ned ranks. Some of the witnesses were of the
opinion that not many men of the skilled mechanic class would be ready
or willing to risk their lives as pilots. The experience of the war has
disproved this forecast; an observer in war must have at least as cool a
head and as stout a heart as a pilot, and every one who has flown on the
western front knows that among the very best observers not a few were
non-commissioned officers. But the fact is that the question was settled
by lack of time. To give effect to the scheme outlined in the report of
the technical sub-committee would have required much time and experiment
and adjustment; in practice the simpler way was chosen, and the business
of piloting was reserved, in the main, for commissioned officers.
Courage is found everywhere among English-speaking peoples; the real
point to secure is that the pilots of one squadron, or the pilot and
observer of one machine, should not only meet on duty, but should live
together. That perfect understanding and instant collaboration which
spells efficiency in the air is the product of habitual intimacy and
easy association during leisure hours.

In the early days of the Royal Flying Corps a certain small number of
non-commissioned officers were trained to do the work of piloting, so
that the officers who flew with them in two-seater machines might be
freed for the more important work of observation. This experiment was
not favourably reported on, and the opinion has often been expressed
that men chosen from the non-commissioned ranks of the army or the
lower-deck ratings of the navy do not make good pilots. A wise judgement
on the question will consider all the circumstances. Promotion in both
army and navy was slow before the war, so that a non-commissioned
officer or petty officer was often a married man, considerably in
advance of the age at which the most successful war pilots are made. The
inspired recklessness of youth does not long persist among those who
from boyhood up have to earn their living by responsible work. Moreover,
commanding officers, whether in the army or the navy, were naturally
reluctant to let their skilled men be taken from them, so that the men
whom they sent to be trained as pilots were too often men for whom no
other good use could be found. 'If they don't break their necks,' said
one naval officer, 'it will wake them up.' Again, in 1918, when cadets,
after a preliminary technical training, were graded as of