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in formation on our way to the front he complained that he could not steer the plane properly because the ailerons kept sticking. He dropped out of formation and landed on the field of what was by then the First Pursuit Group (the 94th, 95th, and 27th). The men of the 94th invited us to lunch while their mechanics worked on our ailerons. The mechanics could not find anything wrong, and the ailerons worked perfectly well when we headed for home. Mechanical troubles, appearing like that in flight, seemed to happen to certain pilots. It made an observer wonder about them. A little later I heard that Eddie Rickenbacker had been made commander of the 94th. I don't know what happened to Peterson.

Amanty was an excellent place from which to observe the beginnings of the American air service. It was and long remained a branch of the Signal Corps of the Army. Only a few regular army officers had yet taken up flying. Of those who had, most passed through Amanty while I was there. We had five West Point majors: Ralph Royce, Lewis Brereton, ******* Reynolds, Harry Anderson and Joseph McNarney. They commanded, in the order name, the first five observation squadrons that went into action, the 1st, 12th, 91st, 88th and 90th. I met them all but never got really acquainted with any except Anderson, who was our first commander of the 88th. The army took no unnecessary risks with those men. They led their squadrons to quiet sectors, and after a month or so they were prom[[strikethrough]]p[[/strikethrough]]^[[o]]ted to the rear. We lost Anderson, and Littauer took over, before the 88th had any real fighting to do. In July, when the First Squadron relieved us on a hot sector, Royce was no longer their commander. He had been succeeded by First Lieutenant Robert H. Schauffler, an ex-musician who had become a wartime pilot. There