The General Staff

Training of Aerial Machine Gunners The General Staff

First issued in July 1916 - the month that the battle of the Somme began; and reprinted that November - the month that the battle ended, the notes and practices that it details are an outline of instructional methods in vogue at the Royal Flying Corps to train aerial machine gunners in their work. There is an outline of the syllabus on a typical 12-day training course, which breaks down the total time allotted to each phase: seven hours to drill; eleven to the mechanism and stripping of the gun; two to lectures; two to the care of the guns; and one to testing. Gives a good idea of the levels of expertise required from aerial gunners midway through the Great War.