IMPORTANCE OF AVIATORS EMPHASIZED AT MEETING

The requirements for enrolment in a flying unit of the Signal Corps, United States Army, and the prospects for the organization of a flying unit composed of members of the University were outlined by Roger Amory, graduate chairman and organizer of last year's undergraduate flying corps to over 100 students in the Trophy Room of the Union last evening. Mr. Amory was introduced by H. Coolidge '19, who was active in the organization of the undergraduate corps last year.

"The burden of supplying the country with military aviators will fall on the college undergraduate," said Mr. Amory. "If the United States in the event of war organizes an army of 1,000,000 men at least 10,000 military aviators will be required to supplement it properly. Aviators must be young men in the prime of life and in the best of health, and, furthermore, the successful military aviator must have the equivalent of a college education or at least be on a level intellectually with the average college undergraduate." He pointed out that the French and German aviators at the beginning of the war were mostly chauffeurs who had to carry officers with them to make the necessary observations. Lately, however, the aviators have been drawn from men of officer calibre who can do all their reconnoitering alone, thus increasing the efficiency of the aero corps tremendously.

Profiting by the experiences of European belligerents in the early stages of the war, the Government has outlined a plan for the organization of flying units throughout this country, certain restrictions being placed upon applicants for training and commissions as aviators in the Signal Corps. All applicants must pass both a physical and mental examination, a year or more in college being sufficient to pass the latter requirement. Those who are received for training at one of the Government schools, of which several have already been established, are ranked as sergeants and if they are accepted as regular commissioned officers after their periods of training they receive the rank of first lieutenant. It takes the average man about three months of intensive instruction to learn how to fly and another three months to master the military side of the work. Since the burden of filling the ranks of the aviation corps will fall on college men it is thought that the complete course of training may be divided between two summers.

The men from the University who signify their willingness to take up the work seriously will be organized into a unit to begin regular Government instruction this summer at Squantum if the Government will establish a school there or at some other school if it is practical. This is the plan which the organizer of the unit intended to follow before the war crisis arose. It is planned now to meet the emergency of a declaration of war by passing upon the applications here and in the event of war to submit a certain number of them in a body to the Government for enlistment. Such an arrangement would no doubt give the University unit preference over the large number of separate applications which would undoubtedly be submitted.

Applications at Weld 3.

Two kinds of applications were distributed at the meeting, the official form for application for enlistment to the head of the Signal Corps, United States Army, and unofficial blanks which enable the signer to signify his willingness to apply for a commission as an aerial reserve officer and to enlist for six years with the understanding that he would devote the summer of 1917 to the training and the summer of 1918 if necessary, with two weeks of active service each year thereafter during the enlistment. Provision is made on these unofficial blanks for the statement of any qualifications for the work the applicant may have. Copies of either form of application may be obtained at Regiment Headquarters, Weld 3, after 11 o'clock today