Release #7

U. S. ARMY ENLISTMENT BROADCAST MAY 27, 1941 - KOIN - 10:30-45.

ANNCR; KOIN presents.   ."Soldiers of the Air".

MUSIC; THEFE-"SECOND CONNECTICUT REGIMENT" (475) UP AND FADE TO BACKGROUND.

ANNCR: This evening KOIN is pleased to cooperate with the United States Amy Recruiting Service in presenting the seventh in a series of regular weekly broadcasts, bringing you the informal, informative and interesting story of "Soldiers of the Air".

MUSIC: THEME UP AND OUT.

ANNCR: Ladies and gentlemen, our air soldier friends, Larry Foster and Bill "Butch" Harris, are back again to tell us more about Chanute Field, one of the great Technological Schools of America, where Larry has just completed a six months' course. It yn.ll be interesting to hear how Lurry, in his capacity of first air mechanic, feels about taking over his new duties. Larry - tell us how it feels to be an instructor. Did- you get a kick out of it?

LARRY: The biggest kick I've gotten so far, was giving Bill a lot of pointers.

BILL: Before he got through I had the idea that he was still thinking about the time I sent him out to find the key to the parade ground.

LARRY; Maybe I was.

ANNCR; You’ll be handing him a few surprises yet, won't you Bill?

BILL: I don’t know. Things change so fast in these days, that you’ve got to go some to keep up with 'em, and I've, got to admit this Dodo is up to the minute. He sure gave me a lot of new dope.

ANNCR: Kind of looks like the master becoming the student?

BILL: Guess I’ll have to admit it.

LARRY: Not that bad Bill.

BILL: You’re right, it’s not bad, it’s good 1

ANNCIi: Nov/ I call that snorting of you, Bill.

BILL: You heard me say, I’ve been expecting it. After the "Boning" up a fellow gets at the Tech. It makes me feel like an amateur.

ANNCR: Give us an idea of what happened when you first got to Chanute Field, Larry.

LARRY: The first thing I went through was the usual physical exam.

ANNCR: You never get away from that, do you?

LARRY: No, and you can’t got very far without it. Then I was assigned to my quarters which I shared with three other fellows. Then over to the quartermaster for blankets, sheets, pillow slips, rifle, belt—

ANNCR: An entirely new outfit?

LARRY: Oh yes. The soldier, when he moves, is not required to take anything but his clothes.

ANNCR: But why the gun?

BILL: The same old story. Physical fitness. Exercises and drills. That’s another thing you can’t get away from.

ANNCR: Then I suppose the "Skull" work comes in. You’ll notice I’m getting on to all the army slang.

LARRY: I’ve been noticing. Yes! We get plenty of "skull" work too. But don’t forget that practical work goes on, only in more advanced form. The first three months is taken up with "crate" and "pot" construction.

ANNCR: "Crate" and "pot"? What’s that?

LARRY: The "crate" is the plane body, and the "pot" is the motor.

2-2-2

BILL: That kind of new gab is springing up all the time. Imagine calling a beautiful piece of mechanism like a motor, a "pot". That’s an insult to an engineer.

LARRY: That’s what you think. When I speak of a "crate" or a "pot", well, it kind of makes me feel I’m an intimate part of it. Oh — you know — that-in-the-know stuff.

ANNCR: Sort of personal, Eh?

LARRY; Something like that. It makes it snappy.

ANNCR: Snappy. That's the word. It fits you just swell, Larry.

LARRY: Let’s hope it's for the better.

BILL: If it wasn't you wouldn't be here "fat head".

Bill's just full of compliments tonight.

BILL: You haven’t heard anything yet, flat foot.

ANNCR: Where do you get that flat foot stuff, Bill? Not in this man's army.

BILL: Oh Yeh? The way some of those guys pick their feet up, you’d think their arches were stilts.

ANNCR: Now, now, boy'. Did you do any flying at Chanute Field, Larry? I mean officially.

LARRY: Oh no. I’m not qualified for that yet. I’m still a ground man. I’ve got a lot of base stuff to learn.

BILL: The first flying that lad will do will be as crew chief.

LARRY: That's the thrill I’m waiting for.

ANNCR; Vihen that time comes just how large a crew will you have, Larry?

LnJlKY; That depends. If I am detailed to a bombing plane there will be thirteen men.

ANNCR: Thirteen? Isn't that an unlucky number?

3-3-3

LARRY; Not to a pilot. I got to talking to a pilot the other day and that question came up. The idea was a joke to him. He said the crow may be thirteen, but fourteen is the real number.

BILL: Hot/ come?

LARRY; To the pilot the plane is a real personality. That makes the number 14, — plus.

ANNCR: Guess that hits Mr. Superstition on the head. But just who are the men who make up the crew?

LARRY: Number 1 man is the Flight Commander. He stays on the ground and directs the flight.

BILL: That guy is the brains of the outfit.

LARRY: He sure is. It’s through him that you get perfect coordination

of the crew.

BILL: In plain language he means team work.

