“An awful lot of rot is talked about speed, as you boys must know.  We captured a very decent German flier once, who got lost in a fog and ran out of petrol.  When he had to come down he found he was right near our airdrome, so he volplaned right down on our field.  We were surprised to see him.  He was in an Albatros of a late type, too.  As you can imagine, we gave him a very hearty greeting.  He took it pretty well, considering everything.  I had him into my shack for lunch, and we got quite friendly before they took him back to the base.  I remember at that time that the usual talk about Boche flying machines on this front would lead you to believe that they were much faster than we were.  At home you could hear almost any speed attributed to the German aeroplanes.  I think some Americans thought they could do about two miles to the English or French planes’ one.

“I was particularly interested in the Fokkers, Walverts and L.V.G. machines, which were the ones we had to fight most.  Now, according to that candid young German, who seemed ready enough to talk frankly about things, anyone of those three planes that did one hundred miles an hour at an elevation of ten thousand feet was considered a mighty good plane.  If it did one hundred and twenty miles at that elevation it was thought to be a hummer.  They were fast climbers for their speed, and usually did most of their fighting, if they had a choice, at thirteen to fourteen thousand feet up.  Only the Albatros could be depended upon to beat one hundred and twenty miles an hour regularly.  He said he would rather not tell me the speed of the Albatros, I did not press him.  The point of all this is that those very machines he was discussing were credited with speeds of anything up to one hundred and thirty-five or one hundred and fifty miles per hour by lots of people who thought they knew all about it.  There will never come a day, in our generation, when one hundred and fifty miles an hour at ten thousand feet up will not be mighty good flying.”

“You have been at this game some time now, Will,” said Joe Little.  “Can you think of anything we ought to specially learn that we won’t get hold of in plain flying?  A tip is often worth a lot, you know.”

“From what I hear from you boys, I guess what Joe means by plain flying means pretty well every sort of stunt.  I don’t think one fellow can tell another much about that sort of thing.  Some of it comes natural and some of it has to be learned by experience.  I think fliers are born, not made, anyway.  There is one thing you might get some tips upon.  That relates to cloud formations.  You can’t know too much about that.  I am expecting a book from home on that subject shortly, and when I wade through it I will let you boys have it.”

“The state of the atmosphere plays a bigger part in aerial battles than one might think.  Calm days, without the least wind, when the sky is covered by large gray clouds, are, as you all probably know, very favorable for surprise attacks.  The clouds act as a screen and allow the aviator to hide himself until the very moment he thinks he can drop on his enemy and take him by surprise.