The Washington times., 1917-12-23
HAS ALREADY
FOUGHT TWO
IRBATTLES
WITH ENEMY

'soMBwHERE II FRANCE, Dec.
1t-TEo eombats over lines. Well
Happy.
This Is the cable recefyed from G.
De Freest Larner. wsshington man,
former student Of the western High
School, by his mother. Mrs. Robert
II Larner. 2051 o street, one day
after the news OF the death Of Ben
samin Stuart walcott, of the Escad-
rille Squad Eighty four was received,
according to. a statement made to-
day by Mrs. Larner.
Larner. a former Lawreneeyille Pre-
paratory School man and student at
Columbia University, who left here
last June to join the Lafayette Fly
ing Corps IN France, is now at the
front. ---.-----
Both Larner and waleott are be-
lieved to have been in the same COM
bat at the time the latter was killed,
and It II believed that the cable Is
meant to re-assure his mother as
TO his safety. waleott was the son
of the secretary Of the Smithsonian
Institution.
Applies for o. s. -Cenmission.
When Larner left here he went to
Tours, France, from where he was
graduated and breveted as a corporal,
and upon the Tdisbsndment Of the
Lafayette Flying Corps applied for
d transfer to the aviation section OF
General. Pershing1s army. This appli-
cation Is attn pending, and in the
meantime Earner has completed his
course OF training at the different
French schools and is flying At the
front with Escadrille Squad Eighty
six - M -
walcott,s name was mentioned
several times by Larner in his let
ters to his mother, and he made men,
tion Of Walcott's excellence as a
pilot walcott- was with Escadrille
each other often at the d4herent
French aviation schools.
The letters Larner wrote to his
mother told OF the different flying
schools he attended under French
tutelRze, how the "moniteurs" taught
the tricks OF the trade. "acrobatics.'
use. OF the Yickers-machine gun and
90 on. Mrs. Earner has turned the
letters over to The Times for publica-
tion, as several Washington boys are
in the same flying corps. They fol-
low
An ThrouEh Training.
sAyord. France, Oct 1s.-I am all
thfbugh my Nisuport training here
and Efu start for Pau in a few days
fer aacrobatics.' The Nieuport Is q
WoSderful machine. Imagine flying
along at q speed Of 100 miles an hour
and landing at q speed Of 66 miles an
hour. That Is what have been do
ing lately.
sWithin q week 1 will be flying a
machine which will go 125 miles an
utes, and still Il IL q school machine.
Tbs, Nieuport IS q double control ma
chine. with . supporting surface OF
IS square meters, and Is called a 2s-
meter machine. The answer contacts
tmmediately. being very dangerous to
turn and hard to land. After six rides
in this went TO q 23-meter machine.
and after six rides in this the raoni-
teur allowed me to take my nrst ride
alone. was not at all nervous.
Il have acquired the necessary con-
Adsnee to DO straight flying, and when
20 70 Pau will learn acrobatics II
is dangerous to loop and do stunts in
q school machine. In one Of my rides
took my hands OF the controls en-
tIreiy and handled the machine with
my feet"
Mentions waIeott.
SParis, Oct. 23.-I am writing from
thsfY. N. c. A. Hotel, where / am
spepding three days before I go to
Pau.
stuart walcott, whom I saw at
Avord in July, is at Plessis-Belleville