varied from 500 to 600 meters. Going, on March 21, to the Avord school,
he went up on the 28th to a height of 1500 meters, and on April 1 to
2600. His flights became longer, and lasted one hour, then an hour and a
half. The spiral descent from a height of 500 meters, with the motor
switched off, triangular voyages, the test of altitude and that of
duration of flight, which were necessary for his military diploma, soon
became nothing more to him than sport. In May nearly every day he
piloted one passenger on an M.S.P. (Morane-Saunier-Parasol). During all
this period his record-book registers only one breakdown. Finally, on
May 25, he was sent to the general Aviation Reserves, and on the 31st
made two flights in a Nieuport with a passenger. This was the end of his
apprenticeship, and on June 8 Corporal Georges Guynemer was designated
as member of Escadrille M.S.3, which he joined next day at Vauciennes.

This M.S.3 was the future N.3, the "Ciogognes" or Storks Escadrille. It
was already commanded by Captain Brocard, under whose orders it was
destined to become illustrious. Védrines belonged to it.
_Sous-lieutenant de cavalerie_ Deullin joined it almost simultaneously
with Guynemer, whose friend he soon became. Later, little by little,
came Heurtaux, de la Tour, Dorme, Auger, Raymond, etc., all the famous
valiant knights of the escadrille, like the peers of France who followed
Roland over the Spanish roads. This aviation camp was at Vauciennes,
near Villers-Cotterets, in the Valois country with its beautiful
forests, its chateaux, its fertile meadows, and its delicate outlines
made shadowy by the humid vapor rising from ponds or woods. "Complete
calm," wrote Guynemer on June 9, "not one sound of any kind; one might
think oneself in the Midi, except that the inhabitants have seen the
beast at close range, and know how to appreciate us.... Védrines is very
friendly and has given me excellent advice. He has recommended me to his
'_mecanos_,' who are the real type of the clever Parisian, inventive,