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MILLING, T. DEWITT, BRIG. GEN. USAF. - BIOG. FILE - FOLDER NO.2 ITEM No. 5A

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM

DRAFT

pulling the plane up and dropping it on top of the trees.  As the plane weighed only 750 pounds, we went in with long poles and lifted the plane, carried it out and put it back on the field without further damage.
   Another great danger was [[strikethrough]]file[[/strikethrough]] fire.  Of course, we had no parachutes and if your plane caught on fire there was only one thing to do - try to get it down and the fire out before you were burned.  This experience I also had when the motor caught on [[strikethrough]]file[[/strikethrough]] fire from an excess of spilled gas from the motor and, in turn, ignited the wing.  Fortunately, I was low enough to get down and land the plane before any damage was done to me.
   In addition to our flying, we naturally were interested in the military use of the plane and were constantly trying to determine what could be done with it.  We carried out [[strikethrough]]small semi[[/strikethrough]] simulated-reconnaissance flights and with [[strikethrough]]a normal-type[[/strikethrough]] commercial cameras took many pictures from the air.  At this time there were no sights available for dropping bombs and, without such a sight, it is practically impossible to drop them with any accuracy.  We had the good fortune to be approached by a man named Riley Scott who was a graduate of West Point and had spent a few years in the Army [[strikethrough]]l[[/strikethrough]] and then resigned.  He had designed a bomb-sight and was very desirous of having it tested.  We, of course, were only too glad to carry out the flying tests.  Unfortunately, he was a large man over six feet and [[strikethrough]]wii[[/strikethrough]]weighed 200 pounds and more.  The sight weighed in the neighborhood of 15 or 20 pounds and the bomb to be of any tactical use must weigh at least 25pounds. As I was the lightest pilot on the field I was assigned to the pilot duty for these tests.  It is difficult in this day and age, when every plane has a tremendous power, to realize the handicap under which we had to fly and the feeling of frustration when you were unable to make [[strikethrough]]the full[[/strikethrough]] a plane [[strikethrough]]rise[[/strikethrough]] climb as it should. 

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