Notes from an Idaho Boyhood

In 2013, when he was 91 years old, my father Harrison typed out a collection of remembrances on his desktop computer. He titled the collection Situations; they describe mostly events from his boyhood growing up on a farm outside of Idaho Falls, Idaho in the 1920s and 1930s. There are eighteen of these “situations”; they are in no particular order and take about 15 minutes to read. It is likely that readers who did not know Harrison may find little of interest in some of them. But there are many delightful passages. I especially like the one recounting a small boy’s wonder regarding his American Indian babysitters.

Harrison was born in 1921 in Idaho Falls, Idaho and grew up on his family’s farm with his parents, two sisters and a brother. Harrison’s great uncle had moved from West Virginia and started a homestead farm in this area and was later joined on that farm by Harrison’s father Charley.  Harrison’s mother, Ethyl, was a school teacher who had moved to Idaho Falls from Kansas. Like most small farmers in Idaho, Harrison’s family lost their farm in the Great Depression.  I do not know the details and I wish I had asked.  Harrisons’ artistic and design talents were recognized by a high school teacher and following high school he was awarded a scholarship for a drafting course at Woodbury College outside Los Angles.  As discussed in Situation 18, he served in the Army Air Corps during the World War II years. He received pilot training but did not meet the physical requirements to become a fully qualified military pilot.  Instead his design skills were put to use and he designed training simulators to be used by aircraft crews.

Following the war he attended the Art Center in Los Angeles and completed a course in industrial design. He worked initially in Detroit as an automotive designer for Ford Motor Company. He then moved to General Electric in Chicago and Louisville where he designed the exterior features of kitchen and laundry appliances. You have probably turned knobs and opened doors and read instruction panels designed in part by Harrison.  On his own he invented, manufactured  and marketed a number of easel and brush-care products for use by painters. The patents are long expired and the basic designs were soon pirated, but at least two of his creations are still in production. Harrison was awarded seven US patents.

I think my father’s career was challenging and rewarding, but I suspect he was always a little sad that he spent most of his life in big Eastern cities. I think he missed the farms and fields and fishing and mountains and forests of Idaho. Nearly every summer of my childhood we would head west on his two week vacation. When he retired he and my mother moved back to Idaho Falls and they enjoyed  six years of retirement there before grandchild responsibilities took them back to Louisville. He and my mother moved to Waynesville in 2007 to be close to us.  That was a blessing as with Harrison’s failing eyesight and my mother’s major stroke they could not have continued to manage in Louisville.  They both died in 2015, after 61 years of marriage.

I do not have any photos to share of Harrison’s earlier life, but there follow some from his later life.  The opening photo above is not of Harrison, but of me, Craig, on a horse, as Harrison as a boy would have been, with my Grandfather Charley, on a farm, in Idaho.

The text of Harrison’s Situations follows the photos. I hope you enjoy them.

SITUATIONS, by Harrison Linger

As I grew up on a farm I always considered it the best life a boy could ask for. We lived on a sixty acre farm six miles north of Idaho Falls, Idaho. On our farm we had the usual animals and their young. We had a barn and other out-buildings, hay and straw stacks, a willow patch that attracted a variety of birds, irrigation ditches and canals to swim in, fruit trees to climb in, and a large potato cellar, (big enough to drive a wagon in) that was cool during the summer months to play in. Having all these things gave me the opportunity to involve myself in many situations that I will describe as follows: 

 Situation One

 I do not recall any of this first story as I was about two and a half years old. I was told a few times in my growing up years that I  wandered from my secure place in the home and got lost somewhere. In my parents’ panic, I was told they with the aid of the neighbors frantically searched the farm, irrigating ditches, fields and barnyard. With all these places searched my Dad finally got on a horse and rode back and forth over the sixty acres. When he was riding up and back thru the potato field, the horse came to an abrupt stop and started to change its course.  This was when Dad spotted me lying sound asleep, clinging to my blanket. I didn’t realize it at the time but later I was always grateful that my dad was riding a smart horse. 

