Newport daily independent., 1918-03-23

aviation emblems of France. He was called to receive his decoration for having in the course of one day held seven combats, descended (six) one German plane in flames, and forced five others to land behind their lines, (which means that he Is officially cred ited with one-his thirteenth-and that the other five, though probably brought down, do not count for him because there were not the necessary witnesses required by the French regulation.)
 "Aviators are not very military. The chief of one of the escadrilles was com missioned to command the mechanics, who are plain soldiers with rifles and steel helmets, for the occasion. He is bit of a clown and amused the entire gathering, kidding with the officers. drilles were In more or less formation, most of them with hands in their pock- cts, for it was chilly, and presenting a mixture of uniforms unparalleled in its heterogeneity. Every branch of the service represented endless personal ideas in dress.
 Spent Their Holiday in the Air.
 Because of the occasion, repose had been granted to the entire group for the afternoon, another group taking over our patrols. So that after the review every one had the afternoon to waste-a sunny day, which is quite unusual this month. Within half hour every machine that was in work ing order was in the air, forming into groups and then off for the lines, just looking for trouble-voluntary patrol, they call it. Which opened my eyes bit as to the spirit in the French avia- tion service after three years of war;"
 In another letter, written December 1, young Walcott says:
 ''I tried to give you some idea of the strength of Spad in letter while ago. At home people speak of factor of safety, meaning the number of times stronger the machine is than is neces- sary for plain flying. The Spad is made so that man can't bust it, no matter what he does in the air-dive as far and as fast as he can and stop as bru- tally as he can, it stands the racket. Of course, motors do stop, and if it happens over mountain range-well, that's just hard luck.
 "Have had few patrols since last I wrote. One at big height-4,0 900 to 4,50O meters, considerably above the clouds, which almost shut out the ground below; wonderfully beautiful sight, but beastly cold-and couple when the clouds were low and solid. The patrol stays at just the height of the clouds, hiding in them, slipping out again to look around. If 1t stays be- low the enemy antiaircraft guns pep per it whenever near the lines, and at a low altitude that is rather awkward, so the patrol shows itself as little as possible.
 "Tt's lots of sport to try to keep with the patrol; be behind the chief of pa trol, see him disappear, and then bump into fog bank, low-hanging cloud, and not see darn thing. Then dive down out of the cloud, wondering whether the other guy is right under meath or not dart out of the cloud and see him, maybe 500 yards away, going at right angles. Then back up and turn around fast and give her the gear full speed to catch up-and so on. See a Boche regulating artillery fire, start to maneuver into range, and, zip; he's out of sight in the clouds, and the next you see he is beating 1t far back of his lines. Not very dan- gerous this weather, but lots of fun"
 In a letter from the front, dated November 30, the following passages occur:
 Yesterday was Thanksgiving day, and praises be! the Lafayette bunch invited me and my partner to dinner, or rather to the feast. They have the most remarkable chef. Soup and fish prepared the way for a most remark ably big bird called the turkey, barri- caded by chestnuts. And then plum pudding-a regular American one-and as good as ever tasted. I sat at the table with Captain Thenault, Lieuten- ants Thaw and Lufbery, and some Frenchmen.
 "An early patrol this morning, de- spite low clouds. Lots of fun it was, ducking in and out of the clouds, keep ing from hitting other machines in the clouds and from losing the patrol. Saw a few Boches, but all they had to do was to slip up out of sight when the patrol approached. Every now and then their antiaircraft guns would blaze away a bit, but there was lots of room for them to miss and for us to leave the place they were shooting