The French had two methods of flight training. The Bleriot method began by teaching students to taxi a Penguin in a straight line. The Penguin was essentially a Bleriot XI, the same model that Louis Bleriot had flown across the English Channel in 1909, except that on the training planes the wings were “clipped” (shortened) and it had a smaller propeller so the plane could not fly. Once students mastered the difficult art of racing a Penguin across the airfield in a straight line they were given a plane with slightly longer wings, which could fly in short hops. Eventually they graduated to a plane that could actually fly. Students also took classroom training on how to fly, but they never flew with an instructor. Their first flight was their first solo. (Public Domain photo from Nordoff & Hall – The Lafayette Flying Corps.)