The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-10-10
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

'ios anu LidL could WIlte dIleT my
 name LLD., that I was a bit puffed
 up.
 But it took President R. A. Brown of the Birmingham Fair association to give
 me my hearts desire and endow me with a self-satisfying prefix, for by his
 royal favor I was made director of avia- ton, and given red badge of courage
 which could pin an my breast in token
 of the fact that was sure enough
 sky pilot"
 All joking aside, I think that it was
 high time that aviation should come into it's own as one of the greatest outdoor
 features of amusement. We all remember
 what a. furor Ruth Law created here two years ago when she did her daring
 stunts in an old-style plane that today
 would be a laughing stock on any avia- ticn field.
 | cite this to show what strides flying
 has made. Of course the great war
 pushed the development by leaps and bounds until at present airships rise and descend almost every quarter of an hour from the field in front of the paying any more attention to them than if they were a lot of Fords being parked by Fordites in the lower end of the grounds.
 l I do not wonder that straight flying and even loop the loops, tail spins "sffn- mying' and the rest of the now con- ventional air advertisements began to paIi on adventurous spirits like Lockiear, El ! liott and Short Elliott, our Gadsden boy, almost wistfully tells how he and Lock | lear left the army aviation corps be- | cause the things that they were allowed to do had begun to par on them, and they wanted to try out more difficult feats. I haven't done very much flying, but have done enough to weary of, what 1 is called the third degree for it no longer thrills me to be given it. I meet so many men and women who are in the public eye that I am a pretty fair judge of posing, and when I run up on the kind that are always posturing give them quick Tall over and to use a Yankee expression, '1eave them be-" But when they are the real things and natural and unaffected stick around as much as possible, for it's pleasure to be in their company It's only pinchbacks who are everlastingiy attitudininzing. Now a man would have to travel long way to find more modest trio than Locklear, Elliott and Short the three men who daily court death with their truly marvellous act which without doubt is the greatest outdoor thriller that has ever been put on, and simply sets the people wild wherever it is put on. I do not wonder that Australia is cry ing for it, and if they live it will be the stellar attraction to make war-worn Europe forget for a moment it's troubles.
 
 The general public is astounded at the acrobatic work of Locklear, and I would not detract in the slightest from the dare devil courage which it takes and the steel-like nerve which steadies him as he stands with folded arms on top of a fast flying plane, or walks about as unconcernedly as though he was on solid earth instead of thousands of feet in the air, or waits quietly for his reach for the ladder when time comes for him to change from one ship to the other, or heard down while the aeroplane rushes across the field. for he is playing fast and loose with death every minute
 But the thing which gets the admira-- ton of the trained aviators as they watch the performance is the beautiful flying of Pilots Elliott and Short have stood in a group of them every after noon while the exhibition above was going on, and although some of them have great records themselves as fliers and are skillful in handling machines, they are continually exclaimng to one another, Did yous ever see anything like it? Those fellows are pastmasters in -jockeying among the clouds" If the crowd enjoys the performance the avia- tors themselves just eat it up, for they know it is the best ever.
 It is good to know how the Elliotts take Miltons flying. A few weeks ago I was up in Gads- den and spent an hour in the lovely home of his mother, which is situated in 8 magnificent grove. have never seen finer specimen of hard woods than those which decorate the interior, and the walls are covered with lovely paintings I sat there and wondered what ever possessed Milton to leave such elegant and com fortable surroundings.
 And so it was with pleasure that Wednesday afternoon I stood for few minutes with his mother and sister. both of whom have made flights with him, as Elliott is just as proud of Milton as she can be. His two brothers are here, and they also take great interest in his ability as a pilot. One of them got his first came down after \the aerial circus was over and took him up and initiated him.
 Lieutenant Short does not have much to say. but he is some little flier I asked Locklear how he happened to pick him up. He replied that he and Milton had watched his flying! and it appealed to them that he was just the man they wanted, and they had been happy ever since that they settled on him, for his tha;rc ,,l,i