Aerobatics

PREFACE Before the commencement of the war it was a generally accepted theory that a first-class pilot of an aeroplane could not be produced under a minimum of a year. Under present conditions the average young man can learn to handle an aeroplane and put it through all the known tricks of looping, rolling, nose-dive spins, side-slips, etc., after a period of instruction of approximately no more than from twenty to thirty hours of actual flying. That is a most extraordinary advance and it is in but slight part due to the improvements in engines and aeroplanes. Rather, it is almost entirely due to the knowledge we now have as to how to execute aerial manoeuvers or aerobatics the improved methods of acquiring such knowledge, and the confidence which we now know a pupil may have in attempting feats which, in the past, were looked upon as dangerous and as mere circus tricks. This book is an attempt to explain in simple form, anl for the benefit of novices, the general rules calculated to turn a raw pupil into an expert pilot in the shortest possible time and with the greatest possible degree of safety to himself and his aereplane. Written during short periods of leave and at odd moments when off duty, I ha e not had the time to amplify it as fully as I should have liked however, all it contains is based upon the hard lessons of practical experience and I feel that the rest to be learned can only be acquired in actual practice. If what I have written assists the pupil to approach his work in the air with intelligence and confidence, then half his battle is won before he begins and this little work has not been in vain. Various technical subjects such as the theory of flight, meteorology, airo-engines, aerial navigation, etc.. have an important bearing upon the subject of aerobatics. The prospective aviator should have a sound if elementary 60 not suggest that practise in formation flying, aerial fighting, cross country flying, ctc. can be included within the twcnty to thirty hours. knowledge of such subjects and I have been tempted to include them in this work. Each subject, however, would demand a volume in itself unless treated in a casual way which would be of no real value, and I have therefore confined myself to the practical work in the air. Moreover, having regard to the intricacies of the subject and the opposite factors of brevity and simplicity required by the novice for whom I write, I have further confined myself to the fwdamental evolutions of aerobatics, confident that once the student has learned to accomplish them he will have no further need of a text-book to assist him in perfecting himself in a higher degree...