Hero of the Angry Sky. David S. Ingalls

got going too fast and damned if he didn’t leave the ground and the mechanic’s love of the earth got control over him so he let go and gravity did the rest. He only broke one leg and an arm.

      January 22, 1918. Lots of huffing. Ken didn’t hang it on me so much. Later a fellow named Gross crashed in a field nearby. Ken was flying near and pulled him out of the machine and then got help. Gross is still unconscious. This class is getting so good now that they land all over and in every direction till it’s as much as your life is worth to get into the field without landing on somebody or him on you. Ken’s instructor, Williams, lit on somebody this afternoon. The two schools, gunnery and aerial fighting, will probably not be quite so comfortable and easy going as this one. As far as I can find out now, a week at each place suffices for the course, so we’ll not be there long unless the weather is dud. . . .

      [Gosport] January 24, 1918

      Dear Dad:

      I was very glad to receive some mail from you and Mother dated Dec. 6–12. All of this has doubtless been lying around the mailroom at 4 Place d’Iena, and I hope by now you are sending my mail to Carson Pirie Scott and Co. You certainly must be busy now and I don’t suppose you are home very much. It’s lucky that Mother is so deeply interested in and hard at work for the Red Cross. I’ll be nineteen now, in a few days,177 and hope to celebrate my birthday in London, as I think we shall leave this school Saturday the 26th and go to Scotland, passing through London. As is customary when traveling under our good navy’s orders, we shall probably be delayed in London for several days. This will not be so bad, however, as there is usually plenty to do there.