Very carefully considered, in every way, is the course of instruction through which an officer-airman is called upon to pass. The aim is to make him proficient in every respect. For military purposes, it is not sufficient for an officer to be, say, a fine "fancy" flyer, and ignorant in regard to engines, or a skilled engineer and an indifferent pilot. He must be a thoroughly all-round man. II. How the military airman is "schooled"—His course of instruction described. The novice who comes to the French military schools is given a course of general tuition. He is first brought to study flying in its broad aspect, and not as regards detail. This period of general "schooling" may last for two or three months, during which the beginner makes it his business to study aeroplanes, and their motors, very carefully. He acquaints himself, for example, with the method of control employed in the various machines. Then, as regards motors, he has much to occupy him. He will take an interesting engine like the "Gnome," for instance, and make himself thoroughly conversant with all its details. The value of such preliminary work is often shown subsequently when, perhaps, an officer may be stranded some distance from Headquarters with a jibbing engine. Instead of being helpless in such circumstances, his previous period of tuition stands him in good stead, and he is able to run over his motor with an expert eye, and so discover the little defect which may be causing all the trouble. Apart from the "Gnome," there are other makes of engine in the aviation school to which the pupil may direct his attention, with good results. Thus the novice acquires a general knowledge regarding aeroplanes and their motive power, and prepares himself for the second stage of his tuition. This resolves itself into a series of flights, which end in his taking control of an aeroplane himself. But, first of all, he takes his place in the passenger-seat of a military machine, and is piloted round the aerodrome by an officer-instructor of proved skill. For his first few flights, the beginner merely sits in the machine, and accustoms himself to the novel experience of being in an aeroplane. This first acquaintance with flight generally proves confusing. The engine of an aeroplane makes a din which is trying to the novice. Then the pace of the machine, when it moves across the ground, and the rapidity with which it soars in flight, are confusing, also. It is, therefore, a sound policy to allow a beginner to make several trips with an experienced officer, before he attempts to control a machine himself. By so doing, the pupil has an opportunity of getting over his first bewilderment, and contrives to be in a fairly cool and collected frame of mind when his turn comes to assume control of the levers.