Page 4-
THE BATTALION
-THURSDAY MORNING, APRIL 30, 1942
9 New Air
Schools For
Texas by July
Bomber Crews,
Pursuit Pilots Will
Be Trained at Fields
HDQS Gulf Coast Air Corps
Training Center, April 29. — By
mid-summer Texas will have nine
more airfields for training Air
Crew members and pursuit pilots,
Major General Hubert R. Harmon,
commander of the Gulf Coast Air
Corps: Training Center announced
today.
In trend with the heavier pres
sure for training of Air Crew
members to man bombers, the
Army Air Force’s most effective,
long arm weapon, the Training
Center announced additional
schools for bombardiers will be
activated at San Angelo, which al
ready has a basic school and Big
Springs, Advanced twin-engine
pilot schools are in the plans for
Lubbock and Waco, which already
have training schools in operation.
A new school for navigators is to
be set up at Hondo, 40 miles west
of San Antonio. The Center’s only
navigation school now is at Kelly
Field. It will be transferred to
Hondo when the station there is
ready. Kelly also gives advanced
pilot training.
Down on the coast where they
will have the Gulf of Mexico to
shoot into, pursuit plane gunners
from the four single-engine schools
will be trained on gunnery ranges
at Matagorda Island and Mata
gorda Peninsula.
Company or group banquets
up to 100 persons
/PHONE 2-1501
LA SALLE HOTEL
BRYAN, TEXAS
Wing Tip to Wing Tip Over the Eagles’ Nest
Returning from a formation mission, Uncle Sam’s embryo eagles sweep over the “West Point of the
Air” before settling to their aerial formation flying, as well as night flying, instrument work,
cross-country missions, and precision flying are included in the 70 hours Aviation Cadets spend in
sleek 450-horsepower basic training planes at Randolph Field, Texas. Completing this basic stage,
cadets can look forward to a brief ten weeks of advanced training, after which they receive their
wings and a commission in the Army Air Corps.
Flying Cadets Have Terms
Similar to Aggie "Slanguage”
Although the Corps of Flying
Cadets does not have the back
ground of A. & M.’s generations
of students, a true espirit d’corps
has been built up and is continuing
to grow daily.
The language of the Flying Ca
dets is dotted with highly colorful
expressions, new ones being added
as the occasion arises. “It’s the
slang of today that’s accepted to-
Patronize Our Agent In Your Outfit.
DYERS" FUR STORAGE HATTERS
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CASH & CARRY
D. M.
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NORTH GATE
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IT’S GRADUATION TIMES
AT CALDWELL’S JEWELRY STORE
Diamonds, Watches, Gifts
Of All Kinds . . . Aggie Jewelry
—If It’s New We Have It—
♦
Caldwell’s Jewelry Store j
Bryan
Come In Today To Have Us Make
YOUR PHOTOGRAPH
Your Mother Will Appreciate It
On
MOTHER’S BAY '
Aggieland Studio
—Photographs of Distinction—
HOMING DEVICE ... A fur
lough or leave of absence.
BLACK WEDNESDAY . . .
Calesthenics with rifles on
that day.
COUNTRY CLUB . . . Ran
dolph Field.
BIRD DOGGING . . . When a
lower classman dances with
an upper classman’s date.
GET EAGER . . . To strive to
, the utmost.
RAT . . . Balls of lint that sud
denly appear on the floor;
most noticeable when a cadet
is standing at attention during
an inspection of his room.
MICE . . . Little “Rats.”
SPIN IN ... Go to bed, take a
nap.
TAKE OFF ... To 1 leave at a
high rate of speed.
RAUNCHY ... A name applied
> to anything that is dirty or in
bad shape.
WASH OUT ... To be eliminat
ed from flight training.
WASHING MACHINE . . .
The Flight Commander’s air
plane.
THE “GREY GHOST” ... The
Stage Commander’s airplane,
so named because it’s the last
plane one rides in before be
ing washed out.
PUSH BUTTON PILOTS . . .
Those cadets who are assign
ed to Flights using the BT-
14’s, differentiating from
those cadets who train on the
more elderly BT-9’s.
ROLL UP YOUR FLAPS . . .
Stop talking.
SUGAR REPORT ... A letter
from a Cadet’s girl friend.
TAXI UP . . . Come here.
MISTER . . . The name every
Cadet is known by from the
day he arrives at Randolph
Field.
CADET WIDOW ... A young
lady who has known Flying
Cadets for several classes.
BUNK FLYING . . . Talking
aviation while in the barracks.
“DRIVE IT IN THE HANGAR”
. . . “Let’s stop bunk flying.”
STORM . . . Excited Cadet’s
condition: when he doesn’t
know what he is doing he is
in a storm.
DAWN PATROLLING . . .
Arising before reveille.
DODO TOM . . . Janitor of B
Company, whose service dates
back to 1922 at Brooks Field
but has never been in an air
plane.
DODO . . . Name given to Fly
ing Cadet until he has soloed.
GIG . . . Demerit.
RIDING THE BEAM . . . Gaz
ing at the ceiling after violat
ing a custom in the Mess Hall.
World’s First
Military Flight Was
ByGCACTCHead
Wright Brothers Taught
General Dahn How to Fly,
Sold Initial Ship to Govt
RANDOLPH FIELD, April 29.
—On a crisp October morning in
1909 Wilbur Wright, smiling
broadly, stepped out of the bam-
boo-and-wire biplane he and Or
ville had sold to the United States
Army. He motioned to the young
lieutenant, who slid into the pilot’s
seat.
“Go ahead and take it up,” Wil
bur Wright said.
Six words had founded Air
Corps flight training and set the
pattern for three decades of flying
instructors.
