Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-30
scadrille Spad 3S,

Aug. Is. 1918.
Dear Mother:
Have not received my certificate
of loyalty" yet. 1t surely has been
lost. Please get another one and
send it to the Y. NJ. c. A. address so
l will be sure to get it. You see L
still have hopes of getting that per-
mission. Winter is coming, you
know, and the activity will surely
ease up and then the permissions
may be put on again.
This diving around in high alti-
tude is beginning to affect my ears,
the right one getting very sore. The
other day after being on the ground
for FIVE days l made a patrol at 5000
meters and came down with ter
rife headache.
Air Battle With Tokkers
incidentally, we got in a fight with
four Tokkers. 1 didn't do much in
this scrap as my motor was acting
badly, so l contented myself with
giving my moral support by flying
around above them. In a way, this
was lucky for me, because we had
tumbled into one of the Huns favor
ite tricks the four planes simply
being bait, seven more floating
around high overhead waiting to
jump on any little Frenchy who at
tackled.
one of our patrol was chasing one
of the four when they saw the seven
others coming. They saw him about
the same time and promptly started
down, but the Frenchman maneuV-
cred back to his lines and came
home, one excited man for it was no
other than the bashful gentleman |
Il Of caVpro1 times and
this was his first tight place.
Yesterday I started out to hunt
"drocheus" again, but l had no
more than reached the lines when
my motor began acting queerly. For
tunately, it kept working so could
reach a landing place at my old esca-
drille at Melette. There it was dis
covered that a spark plug had been
blown out, part of it falling inside
the motor. which makes it necessary
to put a new one aboard. Meanwhile,
| wait some more.
Trip With an Ace
NV monthly bath has been some
time overdue, but the water and L
finally got together on the sanitary
question and now I feel more like
talking. That happened this morn
ing when l went to Vitry lie Francois
with one of the "aces" of the esca-
drille. / would have appreciated
the honor of his company more If he
hadn't drank so much. Not that it
affected him any, you know, because
they are used to it, but every block
or so he had to while away half an
hour over a drink.
incidentally, l sure did get the
"razoo' for my regularity in order
ing lemonade. Anyway, we hnally
arrived at dinner time with nothing
done but a thorough view of unnu-
merable cafes" The dinner left
considerable to the imagination also.
consisting of calf's head and carrots.
Knowing this, you will excuse me
from going into details about my en-
ioyment of same. Honest, ! prefer
the snails. There is more taste to
them-and not as Shiny as you may
think, either.
Another Air Battle
AS for what l have been doing of
late. it has not been much, owing
to my lack of a plane, for my zanS
is still at Melette where the motor is
being changed. However. an Ameri-
can lieutenant loaned me his ma
chine yesterday and l put in quite a
pleasant day. What with two pa
trolls and done fight l was going
to say TWO, out lndL "Oulu iioI NC IllS
exact truth. True, / shot at a bl-
plane in the morning but 1t was at
such long range that l merely called
it trying my guns, and let it go at
that. Certainly it did not affect the
Boche any.
You see, we were flying around
! Rheims, led by that ACE" that
! showed me the bathhouse this morn
| ing, looking diligently for some ven-
| turesome Boche to come near our
side of the fence. l saw one and
watched him for some time as he pa
! troled up and down his beat well in
! side his lines, but he was very low
which is probably the reason we did
cot go after him.
Our leader though had his eye on
another one just a little below our
| level and started down after him;
! but this particular Hun maneuvered
quite we'll and gave us considerable
trouble getting in position to fire, all
the time drawing us further into
Germany. Finally, our leader dove
down below the level of the Boche
and attempted to sneak up under
his tail, counting on the Boche's at
tention being centered on we two
coming along above.