LARRY; Just that. Number 2 man is the Pilot. The entire ship’.s crew is responsible to him. Number 3 man is the Crew Chief. All the mechanics are under his command.

BILL: All right, keep your chest down, and don't look at me.

LtiRRY: Number 4 man is the Bombardier. He’s responsible to the Pilot.

You see, the Bombardier "plots the data"—

ANNCR: "Plots the data"? That’s Greek to me.

BILL: He’s trying to tell you that the bombardier spots the target

with his bomb sight, gets the wind velocity, the height of the plane and all that sort of thing.

LARRY: Right - and he is in constant contact with the pilot for the

exact moment to release the bomb. Number 5 man is the Engineering Officer. He is responsible for the motors. Number 6 man is the Navigation Officer. Number 7 man is the Radio Operator who is in constant conraurication with Flight Commander. Number 8 is the Carburetor Export. 4-4-4

ANNCR: An expert detailed to look after the carburetor alone?

BILL: And he knows that carburetor like he does his right hand.

LARRY: Every part of the "pot" has it’s expert. The number 9 man is the Ignition Expert.

ANNCR: Ignition? That’s your pet isn’t it?

LARRY; It sure is.

ANNCR: How about man number ten.

LARRY; He’s responsible for the rigging construction. He sees that the hull of the ship is intact.

ANNCR: No chance of it falling apart is there?

BILL: You should see that boy keep his eye on the rivets.

LuxitHY; High winds, hail storms and squalls come on unexpectedly and toss the plane around like chip in a washtub. 21 high wind has the power of a tidal wave.

ANNCR: How about man number eleven?

LARRY: Number 11 is the aircraft electrician; number 12 is the gunner. He watches for enemy ships that might be sneaking up from the rear.

ANNCR: And now, number thirteen?

BILL: He’s the gas man. As soon as the ship lands he checks on the gas and oil.

ANNCR: What about the dispatcher. I’ve heard he’s an important man.

LARRY: He is. He’s the one the pilot depends on for reports on atmospheric conditions. The dispatcher is in constant touch with the meterologist The ship doesn’t move until he gives the word.

BILL: find that’s where the team work comes in. Thirteen men on the ship and a lot more on the ground, and they all work as one man.

ANNCR; And that’s one story of aircraft.

BILL: Yeh’. Just one story.

5-5-5

LAREY; You must understand that air craft are divided into two classes.

A- "Heavier-than-air" and Lighter-than-air".

ANNCR; You’ll have to define that to me.

LARRY All right, "Aircraft" includes all weight carrying devices or structures designed to be supported by the air, whether by buoyancy or dynamic action. "Heavier-than-air" includes all air craft supported in flight by dynamic action of the air: that is, air planes of all types. "Lighter-than-air" includes all air craft, the support of which is chiefly by gas or air-filled bags, such as derrigibles, blimps and baloons.

ANNCR; Your talking in a foreign langugage to me, Larry.

LARRY: I suppose I am, but to Uncle Sam’s Air Soldiers that's just A.B.C.

ANNCR: There seems to be no limit to the things you've got to know.

BILL: The sky is the limit, and, — well — there’s lots of sky.

ANNCR; I can a ppreciate what you mean by work and more work.

BILL: But with it all there is time for recreation, especially athletics.

LARRY: Athletics makes our work pleasant. We had some crack teams at Chanute Field: baseball, football, track, and they sure are strong for boxing.

ANNCR: Why boxing?

LuiiiRY: It develops physical alertness and timing and the ability to make a decision and stay with it.

ANNCR: Air training has left it’s mark on you all right, Larry. Good food, lots of exercise, study, going to bed early and rising early.

LARRY; The first week I was there I thought we were never going to get any sleep.

BILL: Why was that?

LARRY; One of my roommates snored like a church organ.

6-6-6

BILL: Oh, That’s an old wheez.

JLARRY; I'aybe I But this bird could wheez as no man ever wheezed before. The wa y that boy could run the scales was an art. After he hit the high C he would decond to the low C. Then he’d explode like an outboard motor

ANNCR: A snore like that ought to be broadcast.

LARRY: We stood it as long as we could, then we decided to break up this nightly concert. We scattered a box of corn flakes in his bed.

ANNCR: What happened?

LARRY: The next night vie found a mess of walnut shells in our beds, and the next morning one of the boys tried to swallow a couple of yards of string in his oat meal.

BILL: That’s nothing. Wake up some morning with a young alligator snuggling up to you. Now that’s something.

ANNCR; You’ve got to learn how to take it.

BILL: No chance for a sore head in a place like that. The boys learn to give and take. One good turn deserves another.

LARRY: How Bill loves to talk in copy book mottoes ’.

BILL: And you can draw a good moral from every one of ’em.

ANNCR: Right you are. Bill you said something about some more letters you had received from some Buddies of yours. We’ve got enough time for a couple of them. How about it?

