The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1918-08-13
HOW GIMPER SQUADRON
STARTED ITS CAREER

Copyright 1918 by the United Press)-
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN
FRANCE. July 10 (By MaiD.-The
.'gimper squadron" had an ideal In
PRODUCTION to warfare. back IN the mid
die OF April. according to Lieutenant
Eddie Rickenbacker. American ace and
former auto racer Let Rickenbacker
tell the story.
We had finished our trainig and be-
ing the first American outfit to take
10 the front. without previous expeT-
fence we were allowed to fly around
until We felt more confident. before
taking over responsibility OF patrolling
a sector.
One Saturday night we decided We
were ready for business. We called up
the French and told them. They re-
piled that we could take over patrol
ling a big chunk north Of Toul. begin
ming the next morning at daybreak.
Accordingly we planned the first
gimper patrol Captain David Peter
son led il. while Lieutenant Reed
Chambers and l were the rest Of the
personnel Captain Peterson had had
considerable experience over the line.
Before going up he told me TO take
the leadership or the patrol IN case he
had motor trouble and had to come
down. and that we would not need TO
patrol II ii were too cloudy. SO we
went up with that understanding
Just as we were ready TO start Reed
Chambers yelled to Douglas Campbell
and Allen winslow. Wen 60 out and
scare the Heinles up and you guys
knock EN- down"
a
Captain Peterson came down. He had
decided it was too cloudy TO patrol but
1 assumed he had motor trouble and
started on for the lines with Chambers
following
1t was our first trip over and we
made a long one. Before long we ran
| into a couple Of Huns and maneuvered
10 fire on them. We got couple OF
shots at them and they ran. We con-
tinued our patrol not without appre-
henslon. since we were not sure OF ouI
locations and that frst trip is & scarey
one even when you are led by some
one who knows the line
Finally / lost Chambers and begar
patrolling up an, down to locate him
1t became more cloudy and I could see
nothing. At length 1 started for wha'
u
time 10 find It Chambers wasn't there
When 1 finally came out OF the cloud.
the two Germans we had chased GU
If the clouds were still up
After Chambers promise to scare "
some Huns. Campbell and Winslow hac
gone into the tent and were playins
cards Suddenly they were called L
answer an alert. They had barely
jumped into their machines and gained
some altitude when they saw two Ger
man planes coming for the camp.
Both thought the Germans were com
ing to strafe the hangers and eacf
picked out a German to head him on
| Doug took the first one and got on hi,
tail He landed the German right or
the aviation field four and half min
utes after he had left his cards.
winslow had a little more difficult,
but took only a minute and a hal
longer to bring down his Boche righ
near the field. The German Ayers wer,
all captured. and the feat of landing
them right on the home grounds mad
the victory more than a perfect score
| We were looking them over anc
! Winslow gave his man a cigarette fol
+ lack Of knowing what else to do. anC
then went up in the air. when ReeC
4 Chambers. who had lost in the clouds
came buzzing in.
Chambers was surprised but an in
slant at finding the German aviato
there Those are the birds we prom
ised 10 round up for you TO knocl
down. he said Ask them II they ar,
not the Heinies we met up there
Questioning the Germans revealed tn,
fact that they were the ones we hac
shot at and driven. In their fight the!
had lost their VI and were spotted b.
observers y&o alerted US to get them