The Chief Scout Talks

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1930, Page 21 (Supplement)

The Chief Scout Talks

SCOUTS AS AIRMEN. (By Lt. Gen. Lord Baden-Powell ofGilwell.) Every other Scout nowadays wants to be an airman, and I don’t blame him. ■But before you can be . a flier , you’ve got to Team a good many steps towards flying. A lot of these steps can come into your work as a Boy Scout; the Airman’s Badge gives you a good lead and a good training in the right direction. ■-'To gain an Airman’s Badge a 'Scout must make a working model of an aeroplane, or dirigible that will fly at least twenty-five yards, and have a knowledge of the theory of aeroplanes and dirigibles and their engines, and of balloons. ' One of , the very first things, if you are going to be an airman, however, is to know something about the air, and a good way of finding this out is through My brother, who is an airman, began very many years before aeroplanes ■were invented by ballooning and kiteflying. He was iso fond of ballooning that I used to call him a balloonatic (which is short for a' bally 'lunatic).

But he -also went in for kites such as would lift a man high up’into the sky.

■These i kites: came to be used in .-the. ■Army and in the smaller .mastless vessels’in the Navy for taking a man .upto get a good look-out.. Some were used' also during the Great War. , . , . SURPRISE FOR A SENTRY. ' I remember going; to dine with my' brother one night when he was camped ' with his regiment near Aidershot..’ 'He (had been flying .his • kite up ..to a date hour before dinner, and not having time to pull it down and dismantle it, he left it flying with' the string made fast to a stake. , ~ , - ~ In the darkness a sentry found the string straining away up into the sky. He took a big haul : on it but with onlya small effect. So taking a turn or two of the string round his arm in order to. get a firmer hold he gave a big pull. This was,, resented by the. kite, which “zoomed” upwards towards the moon and lifted the soldier well off his legs into mid-airl Not knowing what was happening to him the. sentry began to yell like a bull and we all hur--ried out of the mess tent to find him dangling, greatly alarmed by his adventure, but in no way damaged.

GETTING PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE.

With frequent practice in kite-flying a Scout will get to know'about the best balance and weight for kite wings, and the variations of wind, air pockets, etc., and this is all jolly useful knowledge, much of which cannot be learned from books.' 'Then he must get to know all about the build of different kinds of aeroplanes, and also know the. names of their different parts and what are their uses, aud finally have a ’good knowledge of air-plane engines. Scouts can-do, and have done, a great deal of useful/ work by knowing the different parts of the machines, and how to handle them when ou the ground, in such matters' as anchoring the machine by means of ropes.and tent pegs over the' fuselage and lower planes, nose, etc., blocking the wheels with logs and stones, and protecting the engine, propeller, etc. from the-weather and keeping a crowd.from.,touching or interfering with important parts of the rigging, etc. Over and over again airmen have been thankful for the help of Scouts trained in this way when they have had to make forced landings. Before many years-have gone by flying will be the ordinary way of travelling; so now is the time to go in for your Airman’s Badge, and begin to prepare’yourself for. a job in* the future.