Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-08-02

ever a pilot is shot down or killed the |
Pool Pilots Mess is notified to send an
other to take his place.
There are so many casualties every
day in the r. f. G. at one point of
the front or another that the demand
for new pilots is quite active, but when
a fellow is itching to get into the fight
as badly as 1 and my friends were 1
must confess that we got little i'm
patient, although we realized that
every time q new man was called it
meant that some one else had, in all
probability, been killed, wounded or
captured.
One morning an order came IN for
a scout pilot and one of my friends
was assigned. 1 can tell you the rest
of us were as envious of. him as if it
were the last chance any of us were
ever going to have to get to the front.
AS it was, however, hardly more than
three hours had elapsed before an
other wire was received at the mess
and l was ordered to follow my
friend, l afterward learned that as
soon as he arrived at the squadron he
prevailed upon the commanding Off
Ger of the squadron to wire for me.
At the Pool Pilots Mess it was the
custom of the officers to wear shorts"
-breeches that are about eight inches
long, like the boy scouts wear, leav-
| ing a space of about eight inches of
open country between the top Of the
puttees and the end of the shorts. The
| Australians wore them in Saloniki and
at the Dardanelles.
When the order came in for me, /
had these "shorts" on, and 1 didn't
have time to change into other clothes.
Indeed, 1 was in such sweat to get
to the front that if had been in my
pajamas / think / would have gone
that way. AS it was, it was raining
and 1 threw an overcoat over me,
Jumped into the machine, and we made
record time to the airdrome to which
had been ordered to report.
As l alighted from the automobile
nv oyercoat blew open and displayed
my manly form attired in shorts" in
stead Of in the regulation flying
breeches, and the sight aroused con
siderable commotion in camp.
Must be a Yankeer' 1 overheard
one officer say to another as 1 ap
preached. mo one but Yankee would
have the cheek to show up that way
you know"
But they laughed good-naturedly a:
. came up to them, and welcomed me
to the squadron, and was soon very
! much at home.
My squadron was one of four sta
, toned at an airdrome about eighteeI
; miles back of the Ypres line. There
were 18 pilots in our squadron, whicl
was a scout squadron, scout machines
, carrying but one man.
: A scout, sometimes called a f1ghtin!
: scout, has no bomb dropping or recon
e noitering to do. His duty is just t
t fight, or, as the order was given to me
: "You are expected to pick fights an
j not wait until they come to you'll"
e When bomb droppers go out owe
D the lines in the daytime scout squad
l. ron usually conveys them. The bonn
:, droppers fly at about twelve thOusan
o feet, and scouts a thousand feet or S
e above them.
O If at any time they should be a
tackled, it is the duty Of the scouts
r dive down and carry on the fight, tn
e orders of the bomb droppers being
v go on dropping bombs and not to figf
unless they have to. There is seldol
e a time that machines go out over tn
J. lines on this work in the daytime thf
Z they are not attacked at some time {
N other, and so the scouts usually hay
10 plenty of work to do. In addition
/, these attacks, however, the squadrC
n is invariably under constant bombar
f. ment from the ground, but that doesn
worry US very much, as we know pre-
r ty well how to avoid being hit fro
If that quarter.
le On my first flight, after Joining Il
f. squadron, 1 was taken out over Il
lines to get look at things, map o.
in my location in case 1 was ever los
,s locate the forests, lakes and 9th
lg landmarks and get the general lay
Id the land.
mr. One thing that was impressed upt
ne me very emphatically was the locate
of the hospitals, so that in case 1 W
a ever wounded and had the strength
n pick my landing l could land as ne