Eugene Bullard by Larry Greenly

Author:Larry Greenly [Greenly, Larry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Eugene Bullard, Larry Greenly, NewSouth Books, aviation, military history, World War I, French Foreign Legion, Charles deGaulle, World War II, prejudice, descrimination, racism, France
ISBN: 9781603061964
Publisher: NewSouth Inc.
Published: 2013-10-13T04:00:00+00:00

The gates to the Avord School of Aviation, one of the largest in France, where Bullard learned how to fly.

Flying the latest types of planes, Bullard had to practice the intricacies of what he called “fancy flying.” His aerobatic instructors showed him how to execute changes of direction, perform rolls and corkscrews and how to attack out of the sun to prevent being seen by the enemy. He learned power dives for attacking from above or escaping attack from behind and how to pull up safely before he hit the ground. These were all necessary maneuvers for air combat, and they were maneuvers that might save his life one day.

Early combat planes had machine guns mounted on the top wing, so the bullets wouldn’t hit the propeller. Wing-mounted guns meant the pilots had to reach up to fire them—not an easy task when flying violent maneuvers during air combat and trying to aim at enemy aircraft. But Bullard practiced firing the newest synchronized machine guns that could fire through the plane’s whirling propeller blades without hitting them. Finally, he learned how to fly and fight in formation.

One day, on the ground, Bullard watched in horror as a plane buzzing overhead went into a dive and then struggled to pull up. As the plane neared the ground, its engine noise got louder and louder, and it was obvious that the plane was going to smash into one of the airfield buildings.

The plane crashed through the metal roof of the camp’s bakery with a loud bang. A white cloud rose into the air. Luckily, no fire erupted. Bullard and a crowd of other pilots ran toward the bakery, expecting the worst. White-shirted bakers ran outside, cursing loudly.

As Bullard arrived at the crash, a flour-covered pilot crawled out of the crumpled wreckage and climbed down to the ground, apparently uninjured. A stunned crowd gathered around the pilot, who was covered from head-to-toe in white flour. Captain Boucher arrived and demanded to know what had happened.

The hapless pilot stepped forward, stood at attention and snapped a salute, a puff of flour wafting from his sleeve. “It was I, mon capitaine.”

The crowd erupted in laughter. The captain shook his head in disbelief. It wasn’t the first time this pilot had crashed. But now there would also be a bread shortage for a while.

Bullard knew he was supposed to receive additional combat flying training, but instead he was placed in charge of his sleeping quarters at Avord. What a strange order, Bullard thought. But he felt it wouldn’t be long before he was sent to the front.

His sleeping quarters were shared by 22 other American pilots who had also volunteered to fly for the French. Bullard had gotten friendly with all the pilots—especially a tall American named Reginald Sinclaire, who slept only inches away in the next bunk. Bullard appointed Sinclaire his assistant and, together, they kept the American quarters spotless. The inspecting lieutenant announced they had the best-looking room in the barrack.

Eventually, Bullard started noticing that pilots who had arrived after him were shipped off to the front for combat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.