Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1918-07-10
MANY OF OUR
BOYS IN TRENCHES
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BOYS IN TRENCHES.
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Letter from Flying Cadet w. E.
Cleveland, who is now in the avia-
ton field in Rantoul, ILL.,, to his par
ents, Mr.. and Mrs. H. c. Cleveland of
Coventry:
Chanute Field, Rantoul, Ill.
Dear Mother and ALL:
Your letter came o. K, yesterday
and looked mighty good to me. We
have sort of mail boxes right here in
the barracks, into which the mail is
put two or three times day, SO will
be sure to receive everything.
Pm writing this on a pad balanced
on my knees, so pardon any illegi-
bility. Friday, when l expected to
have my first flight, it rained, but
yesterday was ideal, and for the first
time l tried my wings. My instruc-
tor took me for my "joy ride" as the
first one is called, and we were up Al
minutes. Forty-one minutes of fly
ing-and it was wonderful. I've al
ways dreamed about it and imagined
the sensation, but the actual ex-
perience is far beyond anything
which l had ever conceived, even in
my widest flights Of fancy! First,
we just went up and around the
and mighty fine fellow, then asked
me how 1 felt and how liked it. One
look at my ear-to-ear grin was as
surance enough for him, without any
verbal statement on my part. He
laughed, gave me some instructions
for our next flight, and up we went
again. This time we climbed to about
$500 feet, when he nosed her down,
shut off the motor, and started to spi-
raj down. If I could only describe to
you the sensation Of that descent so
that you could realize the thrill of it,
you would enlist for aviation, too!
The ship las we call it) was tipped
in towards the center of the spiral so
that the wings were nearly vertical.
Looking between the upper and lower
wings to the left, I could see the
farms and fields below divided up
symmetrically by hedges, fences and
roads into an immense checkerboard
of many-shaded green squares. While
the horses and cattle around the tiny
clusters of farm buildings seemed
only moving dots. The railroad
stretched away into the distance in
a perfectly straight line as they do
here in the West, and along it sped a
train at probably fifty miles an hour,
fast, to the ordinary mortals below,
but nothing to us with our speed of
about ninety or one hundred miles an
hour, up above. AS the motor was
not running, the only sound was the
singing of the wires and the whistle
of the wind past the ear holes in my
helmet-and everything was so
smooth and easy! We Strengthened
out about thousand feet above the
ground, 'gave her the gun" and land
ed again. The lieutenant looked me
over to see how I stood it. He SEEM
and told me that l was to handle the
"stick" on the next trip. He then
explained some points to me, showed
me the signals he would use, and up
we went for the third time. After
he had taken the ship up about 500
feet, he motioned for me to take the
stick. Say that stick is the most
sensitive piece of wood I ever got
hold Of. A movement of only half
an inch in any direction will make the
ship buck like a broncho or roll like
a ship in a storm. I got onto the
idea in a few minutes however, and
then things went pretty we'll. When
we came down the lieutenant told me
L did first rate, which made me feel
sort of good. We will get about
e-quarters of an hour a day of
flying for the next week or ten days
and then comes the solo work-fying
alone. That's when the fun comes,
with two or three hours day in the
air.
Pm writing this by daylight and
taps will blow in Is minutes, how's
that seeming inconsistency. 1t won't
be daylight or much more at revielle
at 4.3O tomorrow, however, and that's
when we're glad that taps is at p.
m. Two service squadrons came Sat-
urday to do the kitchen police, guard,
repairing and construction work on
the field. It's getting too dark to
write and it's almost time for taps
SO guess III ring off.
Please don't worry about me all the
time, for if you could see how careful
they are here and how few chances
are taken, you would realize that
there is no cause for worry. l think
will have time to write in the mid
die of the week. Goodnight and love
to all from