Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-30

who is in the war as machine gum
ner on a two-man airplane. He was
a handsome, lively fellow, and MS
sisters bothered him nearly as much
as my sisters do me when am nome
He asked me if l had sisters, and l
answered I sure had, only worse. l
had received number of papers per-
tanning to instructions about the
camp that day, and not understand
ing some parts of them, L had my
professor" explain them. The fact
that she. explained them in Frencn
amused big brother very much-and
II was the evening of the second day,
and once again | caught the last SUD-
way train, at 1880.
Next morning out again to the
camp / went and despite the low
hanging fog and a missing engine,
made two flights, coming down each
time with a broken wire in the en-
CINE. 1t ran alright though, and the
wire was quickly replaced, but owing
to a lot of red tape / could not leave
for camp that day, as L wanted 10.
However, there was nothing Tor II
but that I go to Paris again. on re
all wrong though, for 1 did not call
on the professor "ensore, utilizing
the evening by attending a moving
beautiful women patrons. All tue
beauties in Paris must come ther3,
for there sure are some wondrous
locking women there. OF course,
that don't sound like a wild time TO
you. but my way of enjoying myself
surprises many people, but L guess
YOU can understand. Anyway, the
next day 1 waded through all the red
tape with the aid of the lieutenant
of the escadrille, and filling up my
little cabinet with overcoat, cap and
other junk. 1 was first into the air
on my way with two others to the
escadrille. The motor worked rot
ten from the start, but 1 refused to
come down and see what was the
matter. Darn it all," thinks l, las
long as this motor runs I'm going to
head towards the escadrille head
quarters" So I Kept on circlins
around the ''piste," lodging slower
Zangs, and waiting for the other two
fellows to come up, as 1 had no map,
so was going to follow one of the
other fellows.
No Safety Belt
That wasn't all, either, for I had
no safety belt either-neither did the
other fellows for that matter, be-
cause we did not get these things,
viz, map, motor coverings, safety
belt and map holder, until we left.
incidentally, had tried out the Zang
during those two flights without a
belt, not that I wanted to, for I rec
ognized the danger if l turned tur-
tie on landing, but there was moth
ing else to do. So did without. Ma
turally, l didn't try any fancy stunts,
but lust the same / didn't like flying
without one, for If l went in "panne'
things might have turned out bad
So when we headed alon gthe Seine
for "home" l had an eye for pos
sible landing places, for my motor
was stin acting like a girl who don't
know whether she is going to let you
kiss her goodnight or not.
For an hour we flew steadily and
nv feet were nearly numb with cold
as | had forgotten to bring my fur
shoes, and then the camp hove in
sight and | heaved sigh of relief
and Immediately the motor stopped.
Gasoline was all, and I couldn't make
camp, not being high enough, so
landed in a plowed field near by and
fortunately made a perfect landing,
else 1 would have surely upset. I am
still wondering how I did 1T, put
saw with surprise that when thu
motor stopped l wasn't even scared,
simply shut off the gas, and cut the
contact and making q sharp turn
near the ground ran along the
ground and stopped in the mid6l >
of the plowed ground 1t is a good
thing the soil was frozen, else the
wheels would surely have sunk and
upset. So you see i am still lucky.
WALTER.