training

10 don’ts from 1939

By Dave English

Published in 1939, Robert Winston’s book Dive Bomber takes us back to the exciting world of 1930’s US Navy aviation. It starts great — “Eighteen dollars an hour. That’s what they wanted for dual instruction at the flying school on Long Island. I had expected flying lessons to be expensive, but I didn’t think they were going to tear such a hole in my pay-check.” — and keeps going. He attributes this list of ten don’ts to any good flight instructor: Don’t try to take off or land down-wind. Don’t fool with the weather. Don’t accept a ’plane for flight … Continue reading 10 don’ts from 1939

Officer’s Aide Memoire

By Dave English

During WWII, the Royal Navy expanded at a great clip, which required staffing hundreds of ships with new officers. The shore training camp that turned civilians into Royal Navy officers was HMS King Alfred, in Hove, Sussex. It was commanded by one Captain John Noel Pelly, who was recalled from retirement at the start of the war. A few years later, in September 1943, he wrote a short book titled Officer’s Aide Memoire that distilled hundreds of years of sea-going knowledge from the Royal Navy into words. It was widely read among the over twenty-two thousand naval officers that eventually … Continue reading Officer’s Aide Memoire

Easy to fly, Hard to fly well.

By Dave English

I’m back from vacation. A highlight was getting to fly a 1930’s Tiger Moth out of an airfield in England. That’s me in the front seat. Absolutely wonderful experience. The instructor said the Tiger Moth was the perfect trainer for all WWII RAF and Empire pilots as it was “easy to fly, hard to fly well”. Well, I certainly proved that! And on reflection, his phrase is true for lots of piloting stuff.