United States Military Academy West Point - Howitzer Yearbook (West Point, NY)

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Carter, ably assisted by Lt. Monteith, liad spent several weeks teaching us the mechanics of the brute, but that was about the limit of our experi- ence. Some few individuals, of course, had made one or more hops before and they favored us with high-hat discourses on My Flying Experience. But, as a whole, we were meeting something en- tirely new and thousands of questions were buz- zing, to and fro, hither and yon, through our minds. How will it feel to fly? , I wonder if I ' ll be scared? , Do you hit very hard when you come down? and others, ad infinitum. This business of flying through the air is most intriguing. There is nothing quite so thrilling as feeling yourself carried through space by a rela- tively small bit of mechanism, suspended between sky and earth by some unseen and nearly miracu- lous force. The breath taking rush across the field in the midst of a chaos of noise — roaring motor, screaming wires, banging landing gear. Faster. faster, and with a final gentle bump the ground drops away. You have no sensation of rising. The plane is fixed in space and it is the ground which drops, rises, and whirls. You clear the trees and buildings, the roar of the motor becomes a steady drone, the scream of the wires changes to a sooth- ing hum. and you are foxed into a sense of complete security. In a short time you learn to accom- modate yourself to the disturbing banks on the turns and you gaze down at the wide spread land- scape with an indescribable feeling of intense superiority. And just when you feel your cockiest things be- gin to happen. First, the bottom drops out of everything. A cautious peep over the side informs you that the ground is rushing toward you at a terrific speed. You get an uncomfortable feeling in the solar plexus and you wonder if parachutes really work as well as they are supposed to, and whether you had better jump now or wait a minute or two. But, as you watch, the ground begins to revolve slowly and, as it disappears back of the tail of the plane, you become aware of a tremen- dous pressure which threatens to force you through tlie bottom of the fuselage. The pressure increases and you slowly begin to realize that something out of the ordinary is happening. You glance up quickly — and see the ground directly overhead! Then a swooping dive and the plane flattens out again after its loop. You start to heave a sigh of relief, and while you are opening jour mouth the plane ' s nose goes up a trifle, the right wing drops with sickening speed — and you find your- self standing on your head again, with the ground back where the sky should be. Flying is truly a wonderful experience, and stunting is the sport of the gods. The first ex- perience is physically painful, but after that your pleasure increases with every flop and swoop of the plane. But enough of flying. It is entirely a matter of personal experience and cannot be described. Our mornings at Mitchell Field were divided into four periods, one of which was devoted to flying and the other three to lectures and inspec- tions of shops and equipment. Every minute was crowded with interest and in a short time we all became enthusiastic airmen. It was about this time that Walt Young was strapped into a parachute for the first time, and he couldn ' t understand why anybody should want to have the seat cushion strapped on to his person. He argued that there was no reason to believe, that you were going to land in a sitting position if you IL— « hundred ninety-eight

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wc can recommend its adoption as a tradition, if only for the sake of class spirit. On Saturday. June 20, the halves of the class changed places, the first six companies westward hound on the Baird and the last six moving to Fort Wright on the Ord, another mine planter. At one o ' clock the ships passed in the middle of the Sound in the midst of an uproar such as only Kaydcts can create. For once the Sound lived up to its name. EXHIBIT B Our noble predecessors of ' 23 hit behind them a horde of stories concerning the advantages of Mitchell field; its proximity to New York, the many attractions nearer at hand, and other hits of information. The result was that we had piped Mitchell Field long and consistently, conjuring ilissful visions of lots of time and lengthy leaves. Anticipation is always a deceitful wench and. in this instance, she upheld her former black reputa- tion — apparently. The last six companies, upon their arrival at the post, were informed that taps would be observed at 11:00 1 ' . M. and that we would not he allowed to go more than a few miles from the post. For a while the general impression was that New York, changed overnight from a playground to a den of all that is objectionable, would he visited only by special permission and under the most exceptional of circumstances. The news had a most depressing effect. For a few hours morale went way down and the future assumed a most dismal aspect. Word filtered through to the rest of us at Fort Wright that there was no justice and the result was truly awful. But experience proved that imagination is a re- markable thing when properly stimulated. Our fears were groundless and without reason. Per- mission to go to New York was readily granted after one had complied with two or three very simple conditions. In fact, on one occasion all those who had no other plans were taken in offi- cially to sec What Price Glory, the trip being made in a bus. On another day a trip was made to Coney Island and the little Kaydcts were al- lowed to amuse themselves to the limit. Both of these trips were very successful and were the re- sult of the kindness of the officers at Mitchell Field. But New York lost much of its attractive- ness when we were exposed to the hospitality of the post and tin- people in tin- near vicinity. There was no end of entertainment and fun. But wc digress. Mitchell Field, as you may have heard, is an Air Service post. More than anything else, we had ked forward to this opportunity to investigate the genus airplane in its native haunt. p i fcutv 8 in i i hundred ninety !

