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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1941-09-04, Page 7Thursday, September 4, 1941 WINGHAM ADVANCE/TWS TOP generals meet at sea rtfoJn?1C5 re£eix^ showing General George Marshall, LEFT, ~¥?.f ^ United States army chatting with the number one •binM J0*111 -Dill. The photo was made aboard, a battle­ship during the historic Roosevelt-Churchill conferences at sea. AIR OBSERVER AN IMPORTANT MEMBER OF BOMBER’S CREW By HUGH TEMPLIN Trevious stories in this series have -described the training of a Polit in the Royal Canadian Air Force from the day he enlists, rather nervously per­ haps, to that other proud day, six or •seven months later, when he "gets his •wings” and .completes his training in this country. After that, he is ready to proceed to Great Britain, where he gets some more experience under the somewhate different conditions in a land where enemies may lurk. Then he is ready to take over a 300-mile-an- hour fighter, or to pilot big bombers -over Germany. In those stories, I have completed the task I undertook, thanks to the hearty cooperation of .the-officials of the Royal Canadian Air Force, but be­ fore that task was finished, L knew many things I hadn’t realized at the start. One of these is that while all the recruits want to become Pilots if they can, the Pilot is not the only im­ portant member of the air crew: pos­ sibly he isn’t even the most important member. For that reason, I a writing .something ^bout the training of the Air Observers. Pilots, Observers and Navigators I sat one day in the office of Mr. W. W. Woollett, civilian manager of the Air Observer School at the great Malton Airport. "There’s a tendency on the part of the public,” observed Mr. Woollett, "to think of the Observer as a man who just sists in ar plane and looks out oc­ casionally, while the Pilot does all the work and takes all the risks. Perhaps the word ‘Observer’ is at fault. A A. H* McTAVISH, B.A. Teeswater, Ontario Barrister, Solicitor, Notary Public and Conveyancer Office: Gofton House, Wroxeter every Thursday afternoon 1.30 to 4.30 and by appointment. Phone — Teeswater 120 J. YOUR EYES NEED ATTENTION Our 25 Point Scientific Examin­ ation enables us to give yo«v Clear, Comfortable Vision F. F. HOMUTH Phone 118 Harriston MONUMENTS at first cost Having our factory equipped with the most modem machinery for the exe­ cution of high-class work, we ask you to see the largest display; of monu­ ments of any‘retail factory m Ontario, All finished by sand blast tnachfues. We import all our gramtes from w Old Country quarries directs ta the rough, Yow can save al! cjL ers’, agents* and middleman profits by seeing us. E. J. Skelton & Son , «t Weit End Bridge—WALKERTON more accurate term would be ‘Navi­ gator’. The time is coming when the Navigator will be the captain of the large planes and the pilot will be only the wheelsman.” Mr. Woollett should.know what he is talking about. He was a pilot him­ self in the last war, and has had much to do with flying ever since. In 1929, he returned from England, and with another Pilot of the Great War, oper­ ated a company in the North Country. Dominion Skyways Limited, they call­ ed it, and their, planes flew over much of Northern Quebec and Ontario. Name any place north of the Trans­ continental, and he is sure to have been there. When war broke out in September, 1939, Mr. Woollett and his partner, C. R. Troup, were asked to form the first Air Observer School. They had it go­ ing by the end of May, 1940, and it has been in operation ever since. In all that time, there has not been one accident to students, pilots or planes— not so much as a flat tire on a landing gear. Canada may not have been pre­ pared to go to war, but in our exper­ ienced “bush fliers”, we had a great asset. The Air Observer School at Malton is operated by a civilian company, Do­ minion Skyways Training Ltd. under an arrangement somewhat similar to those whereby Flying Clubs operate the Elementary Flying Training Schools for Pilots. That enabled the R.C.A.F, to take advantage of the ex­ perience of older Canadian pilots, and it speeded up the early stages of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The company looks after mainten­ ance of flying aircraft, buildings and flying in general It supplies the ex­ perienced pilots and the repair men. The R.C.A.F. takes over the ground instruction and the discipline. ’ Squad­ ron Leader'G. W. Jacobi is the Com­ manding Officer. A Specialized Job The course lasts twelve weeks, A new class comes in every month and