The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-06-25
Gerard Huiskamp, keokuk Man in
Service, EeIates Experiences
in Letter to His
Relatives.
BOAT PICKS HIM UP
with Aid Of Fisherman, He and Com
panion Are lowed to Shore
With Their Water and
Air Craft.

Life as birdman isn't all smooth
sailing by any means.
In letter to his parents, Mr. and
Mrs. III. w. Huiskamp OF SOL Grand
avenue. Gerard Hus1kamp, now at Mi.
ami, Florida. tells of the thrills, dan
gers and Inconvenience he has to GO
through with in his capacity as OBJ
server in the naval aviation service
Huiskamp was flying with his in.
structor thousands of feet in the air
the other day when the two were
obliged to make a forced landing. The
aeropalne came down with the wind
and bounced its crew up several times
On the ocean in rubber ball fashion
Then 1T settled down in broken shape.
HuiSkamp and instructor were picked
up by United States naval vessel
Helped by Fishermen.
How fishing boat helped the men
tow the airplane back to shore is de-
scrfbed in the letter:
Things are beginning to look up
little at the station and we will get
some pretty steady flying next week
| think. l had quite bit of it last
week but it wasn't the kind | needed
Calls it a LARK"
did l tell you about the expert
ence l had Monday? It is about the
only one I've had SO far and it was
lark most of the time. 1t is absolute
ly forbidden us to talk about the pa
troll at ALL but I'm going to speak just
enough to tell you what happened.
I'VE started out at $3.50 a. m. and
at GAO the motor stopped and we
had to make a forced landing. We
were SO close to the water that we
had to come down with the wind,
dangerous thing to do. The wind gets
under the tail and lifts it up. This
noses the front of the pontoons under
water and when that happens it turns
the machine straight over on its back
and makes first-class wreck out or
it. The speed of the plane is about
fifty miles an hour, more or less, de-
pending on the strength of the wind.
That stunt is called "nosing into the
sea-" ''nosing in" or stumbling her
toe" and is never done unless the mo-
tor fails close to the water.
Bounce on Water.
"But we didn't stub her toe, al
though / had all the muscles set for a
good jolt Instead we bounced along
for long time. thought the machine
would never settle down in the water.
| guess we bounced about five times
before she rode the water. While I'm
here want to say that it never hurts
the pilots to nose her in, because the
plane doesn't go over SO very fast
and you are strapped in place with
all the wooden braces wrapped with
cord and then with tape to prevent
their splintering.
Airs Well.
We'll, when we looked over the en-
CINE everything was 0. K, so we
came to the conclusion that the turn
ing gear must have slipped and
thrown the lining of the valves out
There was U. S. naval vessel within
sight luckily, for we were quite ways
out to sea, and had only two canteens
of water and two cans of pork and
beans.
I'VE semaphored, or rather Hughes
(pilot) did, for the ship to send
over couple of gas engine men.
They did the same things / had done
apd then we tried to start her up but
failed
captain Immediately sent for u.s. SO
we went up on the bridge and talked
1t over with him and he obligingly
took the plane in tow and gave us ex-
ira privilege of doing anything we
wanted to - and of going anywhere
we wanted on the boat. We divided
our time between the bridge, crows
nest and the officers lounging room
where there was a victrola and books
and magazines. We examined the
guns and altogether were kings OF
the ship-in privileges. We had
breakfast and dinner at the captains
right and left and amused the officers
with aviation stories we had picked
up in the bull rings on the beach at
the station. We certainly threw an
awful line and If they didn't fall for
it, they were encouraging and very
polite
Plane Damaged.
We'll, we stayed aboard the vessel
tcan't tell you it's kind or name) until
about $50 p. m. when the plane |
broke up. One pontoon was Knocked !
almost off and one wing went under
water The wind came up in the aft
ernoon and the waves were too much |
for the pontoons. We went out to the |
plane and small fishing boat came |
along about that time and took us in
tow. We were then about six miles