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

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM

DRAFT

TO GET information of value. A minimum of 2000 feet was prescribed for the maneuvers. Lieut Fulois, who had spent a lot of time since 1911 in trying to develop a radio set, that could send from the air, attempted to use the radio from the Burgess-Wright in spite of the difficulty of transmitting at the same time, using the right control, both hands being required. Information was transmitted about 10 miles. We made many reconnaisance flights from one to one and one-half hours, reporting portions of trips which was of great value. Lieut Fulois was assigned as aviator with the Blue Army. On the last day of the maneuvers he landed to report a telegram and he and his plan were captured by the Red Troups.
Great difficulty, throughout the entire operation, was the lack of motorpower on the airplane. I was unable to take Geiger, who was to be my observer, because of unsufficient power to carry out the flight due to the fact that carrying him along would be additional weight. In order to attempt to get more power from the motor (the landing field that we were using was the parade grounds surrounded by trees on three sides) we use the full length of the area to take off over the stone wall and my first trial flight (taking Geiger as a passenger) the motor did not seem to be turning up and after the plane took off I realized we would hit the ground unless we could hurdle it. If I simply took off and started up it would not clear. Therefore, I lifted it about 3 feet from the ground and flew directly at the fence as if I were going to crash into it. By doing this,I gained more speed, more than normal speed, and by pulling up just in time to get over the fence we managed to clear it. A newspaper photographer (sitting on the fence) took a picture which, unfortunately, I have lost. It showed the wheels so close to the top of the fence that you could not distinquish the distance between them. The rest of the trip was a nightmare - raising a wing on one side to miss a tree and circling around until we safely returned.