Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-15
PICKED ARMY PILOTS MAKE UP
UNUSUAL CLASS IN NAVIGATION
Six Picked Aviators, Each With Outstand-
ing Record, Taking Course Of Instruction
Under Air Corps at Wright Field.

There In q class of students at Day.
| ton, Ohio, made up entirely Of mer
whose careers have carried them through
accomplishments beyond anything In
the lives Of ordinary mer. It IL the
newly organized class of the navigation
school maintained by the Army Air
Corps ct Wright Field under direction
Of Capt. Clyde v. Finter and Bradley
Jones.
The class Is made I'D of six picked
pilots Of the Air Corps-Lieuts. Lloyd
@. Blackburn, Uzal @. Ent, Harry A.
Halverson, Westside r. Larsen, Odas
Moon and Edgar T. Seller. Two of
them-Lieuts. Emf and Halverson-wear
In their lapels the ribbon Of the Dis
tinguished Flying Cross. bestowed by
Congress for outstanding aerial achieve
mentS.
Each member Of the class began his
aviation career by enlisting in the old
aviation, section Of the Signal Corps in
1917 or 1918 and learned to ny during
the war. The achievements which have
brought them fame have been recorded
since the war, according to Miss A. M.
Jacobs in q report to the Air Corps
News Letter.
Has Tale to Tell.
ANY pilot who has been in aviation
from that day to this and remains
alive" Miss Jacobs stated, has a tale
to tell, no matter how reticent his
tongue. He has seen aviation move
through the primitive stages to the
place where 1t has commanded O posi-
ton In the life of the day"
Lieut.. Emit Is a balloon and airship
pilot, and in 1928 won both the Dis
tinguished Flying Gross and the Cheney
award for performing the outstanding
deed Of valor for the year. During the
national balloon races, when his balloon
was struck by lightning and burst into
flames, he risked his life to remain with
the flaming gas bag safely to earth,
only to find that his fellow pilot had
been killed instantly. Lieut.. Ent was
the first man to land an airship on q
commercial ship at sea.
Lieut.. Halverson new in Victory Loan
demonstrations In IA States during the
war, becoming one Of the first aerial
forest rangers after the war. He was
advance ofncer for the Army around
the-world flight in the section from
Rangoon to Constantinople in 1928. He
received his decoration for his part as
co-pilot on the famous 150-hour endur-
ance night Of the Question Mark last
January.
Foremost Photographer.
Lieut.. Blackburn, former commander
Of the 95th Pursuit Squadron, has be-
come one of the Army's foremost aerial
photographers, risking his life repeat
eddy to make aerial maps Of isolated
sections in the Mississippi River flood
areas for use in flood control work. Last
June he became q member Of the
Caterpillar Club when he came down
to safety by parachute after half the
landing gear of his plane had dropped
away over country where q safe land
ing could not have been made.
Lieut.. Moon was q member Of the
famous border patrol at Maria, Tex,
and saw service in Panama before being
recalled to participate in the lombard
ment Of condemned naval vessels of the
Virginia capes in 1928, which proved
that modern battleships could be sunk
by bombardment. He is O member Of
the Army Bombardment Board, and Is
bombardment instructor at the Ad-
vanced Flying School. He served as
pilot Of one Of the refueling planes in
the Question Mark flight and As pilot
Of q standard Army LB-7 bomber on q
long-range bombardment mission from