Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-22

TLoWERS which may or may not
bloom in the Spring tra-la Cor
its modern equivalent, boop-
boop-a-doop) have to do with
the long-suffering airmail pilots
who have 70 fly through the accumu.
lations of meteorological trash served
out during the month Of March on the
coastline passing through the National
Capital.
March is a sad and dreary month, I'M
deed, for the men who push around the
night airmail. Spring flowers and
Spring onions are all one to them when
fog, clouds, rain, snow, sleet and ice
conspire to make the days unpleasant
and the nights offensive.
Verne E. Treat, champion hard-luck
man on the Eastern Air Transport roS-
ter Of night mail pilots has been spe-
clally signaled out for rough usage by
BoreaS and Pluvius in the gentle Spring.
Treat is the kind of chap who would
walk up to a March lamb to fondle its
f1eeey wool only to have it shed its skin
ana become raging, ranting March
lion right under his very nose.
March storms have Snnacked Treat
down out OF the skies too often for the
process to become enjoyable. Last
March he was forced to join the Cater
pillar Club because Of q treacherouS
March fog which pinched OF two pilots
ct one clip and this month he became
q "two-tirner" in the mythical club
when he dropped out Of an ice-laden
and helpless plane in the dead OF q
tai.
Hair Whiteness.
Treat has celebrated other March
days by living through experiences
which would be justification for the
hair Of an infant turning white. Two
years ago, caught in a fog with balky
motor, he landed in raging grass fire,
started by parachute flares which he
dropped to guide him down. A few
days later he climbed without scratch
out of the wreckage Of a mail plane
which was almost completely demol-
iShed as result Of breaking in two in
q forced landing on mud fiat and
then blowing through an iron fence.
Henry T. (Dick) Merrill also has
suffered from the vagaries of early
Spring weather. He is the second pilot
cut of by the fog year ago this
month. Merrill cruised around seeking
way to safety for hours, and then,
just when he was beginning to con-
template joining the Caterpillar Club
there was a tiny opening in the fog
and he dropped down to safe landing
40 q e4AAg AAEAI AACdA E1AJROlildhOAs a.
A year earlier, however, the Spring
weather gods were not so kind to him,
and he was injured in forced landing
at Richmond.
Many times pilots along the line have
run into savage weather and have got
ten out with dificulty. Forced landings
because Of March storms have been
frequent. And so, while March may be
welcomed by large portions Of the
amiable populace as an earnest OF COM
ing Spring, it is no boon to the airmail
pilots. who can find pleasures in the
warm, fogless nights of Summer or the
crisp, clear nights of Winter, but not
in the tickle and treacherous nights Of
early Spring.
Naval Aviation Busy.
Though the United States feet naval
aviation units have put in busy weeks
during the Panama maneuvers, an even
buster week Is in prospect beginning at
dawn tomorrow, when A surface vessels
and 227 naval aircraft will commence
to work out three distinct battle prob
lens, which viii require them to range
the entire Caribbean Sea from the Pam
anna Canal to the northern limits of
the West Indies.
Working north from the Spanish
Main Though tropical seas, the scouts
and fighting craft of sky and sea will
bring the wonders Of modern warfare
70 the seas where pirates piled their