Early Work in Aviation 41 



While you were in the air? 



Absolutely. This was communications from the aircraft to the ground base. 



Did you have the pigeons in the cockpit with you? 



We had little cages that fit in there, in cells so you could pull one out at a time. 

 When the shopping trip was going to Fredericksburg on these uncertain roads, 

 they never knew whether they were going to get through. There were two bad 

 stretches between here and Fredericksburg where people would usually get 

 stuck. One was Deep Bottom, which is just off of Route 301 from Dahlgren. 

 The other was up on Peppermill Hill. 



That one Vm familiar with. 



When people would start to town on the shopping trip, they would take at 

 least four carrier pigeons with them. When they got stuck at Deep Bottom, they 

 let a pigeon go on an air detail. We had to stand there and grab the bird as soon 

 as it got back. When the message said "Deep Bottom," old Bob Pulliam would 

 get one of these mules and ride out there, probably a half-hour trip. If the 

 pigeons didn't come back in 25 minutes, they knew they'd gotten by Deep 

 Bottom. So the next place would be about 45 minutes to Peppermill Hill, and 

 they would stand by to receive a pigeon. If no pigeon came back then, they 

 would be on their way to Fredericksburg. It would be 5 or 6 hours before they 

 had to be ready again. 



With dirt roads, I imagine the Fredericksburg trip would be pretty much an all-day affair. 

 Yes. They didn't start paving around here until the early 1930's. 



What were the personalities of your younger air officers ? One has visions of spirited young 

 men who had time off with their airplanes to do flying on their own. 



No. Commanding Officers when I was here did not permit cross-country 

 flights. In other words, they could not take an airplane away on non-duty. 



The age of barnstorming was coming to a close. 



Well, they didn't have any barnstorming here when I was here. I understand 

 that sometime during the 1 920's some young pilot took a plane up and flew into 

 a bunch of wild geese. The people around here were very much incensed and 

 orders came out that from then on you had to stay away from the geese, ducks, 

 and swans. Couldn't disturb them. 



