WITH THE FIGHTERS OF THE 'PLANES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 12, 9 October 1917, Page 9

WITH THE FIGHTERS OF THE 'PLANES

SIDELIGHTS ON FOREIGN METHODS

FRENCH LONE HANDS

(By H. Massac Bui.st. in the "Morning J Post.") . While the manner in which the British make war in-the air lins been the subject t i of frequent discussion, it is somewhat u remarkable I hat the methods of other nations are rarely touched upon. In the p ill-important matter of initiativo the tl frencli syßteni may be described as pro- h riding the maximum opportunities for ii ;he individual airmen of extraordinary n ibility. The German military method ll lifers tho minimum of opportunities for iho individual, the main idea being to a reduce the whole scheme to a machine ivholely subordinate in the Army.AA- t parently, the German Naval Air Service j, is not kept down in quite the same way, fi aeing much on the same footing .as are 1 nur two branches of the Air Service, T vliich strike a mean between the French md the German military schemes as ° regards the opportunities offered to the individual. In the German Air Service y v greater proportion of non-commissioned, jj ifficers and men are pilots than obtains n our case. Franco also employs a « ;reater proportion of non-commissioned u >fiicers. We. have several generals in con- i lection wi,Hi our flying services, while ti ;he Germans have none. It will have J wen BO"ted that the raid on London, JJ vhich the Germans regard as quite one u >f their most important aerial essays, t ] ras under the command of a man holding u ;ho;riink of lieutenant. o ii The Star Pilot in France. o France does not promote her aviators t )6 we do. Slio encourages individual n wowess in quite another way. While i; ;he military pilot of average ability is u nuch in the position of an officer of the j! Iloyal Flying Corps, save that on the iverage he does not hold such high rank, .. i distinct feature of tho French A via- t ;ion Service in 1917 is its treatment of ; 'star turns." One need mention no names iy way of illustration. But one of the } nost brilliant is an officer who has been t (hot several times, whose nerves are seeinngly of steel, and whose skill rather in- t :reases than diminishes with the. number I >f occasions on which he issues from 1 lospitnl. This man is not only a magniicent pilot; he was, besides, born with i in astonishingly cool brain, which enables j liim single-handed successfully to attack a lumber of German aircraft. Ho is at- s ;ached to no particular squadron. In- , itead, ho is free to go at his own sweet ivill to any part of the front, from the , Belgian coast to the Swiss frontier. The j Gfermans attach so muoh importance to lim that they follow his progress from f joint to point, He has scarcely arrived t it a place before he receives the compliant of special attention on tho part of 1 Hie Hun. Ho travels in his private car i vith his chef. But it is with difficulty j ;hat ho can be persuaded to take u glass j if wine. He is practically an abstainer. s The aeroplane he uses is always special- E y built to his own idens. It is fitted ivith all manner of peculiar contrivances. ( IVhen not engaging the enomy iu flying , iiours it is his habit to take every opportunity to practise "behind the ( scenes." He will take the air in com- ■ >any. with, . say, tho chief tester of iome aircraft factory. Both will be nounted on high-speed fighting machines, [n tho early morning the tester will ly "all out," constantly .changing his di- . •ection, with tho French champion alt ho tiuio only fifty yards behind him. STbu may ask: "Vi'hy' does a man who las proved himself u past master of flyng need thus constantly to manoeuvre so?" His case is simply that of.the nusiciiin or the golfer; ho must prnctico i •pgulaily. to keen at tho top of his form. What degree- of perfection is attained nay bo judged from the fact that to sec ;heSe pilots practising in this manner lau bo likened only to two swallows 'porting. Olio reproduces tho tho other's novcmenls so quickly I hat.' tho Unman iyo only regards both as changing direcii ,synchronism; To an onlooker u iiVonoh champion .pursuing i tho liilo'l vith whom he is practising scorns to anicipato his every move, diving, vising, lying to left or right, circling, and.so 'orth in perfect time, nil at speeds iu ■ ho neighbourhood of two miles a. minuto )r mow. Thorn is no,chance- of escape, [fc is practice ibothin quickness ■ of .hought and of action. When you have mo eyo left only, the game becomes iomothing tlio skitl of which oven imagnation fails to appraise fully. Without ittempting tho task oneself one isunable o judge concerning its exceeding •. iu.ricacy. Two Types. ■ One day this champion pilot elected to :omo where the British were. Within ;wenty-four hours of his arrival the snoniy was on. the alert foe him. l'ho Germans, .sent up ten 'machines a catch him.. Single-handed ho'sot out 'or them and promptly brought down hree. But four of the remaining.pilots nanaged to act in combination for a nonient. with tho/result thai,, to hiswn:oncealed annoyance, he was fain to uake a forced landing. Unlike ' the ihauipion pilots of fiction, of course your ■eal one does not bear a charmed life. Instead, the whole merit of his achievement, is that ho .has merely ordinary luck,' yet manages, on the one hand, to ivoid capture, and, on the other, to run up tho amazing avorage' scoro which stands to his credil. The great point ot iffe pilot in question.is his extraordinirv clearness and rapidity of thought. His' amazing ability, to weigh up. a situation and dovisc fresh tactics, putting them into operation on. the instant, utterly disconcerts tho enemy, your airman who is capablo of u single "stunt only may score successes with it for a. while, but his end is inevitable; whereas your airman of inexhaustible inventive resourco remains a perpetual puzzle to the enemy, who never knows what ho will be about next. When meeting him the Hun anticipates always that each manoeuvre, no matter how tempting tho opportunty for attack it offers, nevertheless has been thought, out so thoroughly 1 that the very temptation'itself conceals a. cunningly prepared .1 rap. Another class, of uselul I'ronch pilot is tho unmistakable Apache type. Such a man could not, .of course, win a commission in the republican Array. Omv champion.in this category '«.?*«"»'* !™ a particular typo of tail-first dive, ending in a special sort of corkscrew hmible. The effect of this manoeuvre. when engaging an enomy is paralysing. One Sevor knows how to deal with a maohine which appears to bo out ot control, buit which may come at 5011 m some utterly unforeseen way at any moment This particular dive is peculiar to one pilot. A first-class young British pilot imitated it onco. Tne iM.ilt w a smash for by no means everything in tho matter of "shmt" flying can lie limited by other pilot* of unlimited nerve and uncommon skill.' Some of the ■imstunts" are really made possible K" «f 11* peculiar coiistrt.cion of ..the brain of tho individual ho devises them. This combination of iaildiyo and corkscrew is among such.