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

DRAFT

By luck and circumstance I entered meet

I was asked by Mr. Burgess and Mr. Curtiss to enter this meet as pilot of their B-Type Wright. I immediately wired the War Department for authority and leave for this purpose and the leave was approved. It was felt that if Army aviators competed with civilians it would make people realize the progress that had been made in military aviation. I was quite fortunate in the events. I entered such as spot landings, figure eights which nearly resulted in my being killed. The pilot was credited with both the speed with which he accomplished the figure eights and the steepness of banking and turning skill in operating the plane. A brisk wind was blowing and the course was against and with the wind. On one flight, going with the wind, I banked very, very, steeply and a sudden gust put the wing in a vertical position where it began to teter as if it were going to fall over on its back. I followed around the turn and reversed the turns using my left hand to pull the elevator and by put-ting my foot on the warping lever and pressing forward as far as I could the vertical rudder held the plane up and the plane was finally righted, but I am still not sure how it occurred. 

The biggest event of the meet was the Tri-state race, one section for mono-planes and the other for bi-planes, due to the fact that the monoplane was much faster. The course was from Squantum Field, Mass., to Nassua, New Hampshire - from Nassua, N. H. to Wooster, Mass., and from Wooster, Mass., to Providence, R.I., and from Providence, R. R., back to Boston. Landings were necessary at each city. (Sappwith and other aviators refused to fly the flight as outlined - they tried to get a short flight along the coast and back. The judges turned them down.) Only four planes started - Ovington and Stone were flying______ in the monoplane class - Atwood and myself were flying a B-Wright. It was a

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[[left margin]]spot landing[[left margin]]
[[left margin]]See newspapers for pilots objecting a lot[[left margin]]

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