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happened to fall out of the ship, so why be en- cumbered with excess baggage? And on tin- last day the ship in w h i c h Hawthorne was flying had a forced landing a few miles from the field. In a short time a crowd of curious natives had gathered and they assumed that the handsome Bill was the pilot and that the real pilot. clad in grease stained unionalls, was just a me- chanician. Cameras clicked and 15 ill told the as- sembled throng how it felt to be an aviator. There is no doubt about it — these Kaydet drill breeches are snappy raiment. The last night at Mitchell Field was a fitting climax for a most enjoyable week. A hop was ar- ranged — and such a hop ! Most of lis had drags available and femmes were furnished for any of the others who desired to have them. Several din- ner parties took place near the field prior to the hop and early in the evening Kaydets and feinmes, officers and ladies, and boodle-hunting stags as- sembled at Mitchell Field ' s Cullum Hall. Deco- rations were in harmony with the occasion, the floor was perfect, the orchestra was enough to have made a one-legged octogenarian do the Charleston. and the morale was so high that it was out of sight. During the course of the evening a mountain of hoodie was brought in and the stags went into ac- tion with loud shouts of boyish glee. Everyone had a good time — even Red Reeder. At one o ' clock the festivities came to an end. much to everyone ' s regret, and we returned to our boudoirs to talk over the events of the day and. perchance, to sleep. On Friday. June 26th, the first six companies took off at Mitchell Field in a squadron of Liberty — er — trucks. That trip should have been a warn- ing to us later on in the year when a bus trip was proposed, because from that time on transportation of troops by automobiles was synonymous with breakdowns and trouble. One truck after another contracted a severe case of the heebie-jeebies and we almost had to resort to brute force and military manpower to reach our destination. At Fort Totten there was a short wait until the arrival of the tried and true Absolom Baird, which was bringing the last six companies in from Fort Wright. Sewing circles h a v e long been maligned and generally low-rated because of their output of jabber about this and that, but they simply could not be compared to the reunion of the two halves of the class. Anecdotes of the trip flew back and forth and lost nothing in the flying. Reeder and Kane, our ow n Weber and Fields, took post on the roof of the boat and made up for all the days that they had been kept apart, much to the delight of an appreciative audience. The trip home will be long remembered by those Kaydets who sat on board the trusty — and rusty — Baird as she ploughed back toward West Point. It took us the same time to get over the joys oi reunion that it took us to get out of sight of Fort Totten. The sense of adventure which we mustered up at the beginning of our trip had faded days before. The added morale which had been inspired by a certain jolly pair who ran alongside our trucks (Mi the road from Mitchell Field in an official ear and showered us with candy and pretzels (catch your breath for the rest of this sentence ) was dead. Someone l aughed out loud after we passed Flushing Bay and was almost mobbed. Someone started to sing, and another joined in two was tin- limit reached in the re cruiting of that party. A weight lifting contest was started up forward, but a majority of the sufferers could not have lilted their eye lids. All seemed lost, as Hickman says at bridge, except honors. J y II