The young lieutenant who heed
ed Wilbur Wright and made the
world’s first military solo flight 32
years ago, is now the new Com
manding General of the Gulf
Coast Air Corps Training Center
—Major General Frank P. Lahm.
“A man never forgets his first
solo,” General Lahm recalls. “Mine
lasted for 13 minutes and consist
ed of slow circles 100 feet above
an open field—at a top speed of
42 miles per hour. But I was as
alone as a man can be.”
Wilbur Wright taught the entire
course, under a contract between
the Signal Corps and the Wright
brothers. Lt. Frederick E. Hum
phreys was the other young stu
dent-officer. After both had solo
ed, the flying lieutenants gave
each other an “advanced course.”
General Lahm even found the
spot near College Park, Md., that
was to become an Air Corps
shrine.
“During a balloon flight,” he
said, “I sighted an open field
which looked big enough for a
start. We hauled the Army’s first
airplane by horse and wagon from
Fort Myer, Virginia, skipping the
automobile age entirely.”
The Wrights smoothed out the
worst ground bumps, put up a shed
that served as hangar and set to
work. By 1941 standards, the plane
resembled a skeleton that quiver
ed. It had wings, tail, propeller
and a framework fuselage. Pilot
and passenger sat facing the tail-
surface with the propeller behind
them. Unless the weather was per
fect, they didn’t fly at all.
To start the plane, a gasoline-
soaked rag was held over the air
intake. Two men cranked the pro
peller. The pilot adjusted the spark
—his only control over the engine
in flight.
■ Pilot and passenger sat side by
side. Each had an elevator control,
and between them was one rudder
control. This stick also' was used
in “warping” the flexible wings to
keep the ship level. Ailerons didn’t,
exist.
When Wilbur Wright told Gen
eral Lahpo to “Go ahead and take
it up,” the GCACTC’s future Com
mander had had but three hours
of dqal instruction—probably an
other record.
“I needed no urging,” General
Lahm said. “Sliding into the pilot’s
seat, I tried to remember last-
minute instructions. I advanced
the spark, and the plane quivered
and took off. Not on wheels, of
course. The plane slid along a 60-
foot monorail, tilted upward to
give a ‘lift’ at take-off.
“Then I was flying alone, won
dering whethei; the 35-horsepower
engine would behave.” It did. The
fledgling pilot circled the field
several times, shut off the engine,
glided bumpily home—on skids.
The Air Corps was born.
Precisioned Pursuiters to Be
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Wheels tucked up, props in high pitch, cadet-piloted advanced single-motored training planes form
“a stairway to the stars” at 200 miles per! Lead-spitting interceptors will be the next planes these
Kelly Field cadets will step into after winning their wings today.
Cadet Life at "West Point
Of the Air'” Moves Rapidly
Every five weeks heat little ar
row signs, reading “Cadets” blos
som forth for a couple of days at
Randolph Field street intersec
tions, guiding a convoy of taxi
cabs, convertibles and busses to
cadet headquarters. Pours forth
some 400 fledgling pilots, some in
khaki uniforms, some in civvies,
carrying duffle bags and golf
clubs.
A new class of aviation cadets
is reporting at the “West Point of
the Air.”
Ex-sailors and mid-western
farmers, oil field workers and law
yers, former Army enlisted men
and college graduates, they’ve
heard the call of the aviation ca
dets and are en route to their
“wings” and Air Corps commis
sions. They’ve completed their ten-
week primary trailing at one of
the 16 primary schools in the Gulf
Coast Air Corps Training Center
and are ready for the second third
of their march toward “wings.”
Newly appointed cadet officers,
resplendent with shining sabres,
chosen from the class which re
ported five weeks previously, are
on hand, ready to assign new ar
rivals to their quarters in the four
cadet barracks. In rapid succession
come a trip to the barber shop
for the hair cut, in cadet phrase
ology, “a Randolph rip,” inocula
tions, and then the issue of under
wear, garrison caps, helmets and
goggles, shirts, shoes and cover
alls.
In the cadet tailor shop, the stu
dent pilots are measured for tail
or-made trousers, but the distin
guishing dress of underclassmen
for the first week or so is khaki
coveralls. For dress, this is aug
mented with the blue garrison cap,
adorned with Air Corps insignia
and white dress gloves.
A cadet first captain, chosen for
military appearance and alertness,
becomes the regimental command
er. Two other captains head the
first and second battalions. Each
company, A, B, C, D, E, F, G and
H, has a cadet captain in com
mand, who is assisted by four
lieutenants.
Cadet captains are named as
regimental adjutant and regi
mental supply officer, and cadet
lieutenants serve as adjutant and
supply officer in each of the two
battalions. Non-commissioned ca
det officers include a cadet ser
geant major for each battalion, a
first sergenat and supply sergeant
fox each company and corporals
for each of the six squads com
prising a company.
Two upperclassmen are named
as color sergeants, one to carry
the national colors and the other
the standard of the regiment of
aviation cadets of the “West Point
of the Air.” These two men, plus
two color corporals armed with
rifles, comprise the color guard,
present at all ceremonies and re
views.
In the ten weeks, the aviation
cadets spend over 100 hours in the
classroom, 30 hours in code, three
hours in radio communication, 30
hours in weather, eight hours in
navigation, 10 hours in military
law and 20 hours- in airplane and
engine operation.
A sergeant drum major directs
the drum and bugle corps, with a
sergeant assistant, a sergeant
bugler and sergeant drummer,
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by letting us serve you
the best food in town.
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CAMPUS GLEANERS
Over Exchange Store New “Y”
Summer
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Be comfortable and well-groomed in a white double-
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can get in these smart summer formals.
$20.00
Arrow Tux Shirts
Arrow Tux Ties
Hickok Tux Button Sets
Interwoven Tux Socks
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