News Letter 1940 Jul-Dec - Air Force Historical Studies Office

A FLYING S1'UDENT's NIGHl'NAVIGATION FLIGHT
.. By Fl:>.mgCadet William M. llowden,
Class. 4O-C,Air Ccrps 'AdvencedFlying School
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Student training b.t the Air b6ti:l~Ail,,: ~he,t'bn and-thrill 'Of, flY!-ng'Qn.tal,m.
o1!d'.~
vanced Flying SchOol, located at kelly At 8:08 I started the mbtor;:.checteed:;K
Field', Texas, is divided into,several 'my lights, switches, end themagsT';!lhd~~;
distinct phases :- which ~be classi- at 8:10 released the brakes.totax~:;'oJ.\t
f'Led- as follows: a trensitlon period, to the runway for the take-off ;'" .~tr:f?J:',Ii
formation flying, beam end instrument . so good.. I was on time. on the:~?':~;;5
work, end cross-countries. It mi/dlt be at least, end t..texa.ctly, '8: l3:by>tli~:;'~~:l
added that the latter group cen 3Isobe clock in the centrol tower IgaV'e.'~er L'j;! •
subdiV1-dedinto t~ee classes, namely: the gun. . . ... . , ~ .' " :.y~,..~L
day, IUght .. and tlJile end distence prob- The take-off wasn't bad consldep.ng L$2
lams. ',' . the fact that I couldn't see'vety:well, 'n
~O\Vmasmioh as' I. have had, at. this iI?- the: dark end 11£.d to pull one.of~'InY,~:lj
~mt, a few morEthours end consader- mngs up to get over the portable f10'O.0, j
ablY.l!!ore "expenence" in night work lignts on the far end of the ramp,'ll.aq;c...~
(flymg) then have any of my fellow came the throttle end':proppitch,. end.. c':; students, I have been honored with the away I'went into the n1ght: 1IJ8king:a,,;;:,
request to publish a short treatise on wide circle, I gained my 'altitude over;~
just. wha~ to do and how to ~rive at my the field end was ready tObegi~;.t~~rbI.i~
destlnatlon. on a sllIIDlelito~e problem prol'lem at band.. , . . . ": ~'r;irlj'
such as a mght fli@lt from Kelly to" L1/dlts of San'Antonio'were plalnly~,,' a
Pa~ee to ~ Marcos end back to Kelly visi1i1e end I caugh~ the double, beaco~~
again. The Ldea of the problem is to of Brooks end the smgle beacon .of,?' ;~"..
take off from Kelly, fly over the sever- stinson on rrw left. Off to the s'otith"a:t
al points as mappedout in ~he flight couple of pin points madeperiodical t1"
plan, and return to Kelly w1thout unne- flashes, so I settled back end headed'll.YJ{
cess1;l.Tyside. trips (SUchas a jaunt to out.: . . "':,::", ;~;.~'"
AustlI,l, ~ay). ~t JIllght be added, too, . "Oh, what a breeze ." I thou/dlt'r TheSI':'s
that 1t 1S p~lcularly.helpful to fly h/dlts downthere rr:ust be on lhe.s9)l~tl.?f
onlY,for the allotted hme as allow~blE3.ana: of.-the lake, .N.d that cluster:jnus~.r~~
by mnds aloft and arather meager sup- .be Loso;ra. I.th1nlC'Illl easeover 't(r~::~
ply of 100 octane fuel. ."; , get on bhe light. line so I 'canread"tliei~
But I digl:ess; The best wa:;;out flas.c'1i~ code beacon on the rear Of .thEi"{
seems to be a little personal excursion li,ghts. . '. '.' .,~,;,."
on the above mentioned route, with a • With this on my mind I be~easini:'.~~
cOjIDleof side trips so here goes. . over end when I got to the H" light.'I
"~et Is see nc;>w .... Pawnee 15~ degrees, could see t~e Pawneebeacon wi~li.ft.s;, ..;(.~~
a minus-f'our wind factor, making 1t 'green flashmg code only two ll,ghts '-.;:"~
147, and a minus-ten v?Tiatic;>n... that Is aYfay. Checking ~he 90mpass, I found??,.:_"
137; then, of course; 1f I f'Lnd any that I had to mamtaln a course. of ap::o: .?,
IOOre. ~nd drift I can a.+ways90rrect it :proxilll13.tely130 degrees tc;>keep ah~?d':'n:'.
by Im1ng up with the hght Lmes , This lIlg toward Pawnee. The \Vlndwas a :.':_"';.,
is going to be a cinch. I kdnda wish little stronger than I had expected:~~~'::
nOVlt~t I had called that blonde I met Finally, I reached a point over PCl-l'!nee.
last mght and have her mset me.when I where I could see the green dotted ;01.l,t,.~
gl3t in. .. . line of the landing fiela., so I. Cir'plj3d; ~
"FromPawnee I III fly about 360 end once to the left end headed out fro.in.' 'a-.~;;:
catch Fal~s City, sto~e, Se~l .slJot directly over the center of th~:o~'
end the highwa:;;;and coming back 1t 11 f1eld. " '-:,::':, r
be a breeze along the light line to Sen Things had gone pretty smoothlYj,~i!i'~,;:ii'
Antonio, so there's not much sense to fact too smoothly, thus far, but'lt.Wa.s;.~
even bother about figuring a course.". just the calm before the storm, 'end}it. ~3
Thus pla.'1s'were madefor the expected' wasn 1t long before I realized that~:B:il';~';;'
"cinch" night cross country' on the tri- good t;1in~ must end. First I it'seemetl:~
angular course from Kelly to Pawneeto that heading away from the hghts"!t. ~.:.~
Sen Marcos end back to Kell;r again. was wch darker, and the to\11Ilsthat,' .~_".
Take-off time was'on the Hi,ght board were su~posed to be sprll.l\'ledalong;tlie~,'j:g
as E plus 1: 13,putting me in the air railroaa. were not materializing 'as. :~::;~[
at 8:13, end, if all went well, back rapidly as.they should have'... Soon"r'sonu:;
hc;>me ~ain at 9:15, or thereabouts. So forei~ bug in J!!Y brain reminded niet,)1!l't}~
wlth llght heart 'I,got out _my 'headset , the ~nd ~ drifted me on the way./iB'Wil:i.
gomes,end parachute, stUIfed'm:/ ears I the llght lme and even now.must":be,;t'f
wHli cotton end sauntered out to good drifting me off my course. - ~" :.,,' ~ ; .
old 124 , with nothing but thoughts of "That town below me cenItbe"F~lll.I.rIf'1
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