Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-08-06

Copyright 1915 by the United Press)
WITH THE AMERICAN AIRMEN
/ IN FRANCE, July 10 (By MALI
so you want some gimper talk 2
/ said Lieut.. Eddie Rickenbacker. all
American ace n former speed King
in the auto racing world today.
We'll call q bunch OF the glmpers
in, and there will soon be plenty OF
gimper talk. But you'll have to trans
late 1t or the people back home Will
never understand this aviation dialect
we have developed over hero.
Rickenbacker, who downed his
five Germans in less than two
and became the eeond all-American
| trained ace, Is a tall, Swapping chap
| with q nne sense of humor and a
winning smile. In his escadrille they
| call him head gimper." just be-
cause he is naturally a leader and the
life of the unit. The escadrille Is
known as the 'gimper squadron" and
was tho first group of American
trained air fighters to take the neid'
or the air. rather, away from the Ger
man airmen. :,
"a gimper is q bird who would
stick by you through anything" ex-
planned RickenbackeT. IF you were
| up In the air and ran into O dozen
boches and were getting the worst OF
II, perhaps, and the fellow with you
stuck with you and gave 1t to them
until the Heinies went back into Hun
land. you'd know he was a gtmper.
"If he didn't have motor trouble.
and his gun didn't jam, or he didn't
accept any one of q dozen good ex-
cuses for zooming off home and leav-
ing you to do the same IL you could
get away, he'd be a gimper, all right.
A gimper is a scout who Q every
thing just a little better than he has
to.
1--WE call this the gimper squad
ron because every man has to prove
himself a gimper by his actions.
When a new chap arrives he's an
egg. All good eggs soon become yul-
lures, and then they're promoted to
gopher standing. Then Is when they
have to prove themselves gimpers.
and they'll be gimpers just as long
as they make good. A man who isn't
a stmper can't stay with the squad
ron-it's zoom for him back to the
woods.
"Gimper means a lot to us. 1t
means more than good scout, or pal,
or comrade. I got the word from a
mechanic I had when I was in the
racing game. He was a gimper, and 1
knew when he finished with a motor
she would run. In this mans life
there were two kinds of people, gim-
pers and buns. There were mighty
few gimpers in the world and lots OF
buns, as this mechanic put 1t, and IL
took a good man to be a gimper.
This pursuit and fighting part of
aviation requires a type OF aviator
who will stick, especially the way we
fly in groups To do your best work
you must have a mutual feeling OF
confidence In the gimper flying beside
you that Is unequalled anywhere
else. II you have a gtmper with you,
you know he won't make a mistake In
Judgment or lose his nerve at the crit
ical time. A gimper couldn't do that
If he lost his nerve just once he'd
never be a gimper again. We all know
that, and no gimper ever loses his
nerve.
"T don't mean a gimper will al
ways piQue into a crowd of Huns, no
matter their number. A good gtmper
knows when to fight and when not
to fight. II he hasn't a chance, he
draws of, flies around until he gets
his altitude and then drops on the
.Heinies. A gfmper doesn't need to
be foolhardy. He watches his chances.
but never gives up when another gim-
per is being strafed.
when you're flying around up
there over Germany. Inc being fol-
lowed by a string of black puffs from
the German arches. and hear them
exploding around you, and then see
some German planes Off to one side
of you, II is the easiest thing In the
world to pretend you don't see them