The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-08-15
BROOK|NGS FLYER
WRITES Of WORK
INTERESTING LETTER FROM LO-
CAL AVIATOR IN A FOR
EIGN TRAINING CAMP
MORE ACCOUNTS Of LIFE IN THE ARMY
The Boys Who Write From The Front
And The Boys In Home Camps
All Determined To Wiz War

r. +. Phelps of the Register, has
just received a letter from Lieut.. Ern-
est V. Wills, Aviation Corps, that is
full of fine description of the work of
that lively branch of service Ernest
is one of the boys that Brookings is
proud of and his letter Is mighty in.
teresting:
Second Aviation Instruction Center,
July %, 1918.-Dear Bob: The long
expected letter has arrived. l am so
busy that l can hardly find time to
eat. Now that I am sort of straight.
ened out from that last mess I was
in and back to flying am pretty busy.
| have been assistant to the officer
in charge Of flying at this field for
time and getting my instruction
when ever I wasn't busted up. 1t sure
is fine to fly and especially when you
have the opportunity to meet some of
the famous men you have read about
Vedrines. who few at Chicago
in 1910; D~eperdussen, who invented
wheel control for aeroplanes: Mo-
raine, who builds the famous mono
planes; Capt. Johnson of the La
Fayette Escadrille and others of like
fame. Have had several interesting
experiences, mainly because l like to
ride through acrobatics and during my
the testers and some of the things we
did made me dislike my last meal very
much. On solo field not long ago
while landing one Of the wheels came
off and hit the ground. bounced and
hit the propeller and then the fun
started. l landed without chevaling
more than one-fourth turn but the in
structor said that / was living on bor-
rOwed time. On my last voyage last
week, in fact / was just spiraling out
Of my first landing field when I felt
the engine slow down but decided to
hoCp oh ao IhViC wac DCtJtT tudu u
20-mile wind blowing so | few about
80 kilOmeters at no more than SO me-
ters above the ground and it was great
fun flying aroind trees and things
like that. The motor finally got so
bad | picked a field and zoomed a
telephone line and landed in it. A
storm had spoiled the phone system
so | had to walk from one little town
to another until l got to what we call
a bon, (chateau) and had a very
fine dinner and an auto ride to the
nearest railroad station where for the
great sum of n franc (35c) I bought
a first class ticket to my next aero.
dome n got a mechanic out to fix
me up. / only had about 6 bad cylin.
ders so that wasn't much. l was down
in a little valley so the planes that
were following me didn't catch sight
of me. Flew out Of my forced land
ing about 400 o'clock when 1t wasn't
so bunny and sailed home.
1t is very easy to get into trouble
here as you can either get over the
or fall into the ocean so you
have to watch your step especially if
you are flying above the clouds by
the compass alone and have brought
your pet jackknife along in your
Was up on an altitude flight the 9th.
er day when all we could see through
the clouds was one little speck of
blue. Up we went and at 800 meters
passed into the clouds and everything
becomes black and clammy wet and
then after what seems ages, and what
is really seconds, you are through
the clouds and as you go up and up
till you reach the mark you are sup
posed to hit, $500 meters, about TO-
500 feet, and there you are with the
masses of billowy white clouds below
you and the sui shining down on
them, making them look just like cot
and as you look right out from
the bank Of clouds below you
a plane like a shot and there you are
ready for a little fun like a few loops,
reversements. sideslips and the other
day n of the testers and I virelled
through a bank of clouds and
nearly spoiled a guys pet vineyard.
is our regular form of amuse.
ment, landing in a wheat field or oat
field in this time of year and in the
landing in vineyards. it gen.
orally means turning completely over
and as the boys say you are not a
pelo pronounced with a long 30" as
the French used to say for pilot, un-
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