First, in the point of need, was that of flying fields. Two were in limited operation at the outbreak of war, San Diego and Mineola; three more were selected, cleared, equipped, and made ready for flying in six weeks’ time, and by the end of the year over a score were in operation all over the country. All were protected by a three-year lease with option to buy, if desired, at a fixed price. During the year also five supply depots, three concentration depots, three balloon camps, two repair depots, one experimental field, one radio laboratory, and one quarantine camp were built. The selection of men for training as flyers was a complicated task, as the requirements were necessarily rigid. Volunteer examining boards of the highest medical skill were organized all over the country, 36 urban and 30 divisional boards, and a total of 38,777 men were examined to June 2, of whom nearly half, or 18,004, were disqualified. This naturally led to a high grade of personnel, and made the later training both more rapid and more efficient. The first step in instruction was at one of the new “ground” schools opened on May 21 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell and Ohio State Universities and the Universities of Illinois, Texas, and California, with Princeton and the Georgia School of Technology added on July 5. Here, in eight weeks, under military discipline, the cadets were grounded in all the elements of aviation at a cost to the Government at first of $65 per pupil, and later $10 each for the first four weeks, and $5 weekly thereafter. By June 30, 1918, a total of 11,539 men were graduated to the flying fields and 3,129 were discharged for failure in studies, etc. Next came the actual flying instruction, divided into two phases, primary and advanced. The former averaged about eight weeks, included ability to execute the simpler evolutions and cross-country flights, and led to an officer’s commission and the right to wear the Reserve Military Aviator’s wings. To June 30, 1918, 4,980 men had been graduated as Reserve Military Aviators for final training, and about 400 had been disqualified as incapable of becoming flyers. The advanced training, however, presented infinitely more difficulties. It was not nearly so simple to teach the more complex stunts, formation flying, aerial machine gunnery, bombing, and night flying, while at the same time the highly specialized equipment necessary required considerable time for manufacture. Nevertheless, advanced schools of the three types necessary were openeEarly western travels 1748-1846, volume 7 of 10d toward the end of the year 1918, with what equipment was available, and had graduated 110 bombers, 85 bombing pilots, 464 observers, 389 observer pilots, and 131 pursuit pilots by June 30, 1918.