Title:TRAINING PILOTS FOR THE IMPERIAL BRITISH ROYAL FLYING CORPS [Main Title]
Film Number:IWM 870
Other titles:
Summary: Basic RFC training for pilots in Britain, 1917.
Description: The pilots start at a Cadet School where they are taught drill and basic skills. "The first necessity of an airman is that he must have discipline." The cadets are in various British uniforms, and include in their number some US Army and Navy cadets. From there the cadets go to one of the Schools of Military Aeronautics. There they are taught about in-line and rotary engines, and how to assemble and rig an airframe. They fit the engine to one of the aircraft they are building. From the school they are sent on to a Lower Training Squadron where they learn to fly. Their training aircraft are the same as those they helped build, the American-designed Curtiss JN4 Jenny (in this case with Canadian serial numbers). Four of these set off on a training flight together practising taking off, flying circuits, and landing. After two or three hours with an instructor they fly solo for five or six hours more, and then are sent on to a Higher Training Squadron. Two machines, one of them the camera plane, show the difficulty of following the enemy in a dogfight. They overfly the hangars and come in to land.
Production Details: Specialty Film Import (Distributor)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Royal Air Force, Royal Flying Corps (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Flying Corps, School of Military Aeronautics (regiment/service)
United States Army (regiment/service)
United States Navy (regiment/service)
Keywords: training, British air (object name)
training, British air - specialist (object name)
training, British air - combat (object name)
aircraft, United States - light military: Curtiss JN4 Jenny & [United States] (object name)
31/3(41) (event)
GB, England (geography)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Silent
Soundtrack language: None
Title language: English
Subtitle language: English
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 818 ft; Running time: 14 mins
