OCR Text |
Show MARINES HOLD TOP PLACE AMONG OVERSEAS FLYERS First Aviation Unit, Using American-Made Machines., to Be Sent Abroad; Personnel of Corps Selected From the Physically Perfect Fighters. . I tThe first aviation unit organized in i this country and sent abroad using American-made material was the First Marine Aeronautic company, equipped ' for water flying only, which is sta-t sta-t tioned abroad at a naval base. In addi-I addi-I tion to maintaining a flying field at Miami, Fla., where actual flying train-1 train-1 s r?iyen) the aviation section of the j Marine corps gives candidates instruction instruc-tion in ground work at the Massachu-I Massachu-I setts Institute of. Technology, Boston, I and has two schools for instruction iu aviation mechanics. The flying course at Miami covers seventy-five days and j includes preliminary, acrobatic and f or- mation flying combined with instruction instruc-tion in bombing, gunnery and reconnaissance. recon-naissance. There are now 289 students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When marines are assigned to this school they are enrolled as gunnery sergeants ser-geants for the duration of the course and receive the pay allotted to this rank. Those who snow themselves as promising material are made officers after completing their training as flyers. fly-ers. The ground course lasts ten weeks and eighty men are graduated each , month. If a man fails to be graduated he has the option of being transferred to training for regular duty in the marine corps or being discharged. Of the two schools for mechanics, the larger is maintained at the Naval School for Mechanics, marine corps section, sec-tion, Great Lakes training station, Chicago. Chi-cago. Here marines are trained as mechanics, me-chanics, riggers and armorers. At present pres-ent there are 120 enlisted men taking the course at Great Lakes, and sixty men are sent each month from the marine ma-rine corps. The total number of men allotted to the marine corps at one time is 360. The second school for aviation mechanics me-chanics is located at the naval school, marine corps section, San Dieo, Cal. The training is the same as given at the Great Lakes school. Ninety-three enlisted marines are taking the course at the present time. The capacity is 120. Flying in France. At present the marine corps aviation forces in Prance, equipped for land flying fly-ing only, are performing pursuit, combat, com-bat, bombing and reconnaissance duty. In addition, they are performing duties which involve actual flying with heav ier and lighter than air craft, the former for-mer consisting of pursuit, combat and gunnery machines, seaplanes and flying boats. Kite balloons are used in performing per-forming the duties connected with lighter-than-air craft. Ail' aviation section is maintained at headquarters, TJ. S. marine corps. All aelections for the personnel of the marine ma-rine reserve flying corps are made by this office. It also makes all requests for material for the use of the aviation section, obtained- from the army and navy. It is estimated that, in addition to the personnel at present attached to aviation, it will need 1500 officers and 6000 enlisted men to carry on the work assigned to the aviation section of the marine corps during the next year. 'The .standard of the marine reserve flying corps is very high. No men are accepted for entrance into its ground school with the prospect of becoming officers unless they are as nearly physically physi-cally perfect as possible. Applicants must weigh not less than 135 pounds, aud not over 165 pounds. This enlisted personnel -has been selected front the very best in the marine corps. They are" highly trained and given every opportunity op-portunity for promotion to a commission. commis-sion. From Motor Age. Cleaning Spark Plugs. Spark plugs require cleaning occasionally, occasion-ally, especially since our motor fuel became be-came the debased liquid it now Is. The proper way is to take the plug apart and get all the black carbonized oil and dirt away from the Junction of metal and porcelain. The porcelain must not be roughened with sandpaper or a file, as this makes it more likely than before to accumulate carbon. The points should be brightened with emery' cloth and the rest of the plug be treated with gasoline and a brush. |