Merced Army Flying School - Yearbook (Merced, CA)

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Capfain C. Def. Chandler and Lieufenanf Roy T. Kirfland-in Wrighf Type B airplanes wifh Lewis machine gun, June 7, l9I2.- -4 :- cn Y! - ui 'Q' 3 ar n :- I m sa : I rn 4 rn -r :T -Q m a. 'PI -1 O 3 nr :. 'fl nr :s m A C m 1: -Q- cn I nr 2 -.- X :. -.- . A . 'N I R Wilma, land was pilof for fesfl. N V 3 N-1'-Y for fhis parficular lype of fraining. The Flying Training Command also provides for inslruclion in fixed and flexible gunnery. 3. The TECHNICAL TRAINING -COMMAND. The firsf efforf fo lrain Army aviafion mechanics syslemafically was during lhe early days of The World War, ulilizing sfafe universifies and civil fechnical schools. The sysfem was a failure, due fo +he large cosfs involved, as well as ofher reasons. Therefore, fhe Avialion Seclion, Signal Corps, esfab- lished schools a+ Sf. Paul, Minnesola, and af Kelly Field, Texas. The Kelly Field school was disconfinued affer 'lhe Armisfice. ln l92l lhe school was moved lc Chanufe Field, Illinois, and in l922 fhe Phofographic School, al' Langley Field, and 'lhe Communica- 'rions School, af Forl' Sill, were consolidafed wifh if. The school oufgrew ifs area, and in l935 anofher sife was soughf for a second school, and a second school was esfablished a+ Lowry Field, near Denver, Colorado. The presenr expansion program of Army Avialion has necessilafed +he furlher expansion of fhe mechanic lraining program in order lo provide lhe ever-increasing Air Forces wil'h an adequale supply of lrained mechanics, parficularly in view of lhe facl' fhal' engines and equipmenl are consfanfly becoming more complex as well as pro- gressively more modern. The Technical Training 'Command provides fechnical fraining for Army Air Forces personnel no'l frained by fhe Flying Training Com- mand. Under fhis cafegory came nof only ground crew personnel, Lieufenanf Henry H. Arnold in Wrighr B airplane, College Park, Maryland, I9l l.

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is I' I Army Air Forces, seven greaT commands compose The lasf sfages of Air Forces' preparafion for combaf uniTs. IT may be of inTeresT To ouTline The funcfions of These various Commands. I. The MATERIAL COMMAND. Experimenfal aviafion acTiviTies, which were carried on aT Washingfon by a few Technicians prior To The World War, were concenfrafed aT DayTon, Ohio, on November 5, I9I7, under The command of 'Colonel V. E, Clark, Signal Corps. The labora- Tories, IocaTed aT McCook Field, were supplemenfed by offices in Dayfon. In I926 The Air Service became The Air Corps and The funcfions of supply, procuremenT and mainTenance of aircrafT were added To This division, and The name changed To MaTeriel Division. The IocaTion of The division was changed from McCook Field To Wrighf Field in I926. The Maferiel Division has figured direcTly or indirecTIy in nearly all imporTanT aircrafT developmenfs, commercial as well as milifary. IT is The greaT experimenfal and Tesfing branch of The Air Force and includes, among iTs many accomplishmenfs, superchargers, The Whirl- wind engine, use of eThyIene glycol for high TemperaTure cooling, high ocTane gasoline, vibraTion conTrol, meTal propellers, nighT and insTrumenT flying, haze peneTraTing film for aerial phofography, nighT and color phoTography, and many oTher developmenTs. 2. The FLYING TRAINING COMMAND. While The Headquarfers of The Air Corps Training Cenfer began To funcfion aT Duncan Field, San AnTonio, Texas, in I936, flying Training in The Army has been confinuous aImosT since The purchase of The firsT Wrighf airplane in I909. The firsT Army flying school was esfablished aT 'College Park, Mary- land, in OcTober, I909. LieuTenanT Frank P. Lahm and Frederick E. Humphreys were The firsT sTudenTs of The Wrighf brofhers. LieuTenanT Lahm IaTer became a Brigadier General and commanded The Training CenTer from iTs incepTion in Sepfember, I926, unfil Augusf 3I, I930. This veTeran flyer is now Air Officer of The Second Corps Area aT Governors Island, New York, Among The firsT five Army aviafors were LieuTenanT H. H. Arnold, now LieuTenanT General. Among Them also was LieuTenanT Beniamin D. Foulois, now Maior General, reTired. General Foulois became a Brigadier General aT The age of 38 as Chief of The Air Service of The FirsT Army, American ExpediTionary Force. He became a Maior General and Chief of The Air Corps on December 20, I93I. The funcTion of The flying Training Command is, of course, To co- ordinafe and direcf The immense iob of providing officers and men for The vasTIy expanding Air Forces. In order To accomplish This wiTh The greaTesT efficiency and To eIiminaTe The possibilify of adminisTra- Tive boTTlenecks, General Arnold seT up The Flying Training Command, as if now exisTs, under The command of Maior General Barfon K. Younf, wiTh headquarfers aT ForT Worfh, Texas. This command is divided in Three greaf regional Training areas, one in The SouTl'leasT, one in The Gulf CoasT region, and one in The SouThwesT. All of These regional Training areas are complefe wiThin Themselves, providing Their own Recepfion Cenfers, Replacemenf Cenfers, Primary, Basic, and Advanced Schools lfor pilot Traineesl, and NavigaTor Schools. Bombardier Trainees, however, are all senf To schools locafed in The Soufhwesfern parT of The counTry, where weaTher condifions are besf ,.f1..,,i-,- ..g','.f,s-wx 1 .cf ,. , V, T, f,,..-QM-.4 -'L-A 1 ,-we-'A-,-awil-fingers'f'3za'.Arriva'-vbsylv,'Q-'M 'sfg1aZ-2'f faX1' K- ' K' -M 'rr 1, ,...,,,.g. ...,,-3,1 45.4,-Ai... Q, V, , .,,,.,,,,,,.6,,,--.,-. ,,,,.,v. sr gag, gm-.1...,.:rr rr. 1-,.1m- : .A , . ,.e.Qweeefaavaaaeaiasrmaseseemrf.r.Saewi'..ff.:wmf-aemwMwwamiMQ.wasiwxv-wemeaiieegciivmxsaesefiw v - f..f.,....aeM.,.... I I -- we--car -' 'i 'J T' 'r'T'1:1 .'T:r:f'T:' 1. fi-'-'from I ww! ffrfj,-fri ff' 'Tig zyijffsive' 5v.z5tv7'1r:::fff:m+':-'rs's:f-gg?gffgj,w?'Z'g'321ggf?7Q'K1'!Qg1j+e'rj42,':sff'r'G:-1j'g-I gg,-lgsayfee-52-755-1 ' 'f' I V - - '.,pId'3,. ., '4.,f:,5a e..ef5fi',......'-''fifilz-i....fPalLs?..i,.k4Lsse::..-.e..gii.f,1' .1 ' eg... -. 1 4: Top PicTure: 2I3Th Aero Squadron, Second Army--Enlisfed Men. BoTTom PicTure: Officers and Planes-N I3 PursuiT Squadron, Third Pursuif Group. QA 1 A is ,,,,.,

