OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 99 



H. L. Eno and O. V. Fry developed apparatus for measur- 

 ing the aviator's ability to point his plane quickly and accur- 

 ately in a desired direction, as at an enemy plane. 



Major Watson was sent to Europe to gather statistics on 

 the qualities essential to success as a military aviator. 



Dr. Parsons of the Navy received help from the committee 

 in giving tests to every candidate for flying status in the naval 

 air service. Parsons' study of the relation of the duration of 

 nystagmus after rotation to flying ability yielded negative 

 results, which are corroborative of Thorndike's findings, and 

 supported by Dodge's analysis of nystagmus reactions. 



From August 4, 1918, Thorndike served as chairman of the 

 subcommittee on aviation. The Department of Military 

 Aeronautics had requested that he be designated as expert to 

 prepare and put into operation methods of psychological 

 testing appropriate for examining the personnel of that de- 

 partment. To that effect he studied the system used by the 

 aviational examining boards for the selection of candidates 

 in the air service and also the intelligence tests In general use 

 in the army. Especially by modification and supplementa- 

 tion of the latter he developed a test of mental alertness to 

 measure mental ability of the order requisite for success in 

 the air service. 



From the records of over two thousand flyers, Thorndike 

 determined the relation between actual success in the work 

 of a military aviator over the lines and age, social status, 

 intellectual ability, business achievement, athletic ability, 

 and many other characteristics. 



A testing and rating plan, a part of the general plan for 

 the selection and classification of officer material in the Stu- 

 dents' Army Training Corps, was adopted by the Procure- 

 ment Branch of the Personnel Section of the Air Service and 

 was to have been put into operation in November, 191 8, for 

 the selection of over one thousand aviation cadets per month 

 from the Students' Army Training Corps. ^ 



4. Committee on the Selection of Men for Tasks Requiring 



^ This account is supplemented by E. L. Thorndike: " Scientific Personnel Work in 

 the Army," Science, N. S., 49, 53-61, Jan. 17, 1919. 



