Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-14


is war, and even in times of peace
this game isn't as tame as crochet.
So / might as well mention some of
the unfortunate occurrences, even If
l do forget" some of the more hor-
rible kind-such as a man coming
down in flames.
AS for me I should have been
loafing the last few days since my
motor was being changed. 1t GER
tainly did take them a while to get
1t together, and naturally, it had to
be good weather all the time. To-
day being Sunday there was quite
crowd collected around the field,
and even some American soldiers,
a Nieuport going off the ground on
one wing, or making a sharp turn.
that it made me laugh, for these
things are an everyday occurrence
with us and we never give them
second thought. 1 wonder what they
would have thought If one had done
q ''vrille."
January %.
Off With New Motor
Had to stop last night as the cleo
trio lights went out, oh, yes, we
have electric lights here, it being
obtained from a dynamo nearby op-
Grated by the water power of the
beautiful little stream that runs
through the estate. After numerous
troubles my new motor was duly in
stalled, but what took so long to
fix was my machine gun, which had
to be "lined-up". all over again.
Three times did / try to have this
fixed, but either they would break
some little fitting, or so many other
planes were waiting at the target
range that it got dark before my turn
came. | guess | never told you that
the sights on these guns are regu-
lated very accurately, and for this
purpose a target range is situated
right on the "piste" (field), and If
ones gun does not shoot we'll enough
to please the pilote, it's "allez" for
| the but" (the French name for
| targeD. 1 never can pronounce that
doggone name because there is a
''u" in it, and that is one letter in
the French alphabet that has me
stuck. It's at that place I have been
! the last couple days. This morning
however, the gunsmith finally got it
regulated-and shot all the cart
ridges away doing it. Then I went
up for a tour de piste" to try out
J the motor. Gee! that was some mo-
| tor, and / had lovely time diving
| dTOuHu II lett 50 SOOu u De up III
the air again that probably stayed
longer than l should, which is 10
minutes, for when l came down,
one of the Americans wanted to
know why I didn't stay up all day.
| It's a queer thing that when L feel
| most at home in the air make the
| most awful landings.
Zowie! Some Landing
To-day was no exception, for I
like to ruined myself landing. For
tunately, l did not break the
Becky" but l did bend the wheels
knock kneed. But I insisted that
this would not prevent me from fly
ing, so they put me down for a pro-
lection mission-and as usual, that
Grabbed the whole deal, for when-
ever 1 am ordered to help protect
a photo plane, something either hap
pens to me or the plane to be pro-
tected. Six times have I had these
jobs and three times something hap
pened to my motor. Twice / could
mt get it started, and once it went
on "panne." The other three times
the photo-plane itself went on
''panne." And that's what happened
to-day. All four of us were sitting
in our Gangs" add bundled up-and
weating-waiting for the word to
go. The word soon came and 1 was
cranking up, preparatory to start,
when another phone message came
saying that the Zang needing protec-
ton had gone on "panne," So there
l was again-left at the church or
lurch. 1t was such a beautiful day
to fly, too, not cloud in the sky,
and one could see the "sausages"
both French and German, in the dis
tance. So having nothing to keep us,
we asked for "chasse libre" and the
four of us were soon awing on our
way to the front.
Flying Over Rheims
Up, up anc up we climbed to
nearly 5000 meters and getting over
Rheims, we played around there for
some time, and since no Boches
seemed to be around l utilized the
time enjoying the scenery, for it sure
was pretty. Right near Rheims is
a very large forest. and all the
clouds about that day seemed to
have settled down on this forest,
filling the valleys just high enough
to let the peaks stick out, and the
scene reminded me of pictures of
glaciers, only this was more beau
tiful. Yes, indeed, l would enjoy
this war if it were not for the Boche,
for just about the time / would be-
gin to enjoy the beautiful scene be-
low me, my leader would turn and
head for some white shrapnel which
denoted the presence of a Boche.
Try as I might though, I could not
see the Boche plane, and since my
leader, an old veteran fiier, would
dive and turn about that time, 1 new
er did get a close look.
Meets an English Girl
forget to tell you that we met an
English girl riding along the road
on a bicycle to-day. The French
men told us she was American. !
don't know how they found out
probably she wouldn't flirt. Any
way, two of us walked down and
were surprised to hear ourselves
answered in our own tongue. She
admitted she was English and a
nurse in nearby hospital, and SEEM
ed very much put out when she dis
covered there was not room for two
in our 10y wagon"
We just learned to-day that our
escadrille is going to get Morane
monoplanes instead of Spads You
know. 1 always did want to fly a
monoplane and the Morane is the
fastest thing awing-and little. Gee
Whit It isn't any bigger than a
mosquito. Give me Morane mon
oplane. and I would be willing to