another graduates, but there are al­ ways three distinct classes at the school at one time. The educational requirements fol an Observer are high­ er than for a Pilot. The course is stiffer and entails more hard work, though it undoubtedly has its share of thrills, even in Canada, The future Observer has a specialized job, and he must make no mistakes. Sometimes, those who start the ’course as Pilots and fail to make the grade arc shifted to the Observer’s course. At- first, they are disappoint­ ed, but Mr. Woollett says that invar­ iably they are all glad they changed before they have half-finished their course. The Air Observer must learn sever­ al things, and all of them must be done w-slk Rather, they must be done perfectly. He must learn to lay out an exact course, in spite of wind and weather, that will take him where he is ordered to go. More important, he must Return again and know when he gets Home. He must learn jo operate a tricky bombsight, so that his bombs find ihcir target. And he must learn to we machine gun if need be, a/ the Malton School, he learns to Everything else is subor- d{t« to that He does not have to worry about piloting the plane; that is done by an experienced pilot who knows Ontario as you know your own home. The Observer charts the course for him to steer and the Pilot carries out those instructions to the letter, un­ less they may result in possible danger to the aircraft and the crew. Apart from that, he follows the course the student gives him, even if he knows it is at right angles to the direction in which he ought to be going. At the end of each trip,, he hands in a detailed report. It omits nothing, even noting whether the student became sick, and whether he carried out his exercises in spite of his sickness. 'A Rainy Day at Malton It was raining when I arrived at Malton, but a few planes were up. The big silver liners of the Trans-Canada and the even larger American Airlines planes -were arriving at, and leaving, the nearby commercial airport, and the little yellow elementary trainers from another RIC.A.F, School were in the air, but the Avro Ansons of the Observer School were being called home from the wireless room. Per- .haps that wasn’t entirely a disadvan­ tage. Mr. Woollett was able to spare hours to the visiting newspaper man, and when he had to keep another ap­ pointment, Duty Pilot Smuck acted as guide. All down one side of the control room wejre wireless sending and re­ ceiving sets. Two -way conversation can be carried on from anywhere in Southern Ontario. Later, I saw the wireless equipment in side the Avro Anson plane and marvelled at its com­ pactness and efficiency. But that* is not all. Recently a direction finding station has been installed, A lost av­ iator can send in a call for help, and when the answer goes back, it will tell him exactly where he is, and how to get back home in any kind of weather. Laid out on a large table in the cen­ tre of the room was a map of Ontario, On it was marked the exercise for the day. Colored pins were stuck in the map at half-a-dOzen places and a black thread was wound from one to anoth­ er. This marked the course the planes would be taking that day. It was not a straight trip out and back, but had several turns and angles. The student must learn to navigate such a course accurately, and he should be able to tell to the minute when he will be back at Malton again. He may have trav­ elled 300 miles or more. Similar ex­ ercises are conducted at night. Out on the edge of the runway, a long line of Avro Ansons was drawn up, mostly yellow, but some silvery and a few camouflaged. Some of them had seen active service. They are alt- ~ered for use in the. school. The gun turret is removed and some of the win­ dows taken out. Guns are not needed for protection here, and the plane gains speed and saves fuel as a result of the changes. Everywhere around the Observer School at Malton were evidences of similar economies. The oil is all filt­ ered and reclaimed, and when tested 88% is as good as new. One serious problem at all schools using British or American planes is the obtaining of re­ pair part. At Malton, most of them are manufactured in a little workshop. A mechanical genius, and a small staff using machines of their own designing, which look, as the Director put, "like something out of a Heath Robinson cartoon, make many of the repair parts out-of easily obtained materials, saving more money and keeping the planes flying. Planes are overhauled in two huge hangars. After so many hours flying, the Armstrong-Siddley-motors are ov­ er hauled. Each