THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



101 



SEASICK IN THE AIR 



November 10, 1917, 



Evening. 



You know November in France. I've 

 been here almost two weeks now and am 

 still a l'entrainment ; that is, I haven't 

 started in to do any regular work yet. 

 Only five times have I been able to fly 

 in two weeks. But I've got my own 

 machine and mechanic, everything is in 

 order, and I've been assigned to a patrol 

 the last two mornings when it rained. 



Tomorrow again at 8.50 with four 

 others- — patrol for one hour and fifty 

 minutes at about 15,000 feet, back and 

 forth over our sector, sometimes over 

 our own lines, sometimes in Bochie. I'm 

 getting very impatient to get started. In 

 what few flights I've had, I've been work- 

 ing on acrobacy a bit and am gradually 

 learning a few simple things ; twice I 

 stayed up a little too long and had to lie 

 down a few hours afterward, almost sea- 

 sick. 



I like Spa 84 very much indeed. The 

 Frenchmen there are regular fellahs. 



Wertheimer, a sergeant, is a sort of in- 

 formal and unadmitted chief of the sous- 

 officiers. It is he that speaks English and 

 has helped us a lot in getting settled, etc. 

 Very much of a gentleman he is and 

 understands a bit of Anglo-Saxon customs 

 and eccentricities, always gay and an in- 

 defatigable worker. 



We have all been arranging the one 

 big room of our barracks — dining room, 

 reading-room, and probably eventually 

 American bar. The walls are covered 

 with green cloth, green paper (of two 

 different shades and neither quite the 

 same as the cloth), red cloth (on top as 

 a sort of frieze), and red paper. The 

 ceiling is done in white cloth to keep in 

 heat and lighten the room. A monumen- 

 tal task it has been, especially as ma- 

 terials are hard to get and expensive. 



FED AMAZINGLY EOR FOUR ERANCS A DAY 



Wertem (as Wertheimer is called) and 

 Deborte have done most of the work. 

 Deborte is also chef de popote, which 

 means housekeeper, and a very efficient 

 man. For four francs per day we are 

 fed amazingly well, especially when one 

 realizes that we are near the front in a 



country which has had three years of 

 war. Deborte hasn't the pleasantest man- 

 ner in the world at times, but usually is 

 very agreeable, willing to tell me things 

 about flying or the escadrille, always 

 ready to work, and a dependable man in 

 the air. 



And Verber, who rooms with Wer- 

 tem, he speaks a little English ; has a 

 great deal of trouble understanding it, 

 but is picking up; wears a monocle all 

 the time, because he's got a bum eye ; 

 carries a stick, and has an extremely ec- 

 centric appearance, but withal is very 

 agreeable and a very valuable man. He 

 has the habit of taking long trips all 

 alone, far into Germany, just to see what 

 is going on. 



Pinot is the name of the little roly- 

 poly chap everybody calls Bul-Bul, who 

 used to be a mechanic and now is a very 

 good, merry pilot. He has a great pen- 

 chant towards Pinard, is violently but 

 not at all objectionably non-aristocratic, 

 is forever laughing or kidding some one, 

 walks on his hands to amuse people, and 

 is the delight of all the mecanos. 



Demeuldre is a very quiet sort of 

 school-boy type, who has been a pilot of 

 biplanes and reconnaissance machines for 

 a long time. He came to the escadrille 

 recently with a record of two Boches as 

 pilot of a biplane (that is, his machine- 

 gun man did the shooting and they both 

 get credit), and a few days ago brought 

 down a German in flames, his first as 

 pilot de chasse. There are two others 

 away on permission, whom I don't know 

 yet. 



ESCAPING DESTRUCTION BY A MIRACLE 



Somewhere in France, 

 November 13, 191?. 

 Dear Father: Campbell was in the 

 Tafayette .Escadrille and they are a mem- 

 ber of the same group as Spa 84, so I 

 have asked them about him. He was on 

 a patrol with another chap ; they attacked 

 some Boches and when it was over the 

 other chap was alone. Campbell was. 

 brought down in German territory and 

 so reported missing. I believe that the 

 chap he was with has seen and talked to 

 Campbell's father or some close relative 

 since. 



