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were ordered to Burgess-Curtiss at Marblehead for instruction. The winter weather here was not suitable and this detachment moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, where it remained until the school was established at Texas City. The planes used at the Palm Beach school were equipped with pontoons and were based on Lake Worth. At the same time a school was established in the Philippines for training selected applicants in that Department. Lieutenant Lahm was assigned to command this school on a TDY status from Ft. Wm. McKinley.

The central school at College Park returned to Augusta in the fall of 1912 and established itself on the same field it had used the previous year. As usual, we had unusual weather. A gale wind struck the field damaging hangars and doing major damage to one of the planes. The new Wright Scout plane, which was delivered at Augusta, was smashed up when the Wright pilot attempted a landing on plowed ground,--one of the tests required at that time. This plowed field landing test became increasingly unrealistic with each advance in weight and speed of the airplanes. No active pilot of today has ever had to pass it. But up to this time it was necessary that the pilot who wanted to go on living keep in mind that his engine might stop at any time, and be prepared to meet it. This demanded alertness and skill at getting the airplane back onto the ground on other than ideal landing strips. It might be worthy of note that in the earlier periods of flying, when hazard was greatest, there was no incentive pay for flying. The first recognition of this extra hazard came in an appropriation bill dated 2 March 1913. This bill carried a 35% increase in pay for flying officers, but limited the number to 30 who could receive it. At the same time Congress refused to appropriate more than $125,000.00 for the air arm. This was the same amount that had been appropriated back in 1911 to get this new arm started.
On February 25th, 1913, orders were issued from the War Department that all personnel and equipment would move to Texas City, Texas as promptly as possible, reporting there for duty as part of the Second Division that was then being assembled because of our tense relations with Mexico. Two days were required to prepare the school for field service. The airplanes, parts, hangars, and equipment needed for field service were loaded on railroad cars and this special train was dispatched on [[strikethrough]]August[[/strikethrough]]Feb'y 28 25th with a personnel complement of 5 officers and 21 enlisted men.

This change of status from a flying school to a military field unit required training of a very different character. Realizing that we would be called upon to operate with the troops and, perhaps, under war conditions, the school features were dropped and the aviation personnel were organized into the First Provisional Squadron. Training took on different objectives. We began concentrating on cross-country orientation, reconnaissance missions with the troops on the ground, and landings and take-offs on difficult terrain.

Back at Augusta, I had qualified myself on the Burgess tractor. This plane was very superior to anything we had received up to that time. The 70 h.p. French Renault motor proved itself much more reliable than American types. This plane had performed so well that, while we were in field training in Texas City, I elected to give it a cross-country test by flying to San Antonio and return,--a distance of 244 miles. I took Lieutenant Wm. C. Sherman along as a passenger. We left Texas City in the early afternoon on March 28th with an east wind of 25 miles per hour. The flight was made without trouble except that it was extremely rough, hazy, and poor visibility. My visibility was further impaired by oil which was leaking from the engine and spraying on my goggles. This inconvenience I finally removed by getting Sherman to wipe my goggles and keep them clean, a little task I could not perform as it took both hands to fly the plane. We flew at an average speed of 69 miles per hour, which was good for that time, and after arrival at San Antonio remained in the air an additional

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