Yale University - Sheffield Scientific School Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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420 HISTORY OF 1916 S. In an early meeting the Constitution and By-Laws were adopted and the civic officers elected. Presiding officer, Lieu- tenant Slocum, Secretary, H. G. Anderson, Treasurer, M. R. Smith. Weekly drills or lectures are being held until the com- pletion of the Observation Balloon, when practical instruction will be begun. An office has been established at 1109 Edwards Hall for the transaction of business and the Welcoming of visiting aviators. The equipment of the Kite Balloon includes a motor tractor, portable hydrogen plant, Winch, and trailer to carry the bag when deflated. At the summer encampment of the Battalion at Tobyhanna, Pa., the Aero Corps will be expected to furnish firing data for the Batteries. Several of the members of the Aero Corps have had actual flying experience, one having already received his license and two others expecting to get theirs this summer. Cord Meyer holds an aeroplane license from the Federation Aeronatique Inter- national. C. D. Munson has had service on the French front in Observation Balloons and Aeroplanes. Gordon Tevis is an official observer of the Aero Club of America in California for aviator license trials. He has flown many times and expects, as does C. D. Wiman, to receive his pilot's license this summer. Warren S. Booth has had aeroplane experience here and abroad. E. B. C. Markle has flown in Zeppelins near Berlin. D. Weston helped in the construction of Burgess Flying Boats at Marble- head, Mass. R. R. Theobold, D. K. Warner, and H. Baldwin have also had experience in flying. One of the principles of the Aero Corps is to seize every opportunity which presents itself to increase its knowledge and further aviation. It hopes to get aeroplanes, so that the Bat- talion will have the far seeing, and in modern Warfare necessary, eye of the aerial scout.--However, the Corps will show it has done something, is doing something, and can do things before it Will look for outside aid.

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AERO CORPS-YALE ARTILLERY The public opinion of the whole country is focused, as the rays from a converging mirror, here at Yale. Consequently our national need for adequate preparedness was felt so strongly here that active service was decided upon and the Yale Artillery was formed. Owing to the curbing state laws upon the National Guard many men were excluded from enrolling. Some of these more energetic, patriotic men cast about for a method whereby their service would increase the efficiency of the Battalion. This sentiment brought the Hospital Corps into being, which is doing excellent work under Major C. Herbert. ' Several other men anticipated our woeful lack of aerial defence, which has been demonstrated in Mexico this spring, and signified a desire to form an Aerial Corps. The Connecticut Aircraft Company promised Major R. M. Danford an Observa- tion Kite Balloon for use of the Artillery late in the fall. This offer assured the equipment for an Aero Corps and Major Danford detailed Lieutenant Paul F. Slocum, of Battery A, to form such a Corps. The number of men from those already enrolled in the Battalion was limited to twenty and it was con- sidered expedient to limit the total size of the Corps to forty members. At the motion picture lecture given by Major Danford several slides and a model were shown, with a description and the pro- posed plans for an Aerial Corps. Between eighty and ninety men signified their desire to enroll and the Corps was picked, putting those less fortunate, that so desired, on the waiting list. The Connecticut Aircraft Company had just completed the construction of the first Navy Dirigible, the DN-1, and they offered to instruct the Corps in the design, construction, and manipulation of non-rigid dirigibles. This was a rare oppor- tunity and was readily seized. Through the courtesy of Adjutant-General George M. Cole permission was granted to set the machine up in the Hartford State Armory, Hartford, Conn. The members of the Corps took several trips at their own expense to work on the machine, It was sent to Pensacola, Fla., for a Navy Training Ship after the Aero Corps had received their instructions.

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THE PAGEANT AND SHEFF The Pageant in the Yale Bowl, which takes place on the 21st of October, 1916, will chiefly consist of four Historical Episodes depicting the four major periods of Yale ls growth in Colonial, Revolutionary, 19th Century and Modern times, and added to this will be a Prelude and four Allegorical Scenes, whose use is to emphasize what the preceding scene has meant to the University and what the University has meant to the country. The first of the Historical Episodes dealing with life in Colonial times, will be in four scenes, showing the coming of John Davenport and his companions to Indian-inhabited New Haven and their founding of the city, second, the Beginnings of the University, third, the Removal of the Books from Saybrook to New Haven, and fourth, the First Commencement in New Haven. The Revolutionary Episode is also divided into four scenes showing the Demanding of the Keys of the Powder House by the Governoris Foot Guards, the taking of New Haven by the British and President Daggett's pathetically heroic opposition, the mar- tyrdom of Nathan Hale, and last, Wasliington's Triumphal Entry after the war in the Hrst year of his presidency. The 19th Century Episode is again in four parts, starting with a big-side football game, whose interruption by the firemen leads to the Town and Gown Riot, and when this is finally quelled by the Faculty, the celebration of the Burial of Euclid, next, the setting out of the Kansas Volunteers and iinally the death of Theodore 'Winthrop and the honorable giving up of his body by the Southern to the Northern Army. The Modern Scene is in three divisions, the first, panels of Yale Life and Events since the Civil War, second, a representa- tion of the Bicentennial Procession, and last, a Drill by the Yale Battery. Sheff will have a prominent part in three of the four Historical Episodes, and if the curtain were to be rung up it might be said that 1917 Sheff would,have that task, for they are under- taking the part of the Indians who with a deer hunt open the first of the historical scenes. 1918 Shelf, on the other hand, are