Avro Anson has two of these big engines, giving a top speed to the altered planes of 200 miles an hour. At longer intervals, the whole plane is torn down and rebuilt. NEED NEW TIRES? GO GOODYEAR AND GET MORE , MILEAGE? MORE SAFETY AT NO EXTRA choose Fr0W ou' STOCK! WE HAVE guaraHJ^J? m w'1 pRICES! Murray Johnson Wingham, Ont. That day, there was a visiting plane jn one of the hangars, a huge Douglas bomber, belonging to the American Army. A committee from the Air Corps was visiting Canadian chools and gathering information. The visit­ ing bomber dwarfed the Avro Ansons, but it was somewhat older and lacked something of their sleekness. The buildings at all Air Force camps are much alike, but two things impressed me at Malton. Though of­ ficers, civilian personnel and men all have separate mess hall, their food comes from the same central kitchen. And there is a hospital with space for 25 beds, yet it has never had a crash to handle at this school in 20 months, though an ambulance always stands ready, and two crash beds are always kept warm with hot water bottles. In the men’s mess hall a full-size propeller hangs on the wall, backed by a square of blue carpet used in Westminster Abbey when the King and Queen were crowned. On the hub is a silver Avro Anson, and on the blades are replicas in stiver of the Ob­ server’s badge, each one bearing the name of the highest ranking graduate in a class. In the office are pictures of the graduates, and scrap books with clippings and more pictures of stud­ ents—Winston Churchill's nephew, the brother of a famous opera star, and so on. Many of them are in Britain now; a few are dead in the battle for fredoom. Next Week — Bombing and Gunnery School at Jarvis. WORMS IN PIGS (Experimental Farms News) The control of the common round white worm of pigs is of first import­ ance in swine production. These worms may usually be found in small numbers in the best-kept herds but may be controlled by simple methods regularly practiced. On the other hand if no action is taken against them, ser­ ious losses may result, says E. Van Nice, Dominion Experimental Station, Scott, Sask. It is best not to wait for signs of worms, but through regular preventa­ tive measures, see that the signs do not appear. Control measures consist of giving pigs new yards once per year if possible or at least ploughing the land and seeding to some, annual crop. Since the greatest losses are usually before weaning, this is the logical time of attack. The mother may be treated for worms at least a month before far­ rowing by use of the following mix­ ture: For each one hundred pounds weight of the sow or sows to be treat­ ed, mix one teaspoonful of gasoline, one teaspoonful of turpentine, and four tablespoonfuls of raw linseed oil with one quart of milk. Starve the pigs twenty-four hours, place mixture in trough and leave until consumed. Starve another three hours; then feed as usual. When the sow is put in the farrow­ ing pen, the lower half of the body, particularly the udder, should be washed with warm water and laundry soap to remove worm eggs adhering. The pen should be cleaned thoroughly and scrubbed with hot lye water — one‘pound of lye to 40 gallons water —to kill any woim eggs. These are too small to set readily. Repeat this cleaning and washing once every ten days until the pigs are weaned, then provide fresh land for the pigs. After the pigs are four months old, the danger from worms is not great. The adult pig seldom suffers greatly from the presence of worms; but, as the eggs are passed with the faeces, the pens and pastures thus become polluted. The worm eggs may remain in the soil under favourable conditions for a year or more and be picked up by pigs with their food. Further information concerning par­ asites of pigs may be obtained upon application to the nearest Agricultural College, or Dominion Experimental Farm. FANTASTIC INVENT- ’ IONS SPURRED BY WAR Recently, the United States Army was offered a “liquid cement” which the inventor claimed could be shot at an enemy detachment and it would Harden quickly, freezing the enemy troops in their tracks. The invention was declined! Thousands of new patents are taken out every year, yet they represent on­ ly a fraction of the fantastic devices and gadgets that are put forward by hopeful inventors. In wartime, espec­ ially, there is a continual stream of imaginative ideas and notions offered to the authorities. When the Zeppelin raids over Eng­ land were causing §uch anxiety during the last war, one imaginative fellow outlined a plan for freezing the clouds so that