Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1917-09-20
EXPERIENCES in
AVIATION SERVICE
Interesting Letter From Dedham Boy
Who Has Had Considerable Ex-
perience in u. s. Service

Fairfield, Ohio.
September 10, 1917.
Dear Uncle:-
Received your letter yesterday but
did not have time to answer last eve
ming. You asked sor something on
aviation camp life to publish in the
papers. Well I'm not the official
correspondent for the aviation sec
ton Of the U. s. service, but will
give you few facts. You can pub
lish what you wish of them.
In the Aviation section we have
the finest of fellows. In all the
army you will not find better
bunch. The Aviation Corps is next
to the highest branch of the serv-
ice. Only the Hospital Corps is high
er. When you get into the Aviation
section, you cannot transfer except
to the Hospital Corps, as you cannot
transfer from higher to a lower
branch of service.
In Texas there were between four
and five thousand of us stationed
at Camp Kelly. There, about all
We were taught was the manual of
arms, drill regulations, army regu-
1ations and fatigue duty. / was very
fortunate as l got only small
amount of drill and no fatigue duty.
Very few of us got to go to school
except the last few weeks we were
in Camp Kelly. They did not have
the facilities for teaching many aero
nautical work at all. Some of the
men received practical work on aero
planes, but they were q small per-
centage of the men in camp.
Camp life was not very pleasant
at times. The climate was warm
and dry. In the day time it would
be hot and at night you would almost
freeze. This was due to the breeze
from the Gulf of Mexico, which arose
about five o'clock every evening. =
Our meals were not the best, but
they were very good when you take
into consideration the circumstances.
The cooks had nothing but field
ranges and with them they were un-
able to fifty cook what we did get to
eat. An )ther drawback was this,
the field was just new. The men in
charge were new at the game and
of course could not be blamed.
While in Camp Kelly, we had two
big rain storms, one was the eve
ming of the fourth of July and the
other was the second Sunday follow
ing.
Our camp was situated on little
knoll and in the hollow around 1t.
The squadrons on the side hill Jared
very we'll but those in the hollow
were very much flooded.
My squadron was situated in the
hollow. We were marooned the
next morning. The water was knee
deep in the company street and in
most of the tents 1t was Just as bad.
This was not what bothered us the
most. 1t was dust storms. Several
times when sitting down to eat, a
big whirling dust storm would pass
down thru the camp and our suppers
would consist mostly Of dirt. Texas
has dust storms in many sections.
but they don't compare with those In
that camp. One reason is the great
number of men continually on the
move and they keep it very dusty.
Even the effect of big rain storm
did not last over two or three days
at the most.
You never saw a happier bunch of
men in your life than we were when
we got orders to leave Texas. We
left Camp Kelly at eleven o'clock
Sunday morning, July 20. We ar
rived at Wilbur Wright Aviation
Field at ten O'Clock Tuesday morn
ing, being on the way little less
than As hours. We had made the
fastest time of any transportation
train from Camp Kelly to the Wright
Aviation Field
When we landed here and looked
over our future home, we thought
we were in heaven. The construc-
ton work is not all finished but
when ii is we will have the best
aviation field in the world. Not only
have we better climate. better
laid out field, but the people of the
surrounding country are more con-
genial. In Texas we were treated
more like animals than anything I
know of, while here we are treated
real white.
The training here is very intensive.
The flying hours are from six to
eleven in the forenoon and from one
till four in the afternoons. Sundays
the flying hours are from eight to
eleven in the forenoons and one
till three in the afternoons. OF
course there are days when there
is special flying One day last week
there were eleven machines that took
a cross country flight to Kenia, Ohio.
There was nothing Of Importance
happened on the trip.
There have been a few accidents
here. Two machines were wrecked
one day when a storm came up while
they were in the air. The pilot
and observer were not seriously in
jured. There has been three men
are alive. One Of them had 1870 some
struck by propellers. Two Of them
stitches taken in his body. 1t hap
pens frequently that machine
landing gear when a poor landing
is made. These are mostly made
by student filters and is due to mis-
Judgment of their distance from the
ground
There are about 1900 men at the
post at the present time. We all
have some good times together as 1t
is not all work in the army. We
are organizing post foot ball team
and are making arrangements to
play with the Ohio State Unjvorsi-
ty, Notre Dame, and other schools
of the same caliber. We expect to
have a winning team.
I do not think that we could be
asked to do anything that we could
not find men in. some squadron that
were in the same profession in civil
life. We have large assortment OF
occupations represented in this ser
vice. Musicians, painters, wood and
metal workers. actors, lawyers. and
many more. We have a stringed
orchestra in my own squadron
that would be hard to beat any
where, and its the same way In every
kind of occupation. We have the
best there is in every line of work.
and the highest type of manhood to
be found in any other branch of the
service. Me for the Aviation Corps
every time.