The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-01-16

aviation emblems of France. He was
called to receive his decoration for
having In the course of one day held
seven combats, descended (six) n
German plane In flames, and forced five
others to land behind their lines,
(Which means that he Is officially cred.
tied with one-his thlrteenth-and that
the other five, though probably brought
down, do not count for him because
there were not the necessary witnesses
required by the French ~regulation.)
"Aviators are not very military. The
chief of one Of the escadrilles was com-
missloned to command the mechanics,
who are plain soldiers with rifles and
steel helmets, for the occasion. He Is
a bit of a clown and amused the entire
gathering. kidding with the officers.
The pilots of each OF the five esca-
drilles were In more or less formation,
most of them with hands In their peck
cts, for 1t was chilly, and presenting a
mixture Of uniforms unparalleled in
Its heterogeneity. Every branch of the
service represented endless personal
ideas In dress.
Spent Their Holiday In the Air.
Because of the occasion, repose had
been granted to the entire group for
the afternoon. another group taking
over our patrols. SO that after the
review every one had the afternoon to
waste-a sunny day. which Is quite
unusual this month. Within a half
hour every machine that was In work
ing order was In the air, forming into
groups and then of for the lines, Just
looking for trouble-voluntary patrol.
they call IL. Which opened my eyes a
bit as to the spirit In the French avia-
ton service after three years Of war;"
In another letter, written December
1, young Walcott says:
81 tried to give you some idea Of the
strength of a Spad in a letter a while
ago. At home people speak of a factor
of safety, meaning the number Of times
stronger the machine Is than Is neces-
sary for plain flying. The Spad Is made
so that a man can't bust 1t, no matter
what he does in the air-dive as far
and as fast as he a and stop as bru-
tally as he can, IL stands the racket.
or course, motors do stop, and IL 1t
happens over a mountain range-well,
that's Just hard luck.
slave had a few patrols since last
I wrote. One at a big height4.000 to
$500 meters, considerably above the
clouds, which almost shut out the
ground below a wonderfully beautiful
sight, but beastly cold-and a couple
when the clouds were low and solid.
The patrol stays at Just the height Of
the clouds, hiding In them. slipping out
again to look around. II II stays be-
low the enemy antiaircraft guns pep
per IL whenever near the lines, and at
a low altitude that Is rather awkward.
so the patrol shows itself as little as
possible.
Its lots of sport to try to keep with
the patrol; be behind the chief Of pa
troll, see him disappear. and then bump
into a fog bank, a low-hanging cloud.
and not see a darn thing. Then dive
down out of the cloud, wondering
whether the other guy Is right under
meath or not dart out OF the cloud and
see him, maybe 500 yards away, going
at right angles. Then back up and
turn around fast and give her the gear
full speed to catch up-and 80 on
See a Boche regulating artillery fire
start to maneuver into range, and
zip; he's out Of sight In the clouds
and the next you see he is beating II
far back Of his lines. Not very dan
gerous this weather. but lots of fun
In a letter from the front, dated
November 80, the following passages
occur:
Yesterday was Thanksgiving day
and, praises bel the Lafayette bunch
invited me and my partner to dinner
or rather to the feast. They have the
most remarkable chef. Soup and fist
prepared the way for q most remark
ably big bird called the turkey, barri
caded by chestnuts. And then q plum
pudding-a regular American one-ant
as good as I ever tasted. I sat at TIT
table with Captain Thenault, Lieuten
ants Thaw and Lufbery, and som'
Frenchmen.
can early patrol this morning, de
spite low clouds. Lots Of fun IL was
ducking In and out of the clouds. keep
ing from hitting other machines in tn
clouds and from losing the patrol. Saw
a few Boches, but all they had to d.
was to slip up out Of sight when tn
patrol approached. Every now ant
, then their %antiaircraft guns woul'
blaze away a bit. but there was lots o
room for them to miss and for us Z
/, leave the place they were shooting
. at"