THE PICTORIAL FLYING COURSE
Written by FLT.
LT. HARRY M. SCHOFIELD and
F/O W. E. JOHNS
Published in May 1932 - 100 pages
This is a reproduction of the original dust jacket. That is why it is so perfect. The original price was 5 shillings.
This is an original dust jacket.
The yellow colouring has faded considerably over the years.
It is rather hard to summarise a
"pictorial" flying course but I will try. This book is larger than
usual, (being 20 cm by 24
cm) and has a short half
page forward. Then from pages 9 to 95 each page generally has four black and
white line illustrations (drawn by W.E. Johns I understand), (each being 8 cm by 5.5 cm) with five or six lines of text below
each illustration, explaining how to fly. I have to say it does seem
unexpectedly easy. The illustrations all feature a small biplane, which I
believe to be a De Havilland Gypsy Moth as that is the plane on the books
cover, so I am told. The text is written as if an instructor is talking to a
pupil. Pages 97 to 100 are headed 'Types of Aircraft' and contain 16
photographs of real aeroplanes with brief notes underneath.
The pages all have short headings. These headings are
WHAT IS FLIGHT? - LIFT - DRAG - FLYING SPEED - THE FIRST LESSON -
AEROPLANE CONTROLS - THE AILERONS - AEROPLANE CONTROLS - THE RUDDER - MORE
ABOUT THE CONTROLS - THE INSTRUMENTS - MORE ABOUT THE INSTRUMENTS - FIRST
PRECAUTIONS - FURTHER PRECAUTIONS - THE FIRST FLIGHT - IN THE AIR - STILL IN
THE AIR - COMING DOWN - THE HORIZON - THE PARTS OF AN AEROPLANE - INHERENT
STABILITY - THE EFFECT OF WIND - AIR SPEED AND GROUND SPEED - THE DIRECTION OF
THE WIND - TAXYING - STILL TAXYING - THE TAKE-OFF - TAKING OFF - GETTING OFF -
FIRST LESSON IN THE AIR - IN THE AIR - STILL IN THE AIR - IN THE AIR - ON THE
GROUND AGAIN - THE FEEL OF THE CONTROLS - FLYING IS EASY - SLOWLY DOES IT -
MORE ABOUT CONTROLS - MORE ABOUT AILERONS - MORE ABOUT THE ELEVATORS - FLYING
BY INSTINCT - CONTROL IN FLIGHT - SECOND LESSON IN THE AIR PRECAUTIONS -
PRECAUTIONS - PRECAUTIONS DON'T GET LOST - WEATHER PRECAUTIONS - TURNS -
TURNING - ON THE GROUND - TURNING - STARTING UP - PRECAUTIONS IN STARTING -
GETTING OFF - LANDING - LANDINGS - GLIDING IN - LANDINGS - GLIDING - LANDING -
ON THE GROUND - ADVANCED DUAL - STALLING - SPINNING - FORCED LANDINGS - FIRST
SOLO - ADVANCED DUAL - SIDE-SLIPPING - ZOOMING - LOOPING - CROSS-COUNTRY FLYING
- PILOT'S LICENCE - RULES OF THE AIR - AERODROME RULES
- TYPES OF AIRCRAFT
The Pictorial Flying Course
Subtitle - none
Publication Details - originally published by John Hamilton
The Boards below the dust jacket of the First Edition
Well here is some astonishing information! –
There was a German edition of this book – Published in Nazi Germany in November
1934
This German version of the book used all of W. E. Johns original
illustrations. It could be said that W.
E. Johns helped pilots who were, no doubt, later in the Luftwaffe, learn to
fly! I’m sure he would have been
mortified!