OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL ^^ 



took a statistical study of the relation between the results of 

 the tests and the degree of success achieved in flying. 



It was early foreseen that it would be necessary to select 

 a number of tests, each properly weighted, as the practical 

 means of predicting aptitude for flying. Provision was made 

 by the army for a systematic and detailed tryout of promis- 

 ing tests by Captain Stratton and Captain Henmon at Rock- 

 well Field and Kelly Field in cooperation with the Committee 

 on Classification of Personnel. The personnel of the group 

 on whom the tests were tried out included one hundred men 

 chosen on the basis of their special skill in flying, one hundred 

 chosen as relatively inapt at flying, and one hundred candi- 

 dates of unknown ability. This work, carried on in the 

 spring of 1918, resulted in provision by the War Department 

 for further research by Captain Stratton, and the authoriza- 

 tion of four special examining units to apply the tests to can- 

 didates for cadetship. 



To Major John B. Watson of the subcommittee on avia- 

 tional problem was assigned, in the summer of 1917, the task 

 of organizing methods, other than medical, to be used by the 

 examining boards for the selection of personnel. Watson 

 also assisted in organizing a group of research psychologists 

 to collaborate with physiologists and medical officers in the 

 study of aviational problems at the Bureau of Mines, Wash- 

 ington. 



Special mention should be made of the Psychology Sec- 

 tion of the Medical Research Laboratory at Hazelhurst Field, 

 Mineola, Long Island, which developed from the work inaug- 

 urated in Washington by Watson and his associates. At 

 this station. Major Knight Dunlap^ was primarily responsible 

 for the development of a series of psychological tests to assist 

 in determining the ability of candidates for the aviation ser- 

 vice to withstand the effects of high altitudes. Oxygen in- 

 sufficiency was produced by the Henderson rebreathing ap- 



1 For an account of the psychological work of this station see Knight Dunlap: 

 "Psychological Research in Aviation," Science, N. S., 49, 94-97, Jan. 24, 1919; 

 " Manual of Medical Research Laboratory." War Department, 1918, pp. 163-199^ 

 and " Medical Studies in Aviation," (IV. Psychologic observations and methods.) 

 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 71, 1382-1400. Ocober, 1918. 



