The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1944-11-10
Col. Robert L.ScOff

4
old preacher, who had me arrested
for disturbing the noisy peace. When
I got out of Jail, more embarrassed
than anything else, l swore ven
geance on the Holy Rollers and the
old preacher. Early one morning
while delivering papers took a ra-
zor blade and cut off fifty feet OF
canvas from the side wall of the
converted circus textbook it away
and hid it in the woods.
had no use for the purloined
canvas, and to excuse myself from
a nagging conscience tried to for
get it. But every morning saw
the jagged hole that l had made
for vengeance. Later on decided
to build a glider, and for wing
covering the canvas was ideal.
Then, with the cloth stretched over
the ribs of the airfoils and vanished
for tightening, even with American
insignia painted on the fuselage, I
found myself ready to fly. Two Of
my friends helped me pull it to
the roof of a high colonial home in
Macon, and with them steadying
the wings I ran down the sloping
roof and flew out into space. Now
in those days knew nothing Of
"main-spars," "center sections" or
"wing-loading." With a crack like
the closing of the Jail door, the wing
buckled in the center and / crashed
sixty-seven feet to the ground. The
Cherokee rose bush-that sacred
State flower of Georgia into which I
fell-probably saved my life, but
the thorns stayed with me for a
long time.
After my father had pulled me
from the wreckage-more scared
than hurt-I was ordered to tear
the glider apart. did, but saved
the Inflated canvas for other plans.
Later on it was used to cover the
barrel-stave ribs of homemade
canoe which was intended to trans
port me down the Ocmulgee River
to the sea, some twelve hundred
miles away as the winding river
ran. / had made about six hun
dred miles of the trip when the sail
ing canoe caught on a snag and
the current rolled us to the muddy
bottom, tangled in the rope rigging
! of the sail. In the seconds that fol-
lowed I nearly drowned-I saw my
whole misspent life parade before
my eyes. Finally the rope broke
and / swan ashore; but had al
ready decided to leave the sacred
canvas, seasoning forever, at the
bottom of the Ocmulgee River.
Once again my mind turned to fly
ing. / confined my aircraft con-
struction to scale models, and final
ly made flying one which won the
first Boy Scout Aviation merit badge
in that part of the country. / re-
| member when General Mitchell
BILLY MitchelD led a flight of fast
looking MB-3's through the home
town. crawled into one Of the
baggage compartments in hopes that
would be flown on to Florida in
this dawn-to-dusk flight. But the
mechanics found me, and l missed
making the pursuit ship any tail
heavier than it normally was.
It was far back, when / was four
or five, that / had seen my first air.
plane. A pilot by the name of Ely
spun in and was killed, and my
Mortified mother dragged me from
the scene. It most certainly should
have been an ill omen for my fly
ing future. However, know that it
whetted my appetite to fly. ! liked
anything that flew and freed one
from the earth, but most Of all !
prayed. that destiny would make me
pilot of the fast, little single-seat-
ers-a fighter pilot.
In 1921 I read Of an auction sale
of wartime Jennys in Americas,
Georgia. Gathering the largest for
tune that I could collect, ! drove
my cut-down Model-T racing Ford to
buy myself real plane AS the auc-
tioneer's hammer hit the block for
the first time that morning I opened
with my maximum bid-Seventy-
five dollars! The auctioneer did look
my way, but the look was merely q
frown. Far in the back of the
hangar a heavy voice called, "Six
hundred dollars" And to this fat
man the Jennys went, one by one.
/ must have bid over a hundred
times before the morning had gone
the sale had stopped for lunch
and had been resumed.
That afternoon I kept bidding, and
as I said ''Seventy-fve dollars" for
about my hundredth time, heard
heavy breathing over my right
shoulder. I turned to look at the
man who had been overriding me,
and the deep voice said, Now lis
ten, son, I'm going to let you have
this one for your seventy-five dol
lars. Get it and get the hell out Of
here, because I'm buying all the
rest for an airline" Anyway I had
a real plane, all Grated up. / hauled
it home on truck, hid it in an
other boys garage so my parents
couldn't find out about it, and be-
can frvino ~ accay,,h1a fha parfs