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Il' such as mechanics, but also such aircrew members as the aerial engi- neer and communications officer. 4. The AIR TRANSPORT COMMAND, as discussed previously, is concerned with air transport, for military use all over the world. 5. The AIR SERVICE COMMAND operates air depots, repairs air- craft, and distributes aircraft, equipment, and supplies to air units in the United States. 6, The TROOP TRANSPORT COMMAND transports air-borne troops and equipment, parachute troops and equipment, and tows troop- and cargo-carrying gliders. 7. The PROVING GROUND COMMAND operates proving grounds to test aircraft and equipment. AIR COMBAT It is quite probable that it is entirely too soon to attempt to define the role of the airplane in relation to the other combat forces of a nation. In spite of that fact there has been raging, and indeed still goes on, a debate between those who feel that air power has to a large extent superceded sea power and even land power as the deciding element in modern warfare, and those who feel that this extreme theory has yet to be supported by actual facts. There are mists who argue, like the Russian designer Seversky and the Iian General Douhet, that the day of the surface fleet is over, and that the future wars will be decided by the relative merits of the air forces of the combatants. On the other hand, we have the sure evidence of the failure of bombing alone either to permanently disrupt the war effort of a country or to terrorize its civilians into demands that its government surrender. In neither the Spanish Civil War nor n this war, up until the present, has it been possible for the advocates of air power alone to prove their contentions. At the same time it must be granted that no nation has as yet been able tkmount the type of air attack envisioned by those who hold that it will be air power that will decide the war. It seems likely, however, that this theory will be given a thorough test before the war is done. Certainly it is true that the conception of the airplane has already undergone a remarkable series of changes since the beginning of the World War, when it was regarded not in the light of a combat weapon at all. Indeed the first airplanes used in the World War were almost always of one type, a two-seater designed for reconnaissance work. As the war progressed specialization appeared and a class of air- Wright airplane-First plane in Philippine Islands at Fort McKinley. I9I2-Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm, pilot. ff- f . . L .tae .. ,.. ...1 'k planes designed first for air fighting, then for bombing, appeared, Several nations, prior to the war, had experimented with the arming of aircraft with machine guns, but on the outbreak of the war no plane on the front was so armed. Rifles, carbines, pistols, and hand grenades were carried by the pilot and observer, The tactics of air fighting were rudimentary. The pilots simply flew close to the enemy and when within range the pilot and the observer blazed away with any weapon they happened to have handy. ln the summer of I9l5, belligerents began to mount machine guns in the planes, usually on a swivel bar at the back of the observer's seat. The observer could only fire the gun backwards toward the tail of the plane, firing over the pilot's head, which made for a very restricted zone of fire. This necessitated that in order to fire on an opponent, the plane had to fly away from the enemy, thus making it very difficult to be effective. The British experimented with a type of plane in which the gun was mounted in the front and the motors faced the rear. This type gave the advantage of frontal firing, but was so slow on climbing and flight that it was abandoned within a short time. The first real fighting aircraft to make its appearance was the Ger- man Fokker monoplane. Fast, maneuverable, and of the tractor type, the plane had a machine gun mounted in such a fashion as to syn- chronize with the revolutions of the propeller, thus allowing it to be fired straight ahead. The pilot aimed the gun by aiming the airplane. This plane was so obviously superior to those of the Allies that com- mand of the air passed to the Germans throughout the rest of the year. In l9I6, however, the British were able to challenge the Ger- mans by producing their own type of front-firing plane, although it was not until near the end of I9I6 that the Allies were able to produce machine gun mounted planes of the Fokker type. The success of the Fokker airplane was responsible for the advent of formation flying. Casualties among the French and British had grown so heavily that individual flights were discontinued and flights of three or more planes took their place. The Germans retaliated, and by the end of the war patrols were the accepted form of air tactics. lt early became apparent to air-minded officers that great damage could be inflicted upon the enemy by dropping bombs from aircraft on his troops, ammunition dumps, factories and other military in- stallations, Indeed, many of the early fighters attempted some rudi- mentary bombing flights, using hand grenades. These were usually First plane used by American aviators in France during World War ll9l8l, Morane Roulier airplane.