The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-06-18

Through the courtesy of Hugh
MacRae, the Star-News bag receiv-
ed a copy of a letter describing
the trip around the country by q
group of high officials on which
Lieut.. Calder Atkinson was pilot.
The writer is Gus Leazar, then
on the Civil Aeronautics BIO a r d
who later resigned to go with the
Southeastern Air Service, Inc. His
letter was written on June 10, and
addressed to the mother of Lieu
tenant Atkinson, whose loss was
recently reported in this newspa
per. -~s..
Lieutenant Atkinson was great
grandson of Bishop Thomas Atkin-
son and of William Calder. He
was graduated from the Univer-
sity of North Carolina in 1886. He
attended the Naval Aviation school
at Pensacola and received his
wings in 1887. He was on duty
for three years at San Diego and
Honolulu. In 1910 he was trans
ferred to the regular Navy and
stationed at Anacostia with h e
rank of ensign. In November, 1913,
he received the rank of lieutenant
commander and transferred to the
Pacific coast, where he was put
in command OF squadron of Cat
alinas at Whidbey Island, Washing
ton. From there he was sent on
mission with his squadron of 10
planes and $50 men, probably to
the South American coast.
Mr.. Leazar's letter reads:
Some months ago, while talk
ing with our mutual friend. Mr..
Hugh MacRae, I mentioned h e
fact that I had made an interest
ing trip around the rim of the
United States with a Wilmington
PILOT, Lieutenant Atkinson, in COM
mand. Recently much delayed
letter from MIR. MacRae reached
me, informing me of the fatal az.
cident to your son somewhere in
the Pacific and suggesting that !:
write you a brief account of my
experience with him.
"At the time of our acquaiat-
ance, l WoS member of al Air
Traffic Control Board composed of
Col. Joe Ma.r.ot of the Army Air
F orces, 'nlnsnder Jill. Volt Of
the Nava, Air Commaf1. Earl
Ward representing the Civil Aero
rautics AG:ni ;s+ration, and h e
writer repre- ;el ting tn o,,vil Aero
lautics Boe"e! 1t bee are nccos-
sary for tbs toa1d IT, :isi. Mill
tary centers widely scattered over
the United States to hold confer
ences. Transportation became a
problem until at Commander Volt S
suggestion the admiral at Anacos-
tia agreed to furnish Navy plane
and crew of four for the trip. Lieu
tenant Atkinson was the pilot. Be-
ing a native Tarheel myself, we
soon found that we had many mu-
tual acquaintance and interests.
departing from Washington at
$3.50 am. on a Tuesday, we lunch
ed in Jacksonville at the Naval
Air station and held meeting
there throughout the afternoon
Next day we lunched in Louisiana
and spent the night at Fort Worth,
Texas, where meeting was held
the following morning. Leaving
Fort Worth around pm. n d
spending the night at Ell Paso,
Texas, going down into Mexico for
dinner that. evening. The follow
ing afternoon we arrived in Los
Angeles. ~
1--WE were all very much struck
by the effectiveness of the airport
camouflage here on the Pacific
coast. When We landed, 1, as
back seat driver, could not keep
from asking Lieutenant Atkinson if
he saw that hangar we were land
ing into. About then we touched
the ground to find that it was cam
outage, painted on the runway and
not building. It was a most re-
markable camouflage job az from
the air things certainly were not
what they seemed, even to expert
enced pilots as we all were. Il
suppose old pilots are the worst
back seat drivers in the world.
After Los Angeles we landed at
the Naval Air station at San Fran
cisco where we were entertained
at lunch by the admiral.
so far the flight had been un-
leventful and routine. At San Fran
esseA we were informed of bad