An Insight To The Pilot’S Condition During Ww1In The Movie “Fly Boys”
Although the movie “Fly Boys” was loosely based off of events that occurred in WW1, it gave me a sense of what occurred during that time and how intense the environment was.
People enlisted to become a pilot without knowing the intense training and fights associated with the fights. Most pilots had a lifetime of 4-6 weeks. This job is almost a guarantee of your death. The training associated with becoming a pilot is very hard and time-consuming. Learning how to fly a plane itself is hard enough, but while shooting and dodging shots requires a lot of effort and attention. Getting ready for flying in planes is also something that requires training. First, they taught the pilots step by step on how to fly a plane. Next, they taught them how to shoot a machine gun with target and shooting practice. After learning both individually they were asked to combine both. Once perfected, they were ready to fight but, not everyone was good at doing both at once. If a soldier was not good at operating a plane while shooting, chances of survival were slim. Now they are dependent on their colleagues to ensure their safety. Whilst flying planes, pilots also have to dodge bullets. This can be very difficult and may cause air sickness.
To prevent air sickness, pilots were required to spin in chairs, although not the same thing, this training has helped many to get the feel of the intense rides they were about to experience. After all their intense training and hard work, they were on the way to their first ‘dogfight.’ Before this, each individual was assigned a plane which they could customize. Many put vectors of something reminiscent of home or of their loved ones. The planes were made from wood and their frame was very thin and flimsy. All were equipped with machine guns used during dogfights. Worst comes to worst, each pilot was given a pistol gun in case they wanted to end their life because of no way out. Other planes were also equipped with bombs that would explode once released. After training and preparing for fights, the long-awaited fights were soon ready to come. These fights in the air where two or more planes were battling were also called ‘dogfights.’ The nature of these dogfights was very difficult and intense. As mentioned before, pilots were required to shoot, while flying a plane and dodging bullets. These fights also showed no mercy. In the movie, this plane had been shot down. Even though the pilot had made it down to safely to the ground, a pilot on the opposing team still shot him dead. From this point on, I had learned that dogfights have no limits and no mercy.
Overall, this movie has given numerous viewers a small fragment of the pilot’s condition during WW1, the intense environments and the difficult situations that they were faced.
