The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1928-05-31
CHAPTER XIV

cidei that the cadets should stand
reveille. How it came about or
who caused the decision was never
known by the detachment, but
there was strong rumor circu-
lated to the effect that our beloved
Cadet Sergeant had not forgotten
the episode of the polecats. 1t
was an unheard of thing for the
cadets of Kelly to stand forma-
tion. We had graduated from
that when we left Brooks, and the
thought of continuing it in our
advanced station was, we conclud-
ed, degenerating by the morale of
the detachment.
Consequently, when our first
sergeant himself delighted us with
verbal visions of being tumbled out
of bed at first call if we were not
up at the blast of his whistle, we
decided that if it were in the COM
bined power of the detachment,
the first call should not sound the
next morning. We could not dis
obey an order; army training ban
ishes even the remotest thought OF
that; but we might prevent that
order from being given. The Ca
Diet Captain and first sergeant
were assigned to a private room
together. The rest of us were
given cots in the barracks. While
supper was in progress that night
the hands on the sergeant's alarm
clock were so manipulated that the
alarm would sound exactly one
hour after the time set. At two
o'clock the next morning a pad
lock was placed on the hasp out
side of his door, and when first
call blew a few hours later the
cadet detachment slept soundly on.
From spot landings we passed
to hurdles. Hurdles require the
ship to be brought down without
assistance from the engine, and
after just passing over line
stretched about eight feet above
the ground, to be landed as close
as possible to the hurdle. This
gave US excellent practice for land
ing over a fence in small field.
One of the traditions at Kelly
was that anyone knocking down
the hurdle must treat the rest to
a case of refreshments. 1t often
happened that a pilot was so in
tent on getting over the hurdle
string that he did not notice that
his plane was in a stall, and about
the time he was over the hurdle
the bottom would fall out from
under him and, his plane would
pancake into the ground. Almost
every class had one or two minor
crack-ups as a result of stalling
over the hurdle string.
The DeHavilands were not con-
sidered safe for hard stunning and
as result we were only allowed
to do wing-overs and split air
turns. Diving in excess of one
hundred and fifty miles per hour
was also forbidden. Consequent
ly only air werk allowing us to
be thoroughly accustomed to the
plane was included in the flying
schedule before our formation
. .rs.::.,ing began.
The strange field landing train
ing was one of the most interest,
ing parts Of our schooling. An
instructor would lead a number of
planes and land in some field we
had never seen before. Then each
cadet was required to land and
take-off after the instructor. Some
of the fields were small and full
of instructions. Yet we had COM
paratively few even minor crack
ups. Later each cadet was given
an opportunity to lead the rest and
pick out a field for them to land
jim while the instructor trailed.
At Kelley we were given more
and longer cross country trips
than at Brooks. One of the most
Important parts Of flying training
is cross country experience. We
made flights to Corpus Christi,
Galveston, Laredo and number
of other places.
Each class spent about two
weeks on a gunnery expedition at
Ellington Field between Houston
and Galveston. Ellington Field
was one Of the few double fields
built during the war, but was later