New-York tribune., 1918-12-01
American nAirPilot TellsHow
Flyers Work Above the Battle
Lieutenant Walter V. Barneby, of Sumner Washington.
First Thought Too Slow TO Become Aviator Later
Reprimanded for Taking Chances-Killed
in His Machine in Line of Duty

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3O.-The War
Department authorizes publication OF
the following letter, written in May,
1918, by Lieutenant Walter V. Barne-
bey, young fiier Of the A. E. F., emer-
gency address, Mrs. A. l.. Crawford,
mother, Sumner, Wash.
Before joining the air service he was
employed in the Panama Canal Zone
on underground conduit work His SD
he would not make good as fier, as
he learned slowly, but he persevered
and finally won his wings Then he
had to be reprimanded for taking
chances. His first technical offence
was looping the loop in machine not
designed for that work. When asked
why he did it, he said the French told
him it could not be done, and he wanted
to show them that Americans could
do it.
Barnebey's work over the lines in
bringing back information was remark
able. and it was while starting on one
Of these trips, on May %, that he was
killed. He had reached an altitude of
400 feet, when the machine was seen to
go into a tail spin. He succeeded in
Fighting it and was flying level, but
crashed into the side of hin. He
failed to regain consciousness. An
American officer of the 32d French
Corps, to which Lieutenant Barnebey
was attached, pinned the Croix de
Guerre with palm OF the dead fler, who
had been previously recommended. The
letter follows:
"Young fellows who think no more
deeply OF this subject than of stepping
into a machine before crowd of ad-
miring girls and cutting capers over
Il i L. ! Il n
make good at the front a flyer must
have no yellow in his makeup. His
machine is a complicated thing Of won
derful power; he must watch over 1t
carefully, and when in the air sit in IT
as though it were part of himself. and
fly it instinctively, thinking only OF the
mission he is sent to perform.
"It is the observation planes that do
most of the hard work and get the least
credit for it. They are the eyes of the
modern army and their work is by far
single exception OF the low flyers, who
attack and bomb troops at few
metres height when a general attack
is going on, is the most dangerous of
all aviation. The pilot of the observa-
tion plane has one or more lives other
than his own in his keeping, and his
plane is one that has cost great deal
of labor to produce.
"Flying q photo machine is the most
difficult and 'brainy' flying of all.
cannot explain in detail, of course, but
the conditions are such that it de-
mands the most Of q pilot, while 1t Is
of such Importance that the enemy
spares no expense or trouble to bring
him down. His machine is always the
objective of all enemy chasse machines
who can reach him, and 8 target for
the anti-aircraft batteries, for he has
to fly straight and even course, 81
ways. He cannot vary his line Of fight
10 avoid the inferno of anti-aircraft
shells that . are belching forth from
dozens of guns. Nothing matters to
him except those pictures he must
take and deliver to his home station
behind the lines, where the plates are
rushed in, and, by forced processes all
the way through, the prints are deiiv-
cred in a very few minutes to the ex-
perts who go over them with micro
scope, thus enabling headquarters to
know exactly OF changes and move
ments There is that well-known case
where an aerial photo showed the Ger
man second line and support trenches
to be packed with men. The French
artillery Immediately pounded them
into dust and nipped in the bud one
of the big Boche attacks. All the
German drives since have been started
under cover of darkness or fog.
"Here I want to explain about anti
aircraft shells. "A AS or 'Archies'
as we call them. There are several