Merced Army Flying School - Yearbook (Merced, CA)

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Wit f ' 1. . 2 gf ggggi KZ g, , . exft' f' ' , Top Row, Left: Gentlemen with swords once settled their quarrels at dawn. But these gentlemen, aviation cadets in the Training Center, work out with foils in order to develop cat-like quickness and dexterity which will be valuable to them in settling scores in air combat. Center: After a long flight. Right: Cross-country preparation. Middle Row. Left: Back to the barracks after a hard day's work in the air. Center: British cadets fold Old Glory at Retreat. Right: Advanced navigation trainer. Bottom Row, Left: A sextet of aviation cadets in the air as they are determinedly making a broadiump on the obstacle course used in the physical training program. When the full story of this war is written, there will be a special chapter devoted to the hours of scientific study, the subsequent hours of manpower, prespiration and drudgery now being expended to toughen our combat fliers for the fight. Men were not made to fly at rarefied altitudes of 30,000 feet, nor were they built to be wrenched in the air at speeds of 500 miles an hour. But our enemies are doing it. We must. And the rugged physical conditioning program in the Training Center is the successful answer to how we can. The keystone in the training program is the development of those muscles and nerves most used in combat flying. Center: Sky Bound. Right: Advanced Trainers. Lett: Like a man from Mars with a death ray generator in his hands, this Army Air Forces photographer draws a bead as squadrons of planes roar across the cloud banks. Anywhere he may point his finder he will catch the growing flights of aviation cadets doing precision formation flying. M l My KW, - it 1' 4 ' E5 fail Q f CQQ, X jffilc

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.,,,,-I I 2 .- M :4',Wn. QSM, XZYXNDTXZXIYXN HZIEHD Ready for Gxygen Hop. lLink Trainerl which handles iusr like +he real airplane. ln +hese are +augh+ fhe procedures which are la+er prac- 'riced in fhe air on 1'eam rides under rhe hood. Al+i'I'ude Flighfs are made +o accusfom cadefs fo fhe use of oxygen and 'rhe reacrions of +he plane in fhe lighfer afmosphere. One of +he mos+ fhrilling of all 'lhe cadel' missions is +he firsf nigh'I' cross-counlry +rip. Having flown nigh+ local a+ Basic, nighl flying i+self is nor so unusual, bul' 'ro follow The lighl' lines 'io anolher cify means a new s+ep in +raining. Flying +akes bu+ half of fhe day-+he remainder is spen+ in +he classroom, a+ a+hle+ics, or drilling. Then for +en days, fhe class has a break in +heir advanced rraining-'ren days of gunnery pracrice a+ Closeup. Above, Top: AT Advance Twin Engine Trainer. BoHom: AT-6's on The line ano'l'her school. Here cadefs pracfice ar ground and aerial gunnery. Wifh machine guns moun'red on +he lrainers, each man shoo+s several hundred rounds every day. Yes, af any advanced 'flying school is +augh+ +he necessary sub- iecls which any Army Air Forces pilol' mus'I' know, fo prepare him for service in +he field as an officer. Bank her This way. Wafching 'lhe flight Trainer wifh conirol unil. Tes+ing 'lheir oxygen masks. Ground crew off duly, buf sfill +alking shop M , il A r , i . . ll 'mf Q ,N gf? 'T' vm:-U

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- ,ff ' .K :M-'fr': ,Tifs1s'w srsssr Q V MV HIlMHHHIlIlH lHHININE The whole sfrilring power of lhe Air Forces, insofar as deslrucfive power is concerned, is carried af lhe fips of fhe Bombardier's fingers. lsolaled and alone in fhe glassed-in greenhouse righ+ in +he very nose of lhe powerful bomber, if is his duly fo direcl his plane fo fhe proper poinf above his largef and release his bombs wifh such splii- second fiming as io insure fheir finding 'lheir mark. For much of +he plane's flighf fhe bombardier is merely a passenger, bu+ as ihe plane nears i+s obieclive ii is in his hands, and his alone, fhai +he success of The mission res'rs. Aided by ihe lines? inslrumenfs for precision bombing owned by any nafion in fhe world, fhe bombardier musf malre allowances for such 'lhings as plane speed, heighi, air lemperalure, weigh? of ihe bombs, wind and cross drills and o+her facfors. He sefs fhese facls info his bombsighf, which is in essence a calculafing machine, and al fhe righf momenf releases his bombs. Before he reaches 'rhaf largef, however, fhe bombardier spends fwelve crowded weeks learning fhe fundamenials and fhe fine poinis of his desfruclive frade. The bcmbardier is selecied 'For his faslr a+ fhe Classificalion Seclion of +he Air Forces. He is selecled because