Evening star., 1941-09-28
By Clarke Beach.


NORFOLK, Va, Sept. 27.-The young
fellows with Navy wings are on the
front line today.
They give the United States fleet
long reaeh and far-seeing eyes as it
stalks the Axis submarines and war
planes. They are the first to spot the
enemy.
Outside the city, on the banks of the
deep, narrow waters OF Hampton Roads,
Is the largest naval aviation operating
base on the East Coast. Flyers flock in
by the hundreds on carriers that put in
for overhaul and supplies. They fly in
singly, in pairs and in small formations
from destroyers, cruisers and battleships.
Fledgling flyers motor up in a steady
cavalcade from the great training sta
tions at Pensacola. Jacksonville and
Corpus Christi. After the thrills and
novelty of their training period they
settle down here to practice the grim
profession of fighting in the ocean air.
Among them the element of danger is
never out OF sight. 1t is crimson thread
woven into the fabric of their existence
~NNe~&A
come at any hour conditions their love,
their laughter, their hopes for the future
1t IS a thought that is conspicuous
usually because it is severely repressed-
at their mess table, their fireside their
hangers.
When one has crack-up and appears
at mess with his arm in sling the rest
of the flyers possibly will not even men
ton it, except, perhaps, to poke fun at
him. If his plane ran off the flying field
and lurched into a ditch, some one is
likely to say: What happened, Bill?
Run out of airport?"
Girls Attitude
II his spill was slow, easy ground
hoop, some flying wag will drag in the
stock wise crack, Bill took it once over
lightly"
Romance flourishes. The typical avi-
ator is young, ruddy, athletic, clear in his
head, good in his studies, devoted to his
Job. Norfolk girls say they would never
let themselves fall in love with a Navy
flyer; they wouldn't spend their lives
worrying about somebody. But when
any one asks them if they want a blind
date with one of the flyers they have a
vision of gay, dashing 4fellow with
golden wings on his chest-and if any of
them have ever refused to date an avi-
ator it hasn't been recorded. Many of
them wind up by becoming birdmens
wives.
When an airman goes wooing his
hrst step is to bestoW wings on the
lady of his choice-a golden pin which
she wears over her heart. This doesn't
amount to an engagement, but it means
that things are getting serious. An
aviator doesn't give wings to more than
one girl at a time unless he is a phi
landerer.
Subsequent steps are punctuated with
hops to Guantanamo, to San Diego, to
Pensacola. Cupid has to fly 400 miles
an hour to keep up with events.
The day Louise was given her engage
ment ring early in September, her avi-
ator sailed away on his carrier, without
saying good-by, without intimating he
was leaving. That's the way sailors
and aviators always leave port these
days when all ship movements are
made with utmost secrecy. They 90 on
board one morning, apparently just for
the day, and suddenly learn that they
are sailing for the open sea immedi-
ately. to be away for a month or more.
Meanwhile, Louise astoniShes her
friends with her new aero-vocabulary.
She speaks learnedly of dead-stick
landings, cutting the gun, shooting the
circle. Her air base friends remark that
she has gone into a flat spin
which non-flyers would describe as all
up in the air. or going around in
circles"