taking off for the first time

wrote:

Often
airplanes with clipped wings or very small engines were used, referred
to as penguins, because they would barely get into the air, and could
not climb out of ground effect.

Actually, Rick, as far as the French schools were concerned, the Penguins could
not fly at all. From what I've read, this is also true of the American Penguin
aircraft I saw pictured in Sport Pilot a year or so back. The second stage of
French flight schools was the "roller" class, which used planes such as you
describe. According to Nordhoff & Hall, the rollers "could fly, but you weren't
supposed to let them."

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

George,

Hmm, the Brits used airplanes that were capable of flight, but only in
ground effect and in a straight line. Once the student had done "solo
straights" he was moved into an airplane where he could climb and make
turns. Claude Graham-White's school is described in _The Eighth Sea_
by Frank T. Courtney, who worked there and learned to fly just prior to
the start of WWI and later flew combat in the war.

You are probably correct that the penguins could not leave the ground
at the French schools. They also used airplanes that would not climb
out of ground effect for the solo straight training, as did the Brits.
All the best,
Rick