THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



87 



Winslow. I read half of it the night 

 that it came and stayed up late last night 

 to finish it. He gives a very straight, 

 interesting, and apparently not exagger- 

 ated account of the work over there, 

 which has made somewhat clearer to me 

 just what it is that I want to get into. 

 Now I am even more anxious than I was 

 before to join the service over there. 



"The more that I think about it and 

 the more that I hear of it, the more de- 

 sirous I am of getting into the Flying 

 Corps. If a man like Winslow, with a 

 wife and daughter dependent on him, is 

 willing to take the risk involved, I see 

 no reason why I should not. 



"You mention the Ambulance Service 

 in your last note. I have thought of 

 that quite a little and would definitely 

 prefer the aviation. The ambulance is 

 worth while, I think, in that it gives one 

 an opportunity to be of great service to 

 humanity, but not so much so as the 

 other. There will be a number of my 

 classmates who will enlist in the Amer- 

 can Ambulance Service this spring, but 

 the air service appeals to me." 



He then made arrangements with the 

 American representatives of the Lafay- 

 ette Escadrille to go to France on the 

 completion of his college year. 



January 29 he wrote : 



"I will get a physical examination in 

 a few days. In regard to getting the 

 training over here first, I do not think 

 that it would be worth while. The in- 

 struction over there would be first hand, 

 tried, for a definite purpose, and on the 

 whole superior to what I could get here. 

 I could also be picking up the language 

 and the hang of the country at the same 

 time." 



On February 24 he received word that 

 his papers, presented with his application 

 for admittance to the Franco-American 

 Flying Corps, assured him on their face 

 of a welcome when he presented himself 

 in Paris. He was informed that if he 

 utilized his spare time in availing him- 

 self of any and every opportunity to 

 familiarize himself with flying, it would 

 shorten his stay in the Student Aviators 

 School in France. 



On March 26 : 



"I haven't been able to find out any- 

 thing definite about the school at Mineola. 



As yet, no change has been announced, 

 to my knowledge, in reference to hasten- 

 ing up the course in event of the coming 

 of war. Over a hundred men have left 

 college (Princeton) already to start train- 

 ing for the Mosquito Fleet and the rest 

 of them are drilling every afternoon. 



"What do you think of the advisability 

 of stopping college and going to some 

 aviation school? Considering that it 

 takes several months to become at all 

 useful as an aviator and that war is prac- 

 tically inevitable now, I think it would be 

 wise to get started right away." 



ANXIOUS TO LEARN FRENCH METHODS 

 OF ELYING 



In a letter of April 3 : 



"I saw in the morning paper that the 

 American flyers in France would be 

 transferred to American registry immedi- 

 ately after the declaration of war. When 

 you next see General Squier. I wish that 

 you would sound him on the probability 

 of a force being sent to France to learn 

 to fly according to French methods. 

 That is the one thing above all others 

 that I want to get into. If there is any 

 chance of that I do not want to get in- 

 volved in anything else. ... 



"It is quite certain that seniors who 

 leave college now, to go into military 

 work, will receive their degrees. I would 

 not object to losing the work, as it is 

 not my present intention to keep on with 

 theoretical chemistry, and that is what I 

 am devoting my time to this spring. 

 From the standpoint of education alone, 

 I think that my time could be more profit- 

 ably spent in the study of aviation." 



Leave was granted by the university, 

 and on April 6 B. Stuart Walcott was 

 appointed a special assistant to Mr. Sid- 

 ney D„ Waldon, inspector of airplanes 

 and airplane motors, Signal Service at 

 Large. He immediately reported to Mr. 

 Waldon and worked with him through 

 April. May 1 he went to Newport News, 

 Virginia. May 2 he reported : 



"My first trip up was this afternoon 

 with Victor Carlstrom. We were out 16 

 minutes and climbed 3,500 feet. It was 

 all very simple, getting up there — a little 

 wind and noise and some bumps and 

 pockets in the air — a glorious view of the 

 harbor. 



