ilots and
mechanics.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Some of the British statesmen flew to and from the Peace
Conference in Paris.

III

TRAINING AN AIRPLANE PILOT

Any ordinary, active man can fly. That is to say, any man with nerve
enough to take a cold bath or drive an automobile down Fifth Avenue
can maintain himself in the air with an airplane, and turn into a good
pilot with practice. In other words, the regular man who rides in the
Subway, who puts on a straw hat on May 15th or 20th, as the case may
be, has not only the right to be in the air, but owes it to himself to
learn to fly.

Any one with a reasonable amount of intelligence can be made a good
pilot. He need not hold a college degree, or even a high-school
diploma, tucked away in some forgotten place. If he has the sense of
touch of the normal man, the sense of balance of a normal man, can
skate, or ride a bicycle, he should be in the air, flying. There is a
difference between the war or army pilot and the peace-time flier yet
to be developed.

War flying calls for highly trained men, a man who has proved himself
fit for combat under all conditions, a man who can shoot straight,
think quickly, and turn immediately. He must possess a little more
than the average nerve, perhaps, or he must be trained to the point
where shooting and maneuvering are the natural reactions to certain
circumstances. He must be able to stand altitudes of 20,000 feet; he
must be quick with his machine-gun, have a knowledge of artillery, and
know, in fact, a little about everything on the front he is trying to
cover. This requires training and aptitude.

The day is coming for the man who wants to make a short pleasure
flight, or go from town to town, touring by air. He need know nothing
of machine-guns or warfare. He may never want to do anything more
hazardous in the way of maneuver than a gentle turn. His maximum
altitude would be perhaps 8,000 feet. He would in all probability be
flying a machine whose "ceiling" was 10,000 feet, and he might never
care to tour at a height higher than 2,000 feet. There is no reason
why he should go high. One can have all the thrills in the world at
2,000 feet, follow the ground more easily, without wasting time or
gasolene in attempts to fly high enough so that the earth looks like
another planet below.

Let us illustrate a bit from the Royal Air Force of Canada, which is
as good as any other example. The experience of the flying service of