The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-06-22
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LIEUTENANT
PAT C'BRlEN

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.,n.n the order came IN Tor me,
had these ''shorts" on, and didn't
have time to change into other clothes.
Indeed. was in such u sweat to get
to the front that IL had been in my
pajamas l think l would have gone
that way. AS 1t was, 1t was raining
and I threw an OyercOat over me,
jumped into the machine, and we made
record time to the airdrome to which
had been ordered to report.
AS I alighted from the automobile
my overcoat blew open and displayed
my manly form attired in "shorts" in
stead Of In the regulation flying
breeches, and the sight aroused con-
siderable commotion in camp.
"Must be 4 Yankee!' l overheard
one officer say to another as l ap-
preached. mo one but Yankee would
have the cheek to show up that way,
you know!"
But they laughed good-naturedly as
l came up to them, and welcomed me
to the squadron. and was soon very
much at home.
toned at an airdrome about eighteen
miles back of the Ypres line. There
were Is pilots in our squadron. which
vas scout squadron, scout machines
roprvfnn hlf nno man
A scout. sometimes called fighting
scout, has no bomb dropping or recon.
noitering to do. His duty Is just to
fight. or, as the order was given to me.
"You are expected to pick fights and
not wait until they come to you!"
When bomb troopers 90 out over
the lines in the daytime q scout squad
ron usually conveys them. The bomb
choppers fly at about twelve thousand
feet. and scouts a thousand feet or so
above them.
II at any time they should be at
tackled. 1t Is the duty Of the scouts to
dive down and carry on the fight, the
orders of the bomb troopers being to
30 on dropping bombs and not to fight
unless they have to. There Is seldom
q time that machines go out over the
lines on this work In the daytime that
they are not attacked at some time or
other, and 50 the scouts usually have
plenty Of work to do. In addition to
these attacks. however, the squadron
Is Invariably under constant lombard
ment from the ground. but that doesn't
worry Us very much. as we know pref
~ well how to avoid being hit from
that quarter.
On my first flight. after Joining the
squadron, was taken out over the
lines to get look ut things, map out
my location In case was ever lost.
locate the forests. lakes and other
landmarks and get the general lay Of
the land.
One thing that was impressed upon
me very emphatical!y was the location
Of the hospitals. 80 that In case I was
ever wounded and had the strength to
pick my landing I could land as near
% possible to . hospital. An these
things q new pilot goes through dur
ing the flrs& two or three days after
joining q squadron.
Our regular routine was two flights
4 day, each Of two hours duration.
lSsf doing our regular patrol It was
sur privilege 70 80 az - eur own hook
r ~ ul)nsa Sefoes fotnf bssk e
~ sosae1koG >s-> E1l;a
I soon A1pl ont hat ~ eque Non
~ 5omS bot eeuaArsA ~ Ayefs -
ios almost alwsys assigned % special
duty work. such - shooting up
nsnehes Ut . height Of 0fty 1set from
~ ground
Irsceived my baptisn into dhas kind
of work tho third time I went out over
The lines, and ! would recommend It
to anyone who u hsukesing for excite
ment. You are not only apt to be At
tackled By hostile aircraft from above,
but you are swept by machlnegun nre
from below. have seen some Of our
machines come back from this work
sometimes so riddled with bullets that
I wondered how they ever held to-
gether. Before we started out on one
of these jobs, we were mighty careful
to see that our motors were In perfect
condition. because they told us the
'war bread was bad in Germany"
One morning, shortly after Joined
the squadron, three of us started over
the line of our own accord. We soon
observed four enemy machines, two
seaters, coming toward US. This type
of machine is used by the Huns for
artillery work and bomb dropping, and
we knew they Wee on mischief bent.
Each machine had u machine gun i
front, worked by the pilot, and the oh
server :.lso hau Il gun with which ii,
could spray ali around.
When we first noticed the Huns, OH
machines were about six miles back
of the German lines and we were lying
high up in the sky, keeping the sun
behind US, SO that the enemy could not
see us.
We picked ont three Of the machines
and dove down on them. / went right
NV tha man 7 Dicked for myself an.