, 1925-01-12

THE entire British air force in
Mesopotamia was out on the field to
meet us. Since setting up Emir Feis-
al as king of this most ancient of
all the lands over which tive flew
they have helped him maintain
stable government by patrolling the
valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates
ryith squadrons OF airplanes.
In fact. this country. once the
home of Adam and Eve and then OF
the Sumerians. the Chaldeans. the
Assyrians. the Modes and P~ersians.
and the caliphs OF the Arabian
Nights. is now actually ruled from
the air!
The British have discovered, what
all other nations will soon discover.
namely. that their air force is now
their least expensive and their most
effective arm of defense and offense.
Country Ruled from Air.
Just as the heroes Of the Arabian
Nights used to fly from pace to
place by magic carpet. today when
tho news comes In that a tribe of
Bedouins, or Kurds. or Turkomen.
have made a raid. King Feisal's Brit
ish air marshal sends out a squadron
Of planes. Some Of these are small
fighting planes. armed with machine
guns. Others are enormous aerial
cruisers carrying twenty-five fully
equipped soldiers. Within an hour
or Two these planes car swoop down
over the ruins of ancient Nineveh.
Babylon. or Nippur. where the
nomad horsemen may have taken
refuge rake them with machine gun
fire or literally bomb them off the
face of the earth"
There are a number OF British
squadrons stationed at Bagdad and
a huge aviation repair depot. After
fueling up their cruisers the Ameri-
can airmen were entertained at the
r. A. F. mess. The British had been
rather hoping to have a large" eve
ming. They wanted to celebrate the
arrival of the Yankee world flyers in
the Garden of Eden. and were also
anxious to show their guests that
Just as enjoyable n night could be
spent in present day Badgad As in
the days when all Bagdad celebrated
the return of Sindbad the sailor from
one of his adventurous voyages. But
tho boys were worn out from their
long days fight from Persia, so tho
r. A. F. pilots took pity on them
and allowed them to retire early in
order that they might be ready to
start across the Arabian desert the
next morning.
Five Of the flyers went TO bed at
once. All but "Houdini' Ogden, who
did his usual disappearing act. Not
10 be deprived OF his n and only
opportunity Of seeing the city Of
mystery and magic, like the callph
Nn the Arabian Nights, "Houdini' set
out on a night trip. incognito.
through the labyrinthine and tor
tuous lanes of modern Bagdad.
Still the Enchanted City.
The officers at the royal air force
headquarters, who all live n few
miles south of the city, told us that
tho Bagdad OF Ali Bahia and the For
ty Thieves. of Aladdin and his en-
ohanted palace. and OF Haroun-al-
Raschild and the fascinating 70
beidia, no longer existed. But / found
that they were wrong" declared
Lieut.. Ogden. Perhaps It was be-
caufe l saw the city In the dim light
Of tapers and Pickering lights. AT
any rate. i found It wholly eastern
and It seemed srst like turning back
the pages OF time for a thousand
years.
with the sole exception Of the
young flying officer from Yorkshire
who acted ms my guide, or as my
grand vizier' II you wish, | saw no
@opeans. And the picture OF bag
Dad that will remain with me all my
life is of n walled city with massive
gates, of sleeping camels, narrow,
Sitting streets like tunnels that
even shut out the brilliant stars of
tho desert that were the delight OF
Chnldean astronomers and hard bit
ten Bedouin OF the desert In their
long robes and with their kuffchs
half Hrawn across their faces Ike
holdup men.
Now and then the dull throb OF
toni.toms and the shrill skirl OF Arab
pipes would carry across high walls
from the home OF some modern SIN
bad.
Bagdnd Founded 1871 A.. ID.
"Tba nru.ops pity was founded. he