The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-26

 ing a very active aviation camp for the last two months at her Summer home, Peacock Point, at Locust Valley. L. l., Mrs. Dawson told a reporter yester- day why she had taken up this task.
 '"To show mothers that flying is sane, safe, wise and constructive work for their sons to take up in connec- ton with preparedness for our na- tionaI defense" was Mrs. Davison's answer to a direct question on the subject.
 As evidence of her belief, Trubee Dawson, her son, has been flying his own hydro -aeroplane for some weeks and a corps of college men has been in training at Peacock Point for the last two months.
 The members are Robert A. Lovett, son of Robert S. Lovett, whose coun- try home is Woodfold, at Locust Point; John Vorys, son of Judge Vorys, Columbus, Ohio; John Farwell, 34, of Chicago; Albert Ditman, son of A. J. Ditman, of Englewood. N. J.; Wesley Laud Brown of Englewood; Artemus L. Gates, of Iowa; Earl Gould, son of the late Dr. E1gin R. L. Gould, City Chamberlain during 1902 '04, and Allen Ames, c. D. Wynam, and A. D. Sturtevant. w. F. Sullivan who is a Lieutenant of the Royal Fly ing Corps, and who recently returned to this country, and H. P. Davison, jr, now serving with the American Am buIance Corps in France, will join the squad in September.
 It is expected these men will form the first New York unit of Aerial Coast Patrol, as soon as Congress au- thorizes the formation of that system of coast defense.
 Mrs. Davison is responsible for the formation of the flying squad. Before giving her consent she had to Over-' come a conviction that flying was the most dangerous avocation on earth; further than that MT. Davison, who held a similar belief, had to be con verted before the training school could be established. >ier desire to support the preparedness movement was primarily responsible, said Mrs. Davison, for her finally giving her consent for her son to take up avia- ton.
 "When my son, Trubee, came back from Yale, for his vacation" she said, "all arrangements had been made for him to join his brothers in France as a member of the American Ambu- lance Corps. He was to have sailed in a few days.
 "Then the Mexican situation devel- oped and both he and I agreed that his first duty was to stay here and do his part for his own country. He first decided to join the Yale Bat tery, but he is only 20 years old and it was necessary for his father to sign his enlistment papers. MT. Dawson was away salmon fishing, and by the time he could be reached it was too late and the battery plan had to be given up.
 Knowing the need of aviators along the border, my son then decided to learn to fly and spoke to me about 1t. I was absolutely opposed to his do- ing so, because I felt that flying was but one step removed from death. But he was insistent and I got in touch with John Hays Hammond, Jr., and asked his advice. He said that Trubee ought to take up flying, and told me how safe 1t was when proper ly done. He referred us to Admiral Peary, who was then in Washington and my son and Re,ert Lovett went to see him. The outcome of these lICeTtleWS was tIldt l WAS COUVcTlcu and willing to aid as much as possible in preparing my son to serve his country as an aviator.
 ''Then MT. Dawson returned and the project was submitted to him. He was as much against it as I had been, but said, While am very much op- posed, I have an open mind and will investigator He did so. I don't know " nT fn Efr1, he foI cd except that MT. Woodhouse of the Aero Club was a member of one fam fly consultation, but at the end of three days, he gave his consent.
 Immediately after, the formation of the aviation squad began. My son communicated with his friends by long distance telephone and tele- graph, and within few days seven or eight of them had promised to come as soon as they could and join the school. Most of them are Yale men, and two others now training at Gov ernor's Island will soon join them.
 Then we found that there were no flying boats available, and for time it looked as though it would be diffi- cult to get started. However, the Wanamaker Flying School had locat- ed near here a few days before and had just received a new flying boat. Arrangements were made for its use, and David Mccullough, instructor of the school, agreed to take charge of our squad.
 Serious work began immediately. MT. Mccullough is very competent instructor, and does not believe in ta- king risks or doing stunts He start ed the boys at the bottom, doing the work of mechanics, before any at tempt was made to teach them to fly. They rose at 5 o'clock in the morning and went to the hangars. Then they came back to breakfast, returning to their work again as soon as the meal was finished, and so it went the whole day In the evening they would re- turn to dinner, hot, tired and dirty, and more enthusiastic than ever. At dinner there was only one topic, avia- ton, and we all soon became as en- thusiastic as they were.
 Aviation is infectious. I went to the school one afternoon, merely out or curiosity, and with very little urg- ing went up for a flight. and enjoyed It very much. MT. Davison did the same thing, only he has taken two flights and thoroughly enjoyed every moment he was in the air.
 shortly after we decided to form our corps, Curtiss 100 horse power f1ylng boat was ordered and it arrived the last week of July. With it came the mechanics to do tI,S oSsap,b1yr ,