Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-09-25

'e fighting in a Nieuport within
with that days slip by all too quick
ly. In fact, If 1 did not have to keep
military diary 1 would not know
whether tomorrow was New Years
or Christmas. and probably care just
as. much. The military diary we are
compelled to keep only refers to the
number of rides (called sorties here) 4,
one has in an areoplane and the
kind of weather when he is not rid
ing-and one is not allowed to reg
lister any cuss words. Rainy days
would certainly be awful if one had
no friends or interested parents (I
should say anxious), to write for
then it is that every mothers son
sits down and catches up with his
correspondence. Not that we neglect
1t, but time is scarce when weather
Is good, and what is not used up in
flying should be put in sleep. 1 know,
because l was nearly all gone last
night, having been on the go for over
two weeks with an average of five
hours sleep a night. So imm ediately
after class I marched home" and
put my weary frame down on my
hard straw tick and took a twelve
hour sleep. Naturally I feel the
beneficial effects. You know, when 1
first came here, the school was so
crowded that 1 only had one class a
day, but since thirty men We're re-
moved from my class and sent to
Tours, I have been attending morn
ing and evening classes. BY the way,
you can tell the local president that
am still good unionman. as l
work eight hours a day-from q.
m. to 8 p. m. and from a. m. to 8
a. m. However, I'm only attending
the evening class now due to the
crowded condition of the classes
higher up. Just as soon as they open
up a little, l hope to be promoted
as twenty sorties entities one to this
honor and / have twenty-one.
Expects Promotion
That all depends, of course, If a
man shows any ability or not, but !
think l have shown that, because ]
have consistently drove these little
tricky machines in a straight line.
That's the idea, you know, and its
some job, for even licensed pilots run
rings with them. Every now and
then some one breaks one up and
then we get another one, with prob
ably as many whims as a woman.
Furthermore, the moniteur don't tell
us these shortcomings of our winged
steed, merely running her up and
down the track to prove that she will
go straight and then we climb aboard
and quickly discover that running in
a straight line is not so easy as it
looks. / rode about the TOUGHEST ma
chine last night that I've ever been
in, and l rode her straight, despite
her tendency to scoot off to the left,
whenever 1 was off guard. One has
to catch these little June bugs" as
soon as they begin wandering from
the straight and narrow path, else
it's all off, for nothing in the wide
world will prevent them from going
on around and completing the circle
once they get started. They tell one
when starting out to fix an eye on a
point on the horizon a tree, house or
flag, and head the machine towards
it, thus one can see the least devia-
ton from his course. Several times
l have become so engrossed in max
ing that tree keep in a straight line
that l nearly ran over the grand
stand. This has not happened late
ly though, as / am becoming more
a accustomed to handling my engine
power. AS for accidents, you can
put your mind at ease on that score.
l never saw so many precautions
taken for a mans safety, and these
machines are built so strongly and
balanced so exactly that it takes an
awful fall to kill a pilot, This is a
big school and naturally accidents
will happen. I've been here two
weeks and there has been five in
that time, only one fatal. At that,
il was his own fault, he being a
moniteur and so sure of his ability
that he>did not strap himself in and
was thrown from the machine in
midair. Last night some fool lieu
tenant was doing acrobatics only
100 feet from the ground. He had
not strapped himself in either. The
natural result followed. His ma
chine got into a hole and hit the
ground head-on with engine wide
open. The strange part of it was
that all the injuries he sustained was
a cut ankle. Personally, l think he
deserved more. The lesson would
have had a better effect. Sure, the
machines are built with an eye to
the pilot safety. It's remarkable
how. a machine can get smashed
up and the pilot never get scratched.
Meets the Americans
AS for the Americans here, they
are sure one mixed crowd, from the
real rough guy who can't say three
words without cuSsing, to the sissi-
fed gink who can't understand why
modern showers are not installed and
ice cream and cream puffs served for
a fhnllRh
a pretty hard lot, even though they
are college boys.
Several nights ago a bunch in this
room started a celebration with six
teen bottles of champagne. 1t was
some party, and | got little sleep.
No, l was not using the champagne.
Living up to my Puritannical train
ing was very hard for the first few
weeks in France, for, you know,
drinking is a universal habit in
France and getting chummy with a
would be an impossi-
bility without drinking with him.
However, the fellows soon discov-
cred that drinking was against my
and the fact that drink
don't mix with aviation helped
lot and they stopped coaxing and
respected me for it.
Twas awful hot here yesterday,
but the nights get pretty chilly and
the two blankets the government al
lows one come in handy. There are
several tennis courts here, but you
need not send my equipment as |
have neither the time nor desire to
play. Besides, the courts are very
poor and no doubt are only for the
officers. Yesterday 1 saw two French
men fencing, and more amusing
haffIo xuac roaUar Gfnpad. ThnU