ROYAL AIR FORCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 102, 27 October 1936, Page 19

ROYAL AIR FORCE

TESTING RECRUITS

THE PHYSICAL DEMANDS

Britain is. getting the pick of her young m.snhQ.od fpr 'the Royal Air Force, says a spe.Qi.al correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph." Mentally, every successful candidate for a short service commission in the R.AJp., for_ direct entry as an airman, pilot, yr for direct entry to the Reserve, must be thoroughly alert, and physically he must be practically perfect. I discovered this when I presented myself for examination by the No. 2 R.A.F. Medical Board at Astor House, Aldwych. Although I have recently been passed aa'a first-class "life" and have passed my tests for the "A" class civil pilot's licence, I was failed f. QV a short-service commission in the R.A.F, Years ago I received a slight gash on my left eyeball. With both eyes opea my vision is excellent, but when my rfght eye is covered there is 9 Slight' blurring, ''' ,; i /_. I did. not disclose this, blemish, and I tried to cheat by peeping over the top of the disc covering my perfect eye. For a time I succeeded in my subterfuge, and was able, to name the letters shown on a distant ch,»rt. But my examiner had my eyes under pfe* servation through & powerful eyeglass and was not satisfied. ■ He, asked me how I h.ad been able to distinguish the letters with my left eye, and I had to confess ray fraud. No deception is. possible under that search, ing test. ■ . . ; .' . ■ . . BLOOD KIESSURE TAKIN, Then a young doctor toofc jne in hand. I stripped, and was weighed and measured. My blood pressure w«* taken, and searching tests were made for any physical defect*. . Then I was "asked to fill my lungs and exhale through a tube so as to force n column of. mercury up,to a certain height. I was told to continue exhaling and to keep the column of merevwy steady at that height. I have won long diving competitions by swimming up to geventyfive yards under water, and thought that I would j pass this test easily.: The young doctor wa^ not greatly impressed, and told me to try again. ' '• ' My lung capacity and the force of I my respiration was being drastically tested. At the same time my pulse reaction? were being carefully observed. ; "' '. .. .' ■ ■'.' . '■ Without commenting on my performance, the doctor- asked jne/. to stand on one foot and shut my eyeg, ; To pass the R.A.F. examination one's balance has to be very good indeed. I swayed slightly, ■; ■' ; ' ■ StOW SPIN TE»T. Then my reactions to a glow spin were tested. I sat in a revolving chair and was spun round lor about half a minute. The spin, was suddenly stopped. Some candidates , after this test lurch giddily from the chair. They are rejected, or tried out »gaw ?lter being tested as a passenger in a machine in flight. I was tested for giddiness almost Immediately the <?hair stopped, and came through that satisfactorily. The length of my legs was measured, to make sure that I could manipulate the rudder on a service machine. Next, my hearing was:tested very carefully. Among other things, my ears were subjected to.tests intended to show my reactions .to sudden changes in altitude. An inspection of the. throat concluded an examination that had lasted nearly, two hours, ■ , As ,1 had already supplied a. full medical, history of myself and given some particulars of my. family's medical history, I felt that there ,was little the medial board did not know about me physically, -. , t . The manner of the varJ* ous doctors who had examined me had been excellent, I had been, made..ft feel quite at ease throughout. I..expected to get a glowing report—apart from the little matter of my left eye, I was told that physically I bad passed, but the president of the board hazarded the opinion that I had not yet had my annual holiday, and, further, that though I normally did a lot of swimming, I had not done much for the past year. He was perfectly right in both assumptions. The RA.F- medical examination fa th« nsoft- wmtchlnt I> hav*^w»if tHMSergona* , _