOOL OF SPECIAL FLYING.]
The Armour Heights special course for instructors commenced on or about April 1st, 1918, with one squadron detailed for duty. As will be inferred, this was the direct outcome of the adoption and further development by the R.A.F., Canada, of the method of tuition known as the Gosport system, then in use in Great Britain.
It might be well to explain that the Armour Heights course differs in important respects from the instruction given in England. Up till the present, it was not considered that the JN4 machine, as used, was capable of performing all higher manoeuvres, such as rolling, looping, etc. It had therefore been, so to speak, set aside by the British authorities for what might be called lower training. The higher and more difficult evolutions had been reserved until the pilot went overseas and was trained in the use of fast, service machines. With the Canadian JN4, however, all the higher manoeuvres were now performed by speed and not by engine power. This naturally necessitated considerable dexterity of manipulation.
By the first of July, ninety-five instructors were passed out of the School. On this date a second squadron was absorbed for the purpose of tuition and the School of Special Flying came into existence, with thirty-six machines and an average of twelve instructors.