The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-09-07

certing, but they soon wear away,
and it's all old stuff now.
My greatest height has been 1900
feet, where / nearly froze. Our speed
! is 80 miles an hour, 100 with the
a flock of buzzards they seem to be
flying backward at 30 miles an
hour. The propeller wash invariably
upsets them, and to buzzard it's
all very mysterious. and I have
caugst some comical expressions as
they struggled to right themselves.
Our work. The first week and a
half of flying we took pictures. and
made Sketches and reports on GER
tain assigned subjects. The pictures
are difficult. as we must be right
over the object-also make 8 over
laps on straight course, which with
a strong side wind isn't so easy.
Then there's contact patrol, which
is the best Of all. A simulated at
tack by our infantry adquarters
all marked by canvass panels and
messages sent to you by the same
means. Front line troops marked by
flares. Locate map positions OF
these headquarters, white messages,
and swoop down to drop your mes
sage at division headquarters. Then
on your next trip exerythings been
changed. It means a glorious game
of hide the thinble over miles Of
territory. We fly low for this and
we never feel lonesome. Sometimes
we can even wave to people.
Thursday in conjunction with some
real infantry from Camp Stuart we
played something really big. We
staged two attacks, morning and af-
ternoon, and had all ii of our class
turned loose on it. 1t was just out
side Newport News and we flew
over in formation from the field.
the major in his green and blue
butterfly ship leading the way. The
morning formation got tangled up in
in the clouds, but the one in the af-
ternoon was a wonder. We couldn't
tell of course, but the people on
the ground said they never saw
anything to compare with 1t, while
the town went wild. The attack
started at zero hour. and the forma
ton broke and went to work. There
were battalion, 2 regimental and
one division headquarters to look
after, also the troops themselves, the
lights, motor trucks, etc. Messages
we acknowledged by Roman candle
pistols. 1t was an hour and a half
Of glorious flying. with the whole
all the dope we dropped our mes
Last and most impuiomdderfeieee c
sages and flew home.f Last and
most important is artillery work. We
have here seven batteries (fake) and
seven targets-each target about
miles from. its battery. We spot
shots which are puffs Of smoke set
off near the targets. The battery
talks to US by panels, we talk to
them by wireless. circle over the
battery send-fire. then race down
to the target where 20 seconds later
a shot will appear. estimate over
sage as I'm going back, then send
fire and am off again. have done
well on this work so far, though the
camouflage targets are horrible. We
nave about one more week of this.
It's rather wonderful to sit at 1000
feet. pounding key you can't hear,
and watch the panels change on the
ground. being moved at your bid
ding by men you can't see.
There are many beauties in the
air, and things never look twice
alike I suppose the best of all is
to be at about 5000 feet, just at
sunrise and watch the sun struggle
through the ocean mists. It looks
like nothing ever seen on this earth.
Then on a hazy afternoon you can
look off into the distance where the
horizon ought to be. but all you see
is q purple mist with clouds in it
that are islands, and islands that are
clouds. All the time the motor roars,
and mighty wind is blowing give
up.
I submit some of our slang. It may
give you a better understanding of
my future letters.
Kiwi-a ground officer. Most de-
spised OF mortais. ~
8azz-a joyrids. When you've Tin.
ished your work early then you jazz
around.
Ambulance-meat wagon. If a
Ford-hungry Lizzie.
Joy-stick-The control stick.
Give her the gun-Give her gas.
Upstairs-In the air. Ask for
somebody-"Oh, he's upstairs"
Fish-The lead weighing the end
of the wireless antennas.
A plane is always called a ship.
rye written all I'm going to this
time. though the half has never
been told. You don't know how glad
am that / have this work, and I
won't feel. left out If I don't see
France. 1t would have been horrible
to get nothing in this war. And by
the way 1t costs $50 minute to
keep me in the air, so my education
has cost $125,000 SO far.