Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-03-28
AVIATOR WRITES OF
UNUSUAL EXPERIENCE
Heavy Fog Made Landing Diff
cult But He Accomplished
Feat Nicely.

Ai'dI :. !, y = ~ W. Wy
most vivid descriptions of the expert
enccs OF aviators during their period OF
training in the United States before go
ing to the west front in France is ON
tanned in II letter just received from
IL South Dakota aviator. Harry Wait,
son of Mr.. and Mrs. Levi ID. Wait, of
Armour. Tho father OF the young man
formerly was n newspaper man of
South Dakota. but now is engaged in
another line of business. The letter is
in part:
Was at it again today. Hit old
Father Time for two and a halt hours,
which brings me up TO 15 hours sol"
flying. This sport costs 81 per minute
at a private aviation school-pretty eA-
pensive sport. Yesterday l had quite
an exciting and most interesting eX-
perience. l went up about Z a. M. and
a habitant Of the air-to a height OF
about 5000 feet over n lake about five
miles west of the flying field. To the
east ] could see the city. with a brill
liant sunshine striking the spires and
domes, while almost below was the
city OF soldier tents. and IL taste of
rarer atmosphere elevated my spirits
into ecstasy.
II was cutting figure Fights over the
water. when some white, fluffy clouds
began drifting under me. Pretty soon
they were all over and l a to watch
close to keep an occasional glimpse OF
the AXE so as not to get lost. Several
other hters were around me and it was
the most beautiful sight j have even
seen. Banks OF clouds piled up like
mountains. with valleys and plains and
ridges floating all around. How mag
nificent the sight-how sublime We're
my sensations. I was a spectator Of it
all. yet aloft and alone, i'm the abyss
OF heaven with my God.
About 8 O'Clock I started to descend.
cutting my motor and circling in a
spiral dive so as to go nearly straight
down and not hit some Of the cadets,
whom / knew to be near but could not
see. expected to get through in about
500 feet, but the fog was thick around
me after making several turns. l
Slaughtered out. started the engine and
Then decided to go on again. Did a
long spiral live and located the lake,
which seemed about to hit me in the
face. A nice oat field near and l de-
cided to land, when l remembered that
the road by the lake was the county
road and led straight to the aviation
field. So | started for the flying field
instead OF landing. flying about 20 feet
above the fence posts.
1T was so black that l could not go
higher on account Of losing my way.
Ifere was a farmer on the road about
half way in with a team of mules. They
ran hen l passed him and went into
the ditch. 1t was The first span of
southern mules l ever saw show any
life. Well, l made that five miles at bout
30 miles per hour. wind behind me, and
flew straight into the aviation field.
All the ships were at the hangers
the wind had changed directions.
SO l landed facing the opposite way
from which I a left an hour before.
Received a good grade for not getting
lost and landing properly. In all 16
ships were lost and solne of them did
not get in until afternoon. At 1890
we were called out again, the sky hav-
Ing cleared a bit. In the afternoon
broke 19 out Of 20 clay pigeons: in all
u pretty good day"
The storm in which young Wait ana
the other aviat0rs was caught was one
OF the sudden storms experienced &C.
casionally in the states bordering the.
Gulf of Mexico. and was one of the
most severe which had swept over that
region for some time.