“All licensed aviators, as turned out, are sent to the reserve station for aviators near Paris. In our case, after spending a week or two there, we were found fit for more active service, and we were suddenly sent to the front in the north of France, arriving there in time for the May attacks near Arras and Artois. Our perilous experiences in aerial warfare were soon to begin. After one reconnoitering tour we were sent out to bombard munition dépôts, railway centers, and aviation fields in the rear of the enemy’s lines, from ten to forty kilometres distant from our base. I have a vivid remembrance of my first bombarding expedition. The action took place at a point not far within the enemy’s lines. I was sent with two or three members of my squadron to bombard a station where ammunition was being unloaded. It takes about forty minutes for a machine heavily loaded with bombs to get to a sufficient height to cross the lines. The minimum height at which we crossed was about seven thousand feet. I saw my comrades cross ahead of me and noted they were being heavily shelled by the enemy. Accordingly, I decided to go a little higher before crossing. When I found I had only sufficient gasoline left to make my bombardment and return to my base, I started over. I was soon to experience what I may call my baptism of fire. The impression made upon me by the terrible racket and the spectacle of shells aimed at me and exploding near by made me shiver for a moment. Though I was confident and unafraid, my limbs began to tremble. Still I kept straight on my course. I would not have changed it for the world. My legs were so wobbly from nervous excitement that I tried to hide them from my observer, who was an old hand at the game. I confess to a feeling of relief when I reached the point where our bombs were to be thrown over. Having discharged this duty I was glad to return to my starting-point with the motor running at slow speed, and knowing that I was soon to be out of range of the enemy’s deadly fire. “In this bombardment my machine was made almost entirely of steel tubing with a 140-horse-power engine, capable of carrying a load of bombs weighing from four to seven hundred pounds. As an arm of defense it carried a machine gun. This is the type of machine that has made most of the long raids on the enemy. I soon became accustomed to the duty I had to perform and to flying with the spectacle of shells bursting all around me, at the same time keeping on the lookout for the ’planes of the enemy. We made seventeen bombardments during the ensuing month of June and we got to be old hands at this kind of warfare. It is never quite agreeable to be shelled up in the air or elsewhere, and those who make the boast of liking it do not tell the exact truth.