Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1918 — AIR FEATS OF THE HUE MEN [ARTICLE]

AIR FEATS OF THE HUE MEN

Walcott, Since Shot Down Over German Lines, Tells of Comrades Daring, MAKES UWE OF 10,000 FEET 'Aviator Reaches Ground Safely Although All the Wires on His Machine Are Loosened Spend Holiday In Air. Washington. —Word pictures of the work of the members of the Lafayette Squadron and other American aviators In France are given in letters which Dr. Charles D. Walcott, secretary of the Smithsonian institution, has received from his son, E. S. Walcott, whose airplane fell “somewhere behind the German lines” along the western front. The allusions to the work of the American aviators contained in these letters are all the more interesting at this time in view of the fact that the men about whom Walcott wrote have just been commissioned in the American air service on the recommendation of General Pershing. Doctor Walcott has received a dispatch from Paris informing him that his son fell within the enemy lines December 12 while fighting three sin-gle-seaters, after having demolished an enemy two-seater, and that his fate is uncertain. Inquiries are being made

jto ascertain, if possible, from Germany whether young Walcott was seriously injured or not. . V In a letter dated November 13, in response to an inquiry about Campbell, .an aviator from Chicago, who was reported lost, young Walcott wrote as follows: “Campbell was in the Lafayette Escadrille, and they are a member of the same group as Squadron 84, so I have asked them about him. He was on a 'patrol with another chap; they attackled some Boches, and when It was over 'the other chap was alone. Campbel was brought down In German territory iand so reported missing. I believe the' chap he was with has seen and talked to Campbell’s father or some close relative since. “Another chap named Bulkely was brought down in similar circumstances about the Ist of September. Ten days ago word was received from the American embassy that 'he had communicated with them, a prisoner in Germany. “There are -many similar cases •where men brought down with crippled machines, or wounded, escaped detstruction by a miracle. The only sure ■•thing is when a machine goes down in iflames or is seen to lose a wing or tw T o. . “For instance, there are two officers lin the group who are in the best of ■health and daily working. Several Imonths ago they were on patrol toigether and collided in the air. One ■machine cut the tall rigging completely off the other plane, and then they

jseparated, ono plane without a tail land the other machine with various parts of a tail mixed among the cables and struts of one side of his machine. They both landed In France, one on his wheels, followed by a capotage, or ‘somersault turnover, ths- other quite completely upside down. Then a term ifn the hospital, and back they are .again. “Kenneth Marr, an. American and a friend of Pete’s, had the commands of iboth his controls cut in a combat, the Jrndder and elevator, leaving him nothilng but the aileron, the lateral balance control, and the motor. He landed with .only a skinned hose for casualties, and Jgot a decoration for it Dives Vertically 10,060 Feet "Another chap, in an attack on capHive balloons, dived for something like 110,000 feet vertically and with full mojtor on, thereby gaining considerable igpeed, as you can Imagine. He came irlght oh top of the balloon, shot and, 'to keep from hitting it yanked as irougbly as he could, flattening out his dive jn the merest fraction of a second. Imagine the strain on the maehlne! When he got home all the wires had several inches sag in them; I the metal connections of the cables in'to the struts and wood of the wings ‘had bit into the wood enough to give the sag. "Machines are built to stand 1m-

mense pressure on the under side of their wings. In some acrobatic maneuvers I was trying the other day I made mistakes and caused the machine to stall and then fall In such a way that the full weighOvas supported by the upper surface —by the wires which in most machines are supposed merely to support the weight of the wings when the machine is on the ground. “Yes, the Spad is a well-built machine, the nearest thing to perfection In point of strength, speed, and climbing power I’ve seen yet. Of course, it’s heavy, and that’s why they put 150-230 horse power in them. The other school* that of a light machine with a light motor, depending for its success on lack of weight rather than excess of power, may supplant the heavier machine in time; I can’t tell. “Yesterday there was a review here in honor of Guynemer, and decorations for the pilots of the group who had won them. Three Americans received the Croix de Guerre —members of the Lafayette Escadrille. Lufbery, the American ace, carried the American flag presented to the escadrille by Mrs. McAdoo and the employees of the treasury department, besides the two aviation emblems of France. He was called to receive his decoration for having in .the course of one day held seven combats, descended (six) one German plane in flames, and forced five others to land behind their lines, (which means that he is officially credited with one—his thirteenth—and that the other five, though probably brought down, do not count for him because there were not the necessary witnesses required by the French regulation.) “Aviators are not very military. The chief of one of the escadrilles was commissioned to command, the mechanics, who are plain soldiers with rifles and steel helmets, for the occasion. <He is a bit of a clown and amused the entire gathering, kidding with the officers. The pilots of each of the five escadrilles were In more or less formation, most of them with hands in their pockets, for It was chilly, and presenting a mixture of uniforms unparalleled In its heterogeneity. Every branch of the service represented eddless personal ideas in dress. Spent Their Holiday in the Air. “Because of the occasion, repose had been granted to the entire group for the afternoon, another group taking over our patrols. So that after the review every one.had the afternoon to

waste —a sunny day, which is qu,ite unusual this month. Within a half hour every machine that was In working order was in the air, forming Into groups and then off for the lines, just looking for trouble —voluntary patrol, they call it. Which opened my eyes a bit as to the spirit in the French aviation service after three years of war." In another letter, written December 1, young Walcott says:

“I 'tried to give you some Idea of the strength of a Spad in a letter a while ago. At home people speak of a factor of safety, meaning the number of times stronger the machine Is than is necessary for plain flying. The Spad is made so. that a man can’t ‘bust’ it, no matter what he does In the air—dive as far and as fast as he can and stop as brutally as he can, It stands the racket. Of course, motors do stop, and If it happens over a mountain range—well, that’s just hard luck. “Have had a few patrols since last I wrote. One at a big height—4,ooo to 4,500 meters, considerably above the cloaids, which almost shut out the ground below; a wonderfully beautiful sight, but beastly cold —and a couple when the clouds were low and solid. The patrol stays at just the height of the clouds, hiding In them, slipping out again to look around. If It stays below the enemy antiaircraft guns pepper it whenever near the lines, and at a low altitude that is rather awkward, so the patrol shows itself as little as possible. “It’s lots of sport to try to keep with the patrol; be behind the chief of patrol, see him disappear, and then bump Into a fog bank, a low-hanging cloud, and not see a darn thing. Then dive down out of the cloud, wondering whether the other guy Is right under r neath or not; dart out of the cloud and see him, maybe 500 yards away, going at right angles. Then back up and turn around fast and give her the gear —full speed to catch up—and so on. See a Boche regulating artillery fire, start to maneuver into range, and, zip; he’s out of sight in the clouds, and the next you see he Is beating it far back of his lines. ’'Not very dangerous this weather, but lots of fun. In a letter from the front, dated November 30, the following passages occur:

Yesterday was Thanksgiving day, and, praises be! the Lafayette bunch invited me and my partner to dinner, or rather to the feast. They have the most remarkable chef. Soup and fish prepared the way for a most remarkably big bird called the turkey, barricaded by chestnuts. And then a plum pudding—a regular American one—and as good as I ever tasted. I sat at the table with Captain Thenault, Lieutenants Thaw and Lufbery, and some Frenchmen. ‘|An early patrol this morning, despite low clouds. Lots of fun it was, ducking in and out of the clouds, keeping from hitting other machines In the 'clouds and from losing the patrol. Saw a few Boches, but all they had to do was to slip up out of sight when the patrdl approached. Every now and then their antiaircraft guns would blaze away a bit, but there was lots qf room for them to miss and for us to leave the place they were shooting at.”’' ’ L•-