Milford chronicle., 1956-12-21
I'm THE AIR FORCE
BY EIoins Townsend Dicksrson

trip. Our Forbes Base doctor sup
piled US with air sick pills and
didn't hesitate to use them on any
of us. OF course, Hayes seems com
pletely immune to airsickness and
didn't indulge.
Night before last Sunday night
we tied down" our Piper in Nash
vile, Tennessee. Hayes was de-
lighted with the whole trip and
seemed perfectly satisfied with our
destination. | kept hunting around
the airport for United States map.
If Nashville was anywhere near
where l thought it was we were
sure a ''fur piece from home. All
I could think about all night long
was the weather the next day. l
awoke Hayes at three, four and five
o'clock to check on the time. /
wanted to get an early start the
next morning and knew all the
time we'd have to wait for the
ground fog to lift, but you know
how you feel when you're head
ing home.
The motel provided us with
transportation to and from the air.
port. At 7:30 the man arrived to
take us to our plane. At 500, and
$50, and 8:45 I sat in the lounge
frantically wondering when we
would ever leave Dixie! Finally by
nine they told us that by the time
we reached our next check point
the fog would have been burnt
off, by the sun. We flew over
Bowling Green, Kentucky, Mt.
Sterling, Kentucky, Huntington,
West Virginia and landed in
Charleston, West Virginia. With
each city we passed felt I had
that much better chance getting
home. In Charleston we grabbed
sandwiches and milkshakes and as
soon as the plane was checked we
took off Immediately. Weather was
getting worse near the east coast
and we still had the Appalachian
Mountains ahead of us. | had filled
the children and myself with our
pills in Charleston because | knew
what the turbulence over those
mountains could be like.
Hayes was pleased with the wea-
ther conditions as we left the
Charleston Airport and could hard
ly believe his check points on the
map-they seemed to appear too
rapidly. Through checking by time
and distance Hayes figured we had
y-mile-per-hour tail wind. If
ever | wanted a tail wind it was
during this part of the trip, because
/ dreaded the mountains most of
all They are only five thousand
feet in elevation, but that is plenty
nigh enough.
When we called Martinsburg,
West Virginia radio, they told us
that Baltimore and Washington
were closed in with fog. They had
no report about other surrounding
airports. Hayes knew that Balti-
more was only twenty minutes
away and he thought he could work
toward the coast and just see how
close he could get. When we reach
ed Baltimore we knew we were
lucky to get in there and we land
ed We called repeatedly on the
radio to Friendship International
tower and they were so busy with
incoming traffic in the Baltimore
area that they didn't answer our
call letters for what seemed like an
eternity. We were so anxious to
get on the ground, out of the en-
closing haze.
Mother and Dad Dickerson were
in Baltimore within few hours
after we landed and we unloaded
the plane and headed for Sussex
County. The plane will stay in
Baltimore until the weather i'm
proves. My good cousin, Dick Dra-
per, has offered to fly Hayes over
to get our Tri-Pacer and bring it
back here for our return trip.
We really made out awfully well
on the trip. Hayes certainly is the
best pilot in my books, the cool
weather made a smooth trip and
I'm sure the air sick pills helped,
| too.
You know we're awfully glad to
be home and we'll see you all real
soon.
I'll write to you again next week