machine-guns could be perch­ ed on them to fight the Zepps! ■ ” Another enthusiast conceived the idea of attaching a number of giant magnets to balloons which would be let out over the enemy’s trenches. The magnets would then pick up the en­ emy’s rifles. Any soldiers wearing their tin-hats would, presumably, be lifted also! During the Dardanelles campaign, the War Office was offered a gun which would fire square bullets at Turks and round ones at Christians. The inventor never explained the rea­ son for the variety, nor did he’suggest how our soldiers were to differentiate between Turks and Christians! * * * SNAKES AS ‘BULLETS'! Ideas U.S. SHIPS AT GREENLAND U.S, navy patrol boats and a navy oil tanker ate promise to protect that land. In FOREGROUND shown tied up amid the ice cakes at the American ate some of the soldiers who participated in the base established in Greenland by the first U.S. forces occupational operation. They are shown at the rail landed to make good the American govemmeufa of their transport. The twin-engine Bristol "Beaufighter," shown in flight, is a high-speed heavily-armed fighter monoplane, suitable for 'use as a day or night inter­ ceptor. Some of these aircraft are fitted with four cannons and s'x machine-guns. for special guns and shells were leg­ ion, one of the quaintest being to re­ place shells by snakes which were to be scattered by pneumatic compulsion into the enemy’s trenches. While War increases the number of ideas and gadgets, hopeful inventors pursue their plans uttwearyingly in peace days, too. A few years ago, one inventor claimed to have an infallible mousetrap. And he was as good as his word. If a mouse so much as pro­ truded his nose into a room which held the trap, his doom’was sealed. Unhap­ pily, this invention contained so many contrivances and accessories that each mousetrap would cost over $500 — an impossible handicap, of course.* * * ANTI-SNORER! How many of us would welcome an anti-snoring device! Some time ago one was patented but it has never made the open market. It consisted in fixing a microphone in | front of the sleeper which, as soon as he snored, picked up the noise and amplified it so that loud screams sounded through a loud-speaker and a'wakened the snorer. Maybe the rem­ edy was worse than the disease! A kiss card was the ingenious in­ vention of one brainy youth. A post­ card was impregnated with a rouge composition which took a perfect im­ pression of the sender’s lips. How the postman would chuckle at that! However, it doesn’t always pay to laugh «at inventions. History records hosts of object lessons for the scoffer. * * * | KNIVES AND FORKS LAUGHJ ED AT! When, many years ago, I knives and forks were introduced into j England, There was a tremendous out­ cry against them. Clergy even claim-1 ed that to use them was an affront to j the Almighty who had provided fing- • ers and thumbs, just as in mure recent times there were people who pooh- poohed automobiles because "had we been intended to ride in cars we would | not have been given legs!" ( Baking powder is, tc>daj- a house- ; hold adjunct, yet it was first greeted ■ with ridicule and even fear. People I claimed it meant "cooking with chem- i icals” and would probably poison ev- * ery-»ne who used it. When the manu-‘ facturers said that baking powder had| the effect of gas — that is, it made the* dough rise — the scoffers said it would probably continue to rise when the bread was eaten, and cartoonists drew pictures of people becoming inflated and rising to the ceiling after eating bread. * * * »• jt, LIGHTING STREETS WITH SMOKE! When the people ox Lon­ don heard that their streets were to be lit with gas instead of the old oil lamps, there was a howl of dismay. Great mass meetings were held, peti­ tions were circulated and gained thou-^ sands of signatures and even riots were feared. Nobody knew what gas was. in those days so it was described as something made from coal. Coal made smoke, so gas must be smoke, ran the reasoning, and what a fantastic idea to light the streets with smoke! However, gas was such an improve­ ment over oil lamps for street and home illumination that when Edison’s electric light bulb came to replace it, there were wails of fear that the entire populace might be electrocuted. So it has been with many invent­ ions, good, bad and indifferent. Though we may justifiably laugh at some inventions, the inventor will al­ ways have the last laugh. Walter R. Legge, manager of the Granby Printing and Publishing Co., h'as been elected president of the Canadian Weekly Newspapei association.