Schools at Work-IV.

At an age when the ideas of most young men with money do not soar above owning a very fast motor-car and being a general nuisance on the road, Mr. J. Lawrence Hall took it into his head to learn to fly, and thereafter started the Hall School of Flying at Hendon.

Possibly Mr. Hall passed the motor-car stage in his very early youth and, finding no more roads to conquer, took to the air as the only way of attaining still greater speeds; at any rate he taught himself to fly. Perhaps he learned a trifle too quickly, for his earliest efforts were marked more by pluck and daring than by skill and address. As a result he had one or two nasty tumbles, from which he happily emerged without serious personal damage, though his machines have been, as the French say, a little deteriorated. However, bad beginners frequently make fine finishers, and there are in the Royal Flying Corps several very fine pilots who seemed perfectly hopeless as pupils-one in particular, I remember, who mistook his face for a landing skid on one occasion, is now a magnificent flier.

In a similar way, presumably, Mr. Hall has of late developed into a steady, careful pilot who has for months been remarkably free from even minor accidents, and has managed 5 execute with success perfect landings under circumstances wherein even the best pilots need not have been ashamed damaging their machines. That being so, he is certainly suitably equipped by experience to instruct others in aviation.

When he started his school Mr. Hall had the idea of giving his pupils experience on various types of machines, and acquired for the purpose an Avro, a Blériot or two, a Caudron, and a Deperdussin-the ABC and D of aviation. However, when war broke out the Admiralty commandeered his Avro, and the Blériots and Deperdussins died natural deaths in the hands of too-enthusiastic pupils, so he has now decided to stick to tractor biplanes of the Caudron type-a wise choice,. for, as has often been observed, the Caudron is about the safest type on which a pupil can learn single-handed, and progress therefrom to faster tractors is a natural progression. At present Mr. Hall has three Caudrons in hand for school One with a 35-h.p. Anzani is now at work, another with a 30-h.p. Anzani, for elementary instruction, was almost ready when I visited the school recently, and the third, which is to have a 45-h.p. 6-cylinder Anzani, should be fit to fly by about the time these notes appear. Therefore there should be no dearth of machines for the pupils at present on the books.

use.

The equipment of the school with more machines, with more powerful engines, is simply a matter of an increase in the number of pupils. If more pupils join on their own accounts, or if either of the Services care to support the school by sending pupils there, Mr. Hall tells me he is prepared to provide a suitable number of machines which, in the latter case, would of course be submitted to official inspection.

In view of the importance of the aeronautical services in this war one hopes to see such enterprise encouraged, for we cannot have too many Naval or Military aviators, and for that reason we cannot have too many schools, especially when, as in this case, a school is run by one who is at once an experienced flier, a trained engineer, and a man with the command of sufficient money to equip his school in accordance with Service requirements if he can be sure that such expenditure will be utilised for the good of the Services.

In the meantime civilian pupils can be signed on, and one feels sure that Mr. Hall is prepared to give them any guarantee they may require that they will receive value for their money.-C. G. G.

THE

The Sussex County Aero Club.

Saturday last was the first Divisional day of the Sports for Kitchener's Army organised by this Club, and fine weather brought a good crowd. The prize fund to date amounts to £132 and £200 is required.

The Committee appeal to the members to get further members for the Club, as the more members there are, the larger the funds at their disposal to enable the Committee to assist in the work which they have in hand.

They have been asked to undertake a further work, namely, the building of rifle ranges, particularly for the Home Defence Brigades, as the existing ones in the locality appear to be full up.

Next Saturday will witness the Championship contests and distribution of prizes by Lady Ramsay.-W. C. LITTLE WOOD, Secretary.

School and Weather Reports.
Mon. l'ues. Wed.

Thurs.

Fri. Sat. Sun.

Eastbourne.-AT E.A.C. SCHOOL.-Instructors: Messrs. F. B. Fowler and R. C. Hardstaff. Pupils: Flt. Sub-Lieuts. Pullin (35 mins.), Barnes (42), Travers (34), Teesdale (40). S's and circs. Flt. Sub-Lieut. Iron (26 min), and Mr. Bass-Sutton. Flt. Sub-Lieut. Iron completed certificate tests. Mr. BassSutton passed tests A and B. Machines: E.A.C. biplanes. Hendon.-AT GRAHAME-WHITE SCHOOL.-Instructors: Messrs. Manton, Russell, Shepherd, and Winter. Pupils with instr. : Prob. Flt. Sub-Lieuts. Cooper, Dalison, Field, Driscoll, Barnes, Breese, Livock, Wakeley, Watson, Young, and Mr. Greenwood. Straights alone: Prob. Flt. Sub-Lieuts. Groves, Hodsoll, Bray, Cooper, Watson, and Price. Figures of 8 or circs. alone Prob. Flt. Sub-Lieuts. Groves, Bray, Hodsoll, and Mr. F. Carabajal. Certificate taken during week by Mr. F. Carabajal. Machines: Grahame-White biplanes.

AT

THE BRITISH CAUDRON SCHOOL.-Instructor: Mr. R. Desoutter. Pupils: Prob. Flt. Sub-Lieut. Bird very good straights, Mr. Williams rolling well, Messrs. Barfield and Stevens right and left-hand half circs. in good style. Machines: Caudron Two 35-h.p. A tractor biplanes. half hour's test flight by R. Desoutter on a 60-h.p. two-seater Caudron biplane, preliminary to handing it over to the Admiralty. AT THE HALL FLYING SCHOOL.-Instructors: Messrs. J. L. Hall and J. Rose. Pupils Lieut. Sandys (10 strts.), Mr. Mitchell (4), and W. G. M. Connochie (14). Machines: Three Hall tractor biplanes.

AT THE LONDON AND PROVINCIAL AVIATION Co.'s SCHOOL.Instructors: Messrs. W. T. Warren and M. G. Smiles. Pupils: Strt. or rolls. Messrs. Moore, Abel, England, Derwin, and White. Machines: L. and P. biplanes.

AT THE BEATTY SCHOOL.-Instructors: Messrs. Geo. W. Beatty and W. Roche-Kelly. Pupils with instr. : Messrs. Virgilio (45 mins.), Gardner (10), Aoyang (5), Parker (12), Whitehead (5), Fletcher (15), Leeston-Smith (25), Moore (45), Newberry (10) Anstey Chave (35), Donald (30), Wainwright (38). Straights and rolling alone: Messrs. G. Perrot (10) and Cornish (45). Machines: Dual " controlled 50-h.p. Gnome biplane and 40-h.p. Wright biplane.

Shoreham. AT THE PASHLEY BROS. AND HALE SCHOOL.-Instructors Messrs. E. and C. Pashley and B. F. Hale. Pupils with instr.: J. Morrison, J. Sibly, G. Charley, and A. Goodwin. 8's and circs.: Messrs. J. Woodhouse, C. Winchester, and T. Cole. Machines: Pashley and H. Farman.

Price 2/- Net.

99

THE TRUE GERMAN VIEW
Translated by J. ELLIS BARKER.

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