BILL: All right. I’ll just hit the high spots. Here is one from a guy at the Tech. School at Scotts Field, Illinois. He writes; "I’ve learned so much about radio theory and code that I feel like a veteran." (U. S. Array Recruiting Mag., News., April, 1941, p. 7 col. 1)

LiiiuiY; Radio is one of the most popular courses.

BILL: Here is a good one. This guy came back from the Philippines with me. Here’s ^vhat he says; "The unlimited opportunities offered a boy today in the various branches of the army to fit a man for civil life are the

greatest in the torid

7-7-7

(CONTj)

BILL: And this from a guy who was all through with the array.

(U. S. Army Recruiting Mag., News, April, 1941, p, 7, col. 3)

ANNCR; It seems that once the array gets into your blood it’s hard to keep

away from a uniform. Guess that’s why Larry grows more proud of his service as the days go by.

LaRRY; And I was prouder still on graduation day when the commandant gave me

a citation, for what he called a "splendid record".

ANNCR; Why keep that from us all this time? Trying to hide your light under a bushel?

BILL; That’s the way of the army. The better you get the less you brag.

ANNCR: I think Larry’s been pretty modest about all the work he’s done up to

now. He just wants to surprise us once in awhile. Thanks boys for coming up tonight, and we'll be looking for you again with more interesting news about "Soldiers of the Air." Ladies and gentlemen may we p re s ent___________________________.

OFFICER: Thank you, Mr.__________________________. Tonight I would like to go

into the Flying business of the Air Corps. There’s a definite pattern to the Flying Cadet's destiny. Whether he’s to flit thru the air with the greatest of ease in a sleek pursuit ship, or accommodate himself to the slightly more leisurely pace of the giant bomber, was decided long ago.

It’s pretty much of a fore-ordained decision. Wishful thinking won't help; heavy application on his studies and flying may help some; but fundamentally the Flying Cadet’s place in America's air force is the sum of things beyond his control—his parents, his psychological make-up, his physical characteristics.

The quickening pace of the Army’s pilot training program has spun the curriculum back to the pattern of several years ago, and specialization is being reintroduced into the training center programs. 8-8-8

(CONT.)

OFFICER: Through the ten weeks of primary and the ten weeks of basic training, all Flying Cadet’s pursue the same maneuvers in the same types of airplanes. But along toward the close of the Cadet’s basic schooling, instructors begin sizing up their fledglings, as a step toward deciding their destinies for the final period of training—the advanced course.

Advanced schools in the three training centers have been classified as either single-motored of multi-motored training schools. In the former, Flying Cadets will receive their final training in the various types of single motored airplanes—the tiny, fast, highly maneuverable pursuit ships, used to drive the enemy from the skies.

Flying Cadets chosen for the multi-motor schools will receive their elementary training on light two-motored planes (adopted in most cases from commercial models) as a preliminary to taking their places at the controls of the heavy two-motored and four-motored bombers—-the capitol ships of an air armada.

That old quip of the flying.man! "Son, its just another airplane," is another of those classics of understatements. There’s more than just a mere difference in size between the big airplanes and the little airplanes, and it takes a different breed of pilot to handle the ships successfully.

The future duty and training of the Flying Cadet is determined during the last weeks of his basic training period. Flying instructors at the basic fields, drawing on long hours of flying experience with student pilots, make recommendations regarding their students—their judgment, their temperment, and their aptitude for flying. These characteristics as well as height and weight, are conditioning factors to be used in determining whether the Flying Cadet is destined for

big planes or little.

9-9-9

(CONT.)

OFFICER: Its difficult to generalize on the difference in qualifications;

there, are so many intangibles involved. Broadly, the restless and slightly on the reckless side, the slight of build chap, gives most promise for pursuit work. The height and weight restrictions are important—the cramped cockpit of a pursuit ship leaves little room for adjustable seat and controls—so, pursuit pilots must be something of a size.

Should the student pilot be assigned to multi-motored school, he’ll find himself working with student bombardiers and student navigators— students who upon completion of their courses will be commissioned as officers in the Mr Corps Reserve and will help to form the crews of our mamoth bombardment plans.

I see that my time is about up, but before I close I would like to urge any young men who would like to find about the Flying Cadet call or write our main office in room 323 Main Post Office Bldg,, Portland. Or in the post Office in Salem, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Medford, Pendleton, Ontario and Tillamook. Also in our Idaho Station in Boise Post Office.

ANNCR: Thank you very much sir. You have just heard ___________________

who was kind enough to come to our studio and add a few words to our program. You are all invited to come up to the studio again next Tuesday night if you can and we’ll have another informal chat about what’s doing in the army to become a "Soldier of the Air."

MUSIC THEME (475) UP AND FADE TC BACKGROUND.

ANNCR: These programs are produced in cooperation with the Portland Regular Army Recruiting Station, and the Oregon Writers’ Project. Tunc in next Tuesday evening at this same time when the "Soldiers of the Air" will again be broadcast from the studios of KOIN, the Journal, Portland.

MUSIC THEME TO FULL.

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