The Robesonian., 1918-08-26
FIRST TRIP UP
How 1t Feels to Fly for the First
lime - Interesting Letter
From Navy Camp.
TO the Editor of The Robesonian:

ness or my friends and relatives, I re-
ceive copy of your paper each week,
OF which every word is read with in
terest, and l have noticed it flooded
with letters from boys from army
camps, but so far have not seen one
single letter from a navy camp.
"Variety is the spice of life" so
with your permission l will relate
some of the few things occurring in
navy camp. I enlisted in Wilmington,
N. c., some time in February, and,
beng a pharmacist, enlisted in the
hospital corps, as that was in line
with my profession a bit. Was sent
to Charleston, S. c., for six-weeks'
training in minor surgery and first
aid work, was shipped" from Char
lesion to the naval air station, Miami,
Florida, and have remained here in
camp until a few weeks ago, was
transferred to small island out in
Blscayne bay, a few miles from camp,
where we fly from. The island being
so small, only about one hundred yards
long and fifty wide and an artificial
one, too, | must speak of it. There
are only about two hundred of US fel-
lows over here. We sleep in small
tents and cook and eat out in the open.
l have a tent furnished with a small
line Of drugs and bandaging supplies
for first-aid work.
The U. S. navy has long been known
as "The silent service" The sailors
achieve much and say little. That is
one OF the reasons why although the
naval aviators are sustaining risks
as dangerous and performing feats as
miraculous as the army fliers, very lit
tie is said of them. Not that the SOL
diers talk! not a bit of it; but they
are near, and the public can see Their
at practice and pulling off such start
ling stunts that naturally they always
refer to the army boys.
We have dandy good bunch of fell
lows here on the island, in fact the
entire camp is made up of the best
that the U. S. provides. They are
training men to fly seaplanes here to
fight in air oven water, and you
should see some of our large type of
planes that carry underneath it's wings
death and destruction to Fritz's subs
We have accidents here most ;.ry
day. Planes fall and sometimes hurt
and sometimes kill the pilot. Had one
to fall yesterday, smashing the ma
chine, but when we reached the scene
the pilot was astride the pontoon,
laughing, and seemed pleased to be
there.
Well, l will always remember my
first trip up. 1t was with one of the
best pilots on the island, of course,
but before going up he asked me if
I wanted him to do the loop-the-loop
and tail spin. My reply was that
would give him my answer after being
in the air awhile, so we went on up
two or three thousand feet and every
thing seemed to go on so smoothly
that turned around and NODDED my
head, Eyes, go-to-it." You see you
can't talk up so high. Oh, you could,
but there is so much noise, and, too,
my lips seemed mum and dead from
cold air. Anyway, Mr.. Selvage mo
toned his hand in corkscrew shape,
pointing downward, as if to say, tail
spin" I again NODDED my head, "Yes,
shoot the moon," and in a few minutes
l knew nothing. We were at an alti-
tude of five thousand feet, and the
nose of the machine went straight up,
comeing over and turning into a tail
spin. Well, we were coming down
toward the water about two hundred
miles per hour, it seemed, when l
realized that l was not breathing
properly, and l began Immediately. -
start up desperation, and after getlng
my pulmonary apparatus to work,
located a wheel pressing hard on my
chest. and I pushed myself back, only
to find myself pinned between this
II I fhnnUhf.
perhaps nv life belt had come loose
and I had drifted down into some Of
the machinery or somewhere, did
not know. We came twirling down
like this until we were at an altitude
Of fifteen hundred feet, when the pilot
reversed his rudder and she straight
ened out beautifully and | was glad,
because I was relieved considerably.
But all of a sudden he began making
a spiral, and then into a glide, coming
about straight down and 'wooh!'
Did you ever get into an elevator OF
ten story building, telling. the boy,
"First floor, please" Multiply your
feeling by ten and you have it exact,
| ly. We were up an hour and half ana
when we got our packers on
ground l thought it was good to be
there. I couldn't hear "a-tall." There
is a sensation that you admire after
your first trip up, but goodness! you
get awfully lonesome when you get
away up above the clouds.
Just now big excitement-a plane
| was trying to land and a gust of wind
came and over she went: We rushed
out and soon saw two ss, heads 4s,,E pokk1ng king
! 400 fellow was forced to make a
landing on land due to a sideslip and
everybody thought it all off with him
but when we got to him he was sitting
up in hammock s smoking in 90 "Bull aa1oent Dapt
ham," Flying must be % perceh'
luck and / percent bean work. e.,,
The country is beautiful here, TILED
with cocoanut groves, orange groves;
grape fruit, sapadillas, tangerines and nc
lots of other fruits that l cannot spen;
Sharks and porpoise can be seen n n
the bay at all times and the woods
are filled with scorpions, snakes OF al
kinds, and mosquitoes; Wow! we