The Watertown news. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1917-1919, 1918-02-22
WITH The AVIATORS
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE

in WatertOwn from overseas through
a donation made in a tobacco fund.
The letter was written by Cadet Ed
gar Youngdahl:
U. S. Air Service,
A. e. F., Paris, France.
January 2, 1918.
| am writing this letter to you to
thank you for your thoughtfulness
and kindness in contributing to Our
Boys in France Tobacco Fund" hap
pen to be the beneficiary of your kind
ness insomuch that on the morning of
December twenty-fourth / received
one Of the Fund packet of Smokes"
and in it was the pleasant card of
cheer that it had come from the con-
tribution that you had made l prefer
to feel that it came directly from you
so | take this opportunity to thank
you directly l feel a certain sense of
indebtedness to you and it occurs to
me that perhaps | can partially re-
pay your kindness by a letter telling
you little of the life of one OF Am
erica's aviators here in a French
training school.
l am at such a school here in the
central part of France in the valley
Of one Of Frances most beautiful
rivers. l have been here since October
and my course of training here is
near cOmpletion-in fact | have only
to do about two more hours of flying
and | will be "breveted"-that is I will
be recognized as a ''pilote" by both
the French and American govern
ments. This remaining flying that l
have to do is my altitude test, staying
above 240O meters for an hour.
In the three months that have been
flying here my experiences have been
many and varied. From my first flight
in dual control machine to my voy-
ages across country all alone. In your
first flight you marvel mostly that
you are not frightened or dizzy
height means nothing to you and you
gaze with rapt and devouring eyes at
the beautiful panorama below you
pretty quaint little French villages,
huge dark forests, odd white threads
that are roads, a winding silvery
stream that is the river, a large city
in the distance with it's towering
cathedral and other large public
buildings at the little squares and
rectangles of different colors fields
OF grass, grain, beets or vineyards. AS
you see this real world in the only
real way you are filled with a joy and
love for flying and this never leaves
you all the time that you are an
aviator. 1t is the sport of sports. No
other sport can compare with it. The
pleasure Of motor car ride is nothing
| in comparison because in the car you
| can only go forward or to right or
left or reverse. In the old plane we
can go in every direction Our view is
real view. You really see but little
of the world when reviewing it from
the surface. The pleasure Of driving a
fast boat in rough sea is nothing in
comparison; in the old plane on a
"bumpy' day we get bounced around,
buffeted, lifted, dropped, tilted in every
possible way, and for each position
we must immediately connect with
our controls. The speedy toboggan
glide is without thrill when you've
once glided from above, watching a
hundred things all the time because
if you don't do everything properly, it
is "fnis"O. Oh, the thrill of seeing
the old ground rush up to meet you,
| and as you get within a few feet you
redress" and land the old bird.
Oh, it's got everything beat in every
way. The joy of feeling that your mo-
tor is working properly, and the in
slant high tension strain when the
motor goes bad on you when you are
UP, Immediately you peak" (glide)
and then hope that there is a field in
your gliding radius where you can
safely land. If you are not high enough
and are over either forest, city, vine
yard or ploughed fields then you are
are "out of luck" and your plane is
wrecked in landing. have seen hun
dreds of planes wrecked but very few
men are ever hurt over here Twice on
my voyage tests l had the pleasant
experience of having my motor pop"
In the first case 1 landed in a dandy
field within a 100 yards of a little vii
lage. / was quite fortunate, making
peach of landing. 1 rolled into
good landing. l rolled into a hedge
and the tail of the machine went I'D
in the air and then settled down
again, and 1 had only broken one
small wire
My second forced" landing was
hardly as eventful 1 landed in a
patch of ground surrounded on all
sides by vineyards and ploughed fields.
l broke nothing, but it sure was a
thrill as the field was so very small
and thought at first that I would not
make it. Here l slept in a real French
farmhouse; meals made at an open
fireplace over glowing logs. l can as
sure you that it was all a pleasant
novelty.
l am afraid that perhaps my letter
is getting boresome to you, as l don't
know neither you are a baby girl, a
young girl, a young lady, a married
lady, or nice old grandma But 1 do
know that your package of smokes"
brought real Christmas cheer to one
OF Uncle Sans soldiers cover here"
and 1T was the only package that l
received here at Xmas, the mails are
so slow. | feel that your will know by
this letter that your gift has been ap-