The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1918-04-09
From Earl Brusel.

Mrs. J. y. BruseI. 216 Indiana avenue.
is the recipient Of an interesting letter
from her son Earl. who is now stationed
/ At the T.. S. Naval Air Station a Miami.
/ Fla The letter describes his first trip
to the clouds.
/ Dear Mother ana All.
/ I Just got back from the range aud
went I'D TO the posto0ice and got your
/ fine box and candy. It sure was thought
/ full Of La 10 put in the cigarettes in as
/ ] was All out. 7 thought 7 would have
/ 70 "mooch' the balance Of the week
/ The cakes and candy were fine ana the
( jelly J. VIII have for supper. Thanks
I also to Ruth for her thoughtfulness. /
VIII write Amoss tonight He should
/ have seen the big salt water fish that
we caught today
7 have 50 much 10 write as I've had
my first hop and everything. I started
q letter yesterday morning but had 20
make p dinner - Miami. Hughes and
had IS great tIna IS did all he rest OF
the boys. Everything was thrown open
to Us. We could go TO any Of the hotels
ard cas- ar 1{as lut I didut take ad-
vantage of this Some Of the boys ate
az Deerings and the rest OF the large
winter homes. Hughes and I dincd al
Mrs. Hughes and in the afternoon rode
around in the car.
Wen, YOU have been wondering how
take to the air and Iwant 70 say rrayl
- IS some sport. I had two hops last
Saturday. VIC went up with the radio.
planes and it was more Of a Joy hop
than anything else. 1t was disappoint-l
ing In a way as ! thought would he
q ~ 81 q
IL was Just like an auto ride only with
moro noise and more breeze. was in
the back pit Of the fusalage and the
pistol in the front
The blast from the propeller and the !
speed OF the plane is enough 20 rip your
hair of I did not have goggles nor
helmet on and the first hop was so new
that even forgot 10 put the strap on /!
that holds you in the machine. The pilot /
didn't pull any stunts. nut IL was thrill (.
ing on the sharp turns and when he
pointed the nose down when landing. (
The landing was something like shoot
the shoots without the bumps.
had a Il X ". radio set in front Of
me with the sending key strapped (
around my knee and after VIC got UP 500 /
feet the pilot gave mo the signal to let
out the wireless antenna which Is ESQ
feet Of wire which we have to reel out
J got quite a shock from the set on the
second hop as grabbed the entenna
lend when Keeling it and didn't have the
switch off
Il sure IS great to sit IN the big pit
with Just your head sticking out and
the big engine in front OF you never
missing a stroke. You sure get a fine
view from the air and can see all the
depths Of the bay. We were only UP
about 5000 feet and Miami looked like
a small spot They say It Is easy 20
pick out a submarine as you can dis
tinguish them as deep as they 60. After
this week We get two weeks IN the air
with machine guns. This week is tine
finest OF the course We get up at 4;3o
(new time) and take Our grub over to
one Of the keys for ground target prac-i
tice
We have about IL hours ride in
large launch and when We get to the
island we so for swim while the cooks
get breakfast. Then we have a few
hours on the range and another swim
before dinner, We'll. I expect 10 be
home IN about a month We are
promised r ten day furlough. I viii
close for this time with love 70 all.
FAPT.