Towed target balloon for machine-gun practice
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Title (Dublin Core)
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Towed target balloon for machine-gun practice
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Article Title and/or Image Caption (Dublin Core)
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Learning to Duel in the Sky. How the towed target balloon is used in machine-gun practice
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extracted text (Extract Text)
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A FEW weeks after America entered
the war plans were made for the
immediate training of thousands of
air-fighters. Some of the best army men
in the United States service were sent to
Canada to find out something about the
science of training men for aerial warfare.
The largest aerial gunnery school in
Canada is the one at the Royal Flying
Corps Headquarters, Camp Borden, On-
tario. To-day there are several gunnery
schools in this country modeled after
Camp Borden, and the methods used in
the United States are slight improve-
ments over those adopted by Canada.
It is at the ground school that the
prospective air-fighter first makes the ac-
quaintance of a machine-gun. In order
to graduate from the machine-gun di-
vision of the ground school he must be
able to take down and assemble both the
Lewis and Vickers guns,
Firing, with trench machine-guns, at
large targets placed in gun-pits, is the first
actual firing
done by the
pupils.
After receiv-
ing Q. V. G.
(“Qualified
Very Good”)
on this ground
gun work, the
pilot takes his first actual lesson in aerial
gunnery. A standard Curtis, two seater,
ninety horsepower training biplane is
used, altered so as to allow a gun to be
fitted. The target, a square of white can-
vas bearing a reproduction of the German
iron cross in the center, is laid out on the
ground. Two signal flags are raised to
warn the curious away.
You climb into the plane, and strap
yourself tightly in your seat. As the gun
(an eighteen-pound Lewis) will move up
and down only about ten inches, the only
way to get a shot at the target is to have
the pilot shut off his motor and dive nose
first to within a few feet of it. Then you
grind out your shots and swoop up again.
If your pilot doesn’t open up his motor
and swoop up in time, you crash. If you
fire at too long a range the instructor will
call your attention in no gentle way. If
your pilot shows fear in not getting close
enough to the target, both of you will get
a worse reprimand than if you were to
smash several
machines.
About a week
later you will be
ready for ad-
vanced air prac-
tice. This time
the target is a
pear-shaped
balloon which bears the Iron Cross or
some other conspicuous sign and which is
towed by another airplane. Your pilot
waits until his plane has reached three
thousand feet. Then, after a final exam-
ination of your gunand ammunition drums,
you signal “0. K.”” and the chase begins.
Your pilot has maneuvered the plane
so that you will pass under the other ma-
chine towing the target in the opposite
direction. Nearer and nearer it comes,
with the target flying on behind at the
end of the long towline. With a roar the
plane passes overhead. Into action you
go—finger pressing the trigger and both
arms holding the bucking ringsight on the
target. In a few seconds it is all over.
You look behind you and see the other
plane flying serenely away. The target
isundamaged. You have wasted a drum-
ful of cartridges on the empty air. “Rot-
ten,” you say to yourself. Obedient to
the control of your pilot the plane goes
over in a loop. You come out of it
pointed in the right direction and are off
again after the elusive target. This time
you are more careful. Your shots go
home. With the shattered target flying
in the wind, the hunted plane spirals to
earth. A few minutes later you are on
terra-firma again, receiving a report from
your instructor on your exploits.
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Contributor (Dublin Core)
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Henry A. Bruno (writer)
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Language (Dublin Core)
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eng
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Date Issued (Dublin Core)
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1918-03
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pages (Bibliographic Ontology)
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370-371
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Rights (Dublin Core)
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Public Domain (Google digitized)
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Archived by (Dublin Core)
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Filippo Valle
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Alberto Bordignon (Supervisor)
Popular Science Monthly, v. 92, n. 3, 1918
