"Wally Samuelson" wrote in message Does anyone have a clue where the
tradition of cutting off the shirt tail of
a newly soloed student began? I believe it has its roots in the military
in
WW1.

In WWII, we wore our goggles around our neck until we soloed, after that we
could wear them on out helmets in the proper position. It was also the
tradition to throw the soloist in the nearest body of water, either thepool,
lake ,gulf or ocean!