Situation Two

When I was about 4 years old I remember I was watching my Dad working on a scythe.  We were on the far side of the coal house. Dad was on the ground getting the scythe ready to use and I guess I was questioning everything he was doing when he stopped, turned around and informed me if I asked one more question he would take me to the house “Directly”.  Well I stood silent as long as I could bear it and then I spoke up and said, “Daddy, What does Directly mean”?  With this, I recall he stood up, took a hold of my overalls where the straps crossed at the back and trotted me to the house. When we reached the back door, he set me inside, turned me around, looked me in the eyes and said, “This is what Directly means”. It is not an often used word but when I hear it I recall how it was learned by me.

 Situation Three

Some farmers that raised fields of clover also set up a few bee hives to provide their needs of honey and for sale.  We had several double stacked  hives located along the road in front of our house. When I was about five years old I thought I would see what the bees would do if they were disturbed.  So I took my little ball bat toy and went down the row of  the hives and pounded each on its top cover. It just took seconds for me to find out that they didn’t care to be disturbed and they swarmed out after me. I ran screaming towards the house. Fortunately Mother heard me and came to my rescue. She threw her apron over my head and and hurried me into the house.  I had multiple stings. She removed the stingers and called Dad to the scene. They prepared a wash tub with a large quantity of water with bicarbonate of soda and had me soak in it for a long time. Since many of the stings were  on my face my eyes swelled shut to the point where I could hardly see.  They told me my face looked like a balloon. I began to look normal after a few days. After that experience whenever I got a bee sting my face would swell around my eyes.

 Situation Four

We lived in the town of Idaho Falls located on the banks of the Snake River.  My Aunt Ruth and Uncle John Lived in the town of Blackfoot, a small town adjacent to the Indian reservation. I spent my days with them while Mother was recovering from an operation.  My Aunt Ruth made arrangements for me to spend some time with her Indian friend that lived on the reservation. I was four or five at the time. The Indian woman and her husband picked me up from Aunt Ruth’s house early in the morning.  They traveled like most Indians at the time, in a buckboard wagon pulled by a team of horses. I do not remember many details of the visit except the breakfast, napping, and the way the Indian man lifted me playfully, as high as he could, when placing me in and out of the wagon.  She cooked me a “sunny side up egg” and I still picture the plate that was placed before me and the homemade bread. I can also picture the buckboard ride. The reason Aunt Ruth knew the Indian woman was because she was a teacher at the elementary school at Blackfoot.

Situation Five

Occasionally an Indian couple would travel in their wagon about 30 miles to the farm road we lived on to beg from each home along the road. The Squaw was the one who would come to the house. We children were always very frightened. Mother always gave them a chicken or a dollar and that seemed to be OK for the time. I was always impressed with the reddish robe and beaded moccasins that the Squaw wore. 

On Saturday at Blackfoot many Indians would come to the town. They would park their wagon along the railroad tracks. The Squaws would sit at the curbs with their feet in the streets. The Bucks (men) would stand around or stay with their wagons. Later in the day they would all get in their wagons and go back to the reservation. The Squaws always wore their colorful robes and beaded moccasins.  The Bucks usually dressed as the white men did.

Situation Six

One of the advantages of living on a farm is that you get to know and understand animals. We especially enjoyed baby calfs and ponies. At one time we were honored with a baby bull Holstein calf. He was a delightful addition to the herd and we petted and made over him a large amount of time. After he had been with his mother for a proper time Dad decided to ween him, and that was a job for me. I had to teach him to drink milk from a pail. Teaching a newborn calf to drink from a pail is not easy. Here is how I did it.  I started with a small amount of warmed milk in order to be prepared for the high possibility of lots of splashing. 

The less I started with the less that got wasted.  A calf has a tendency to butt the bucket. With my right arm over the calf’s neck I lifted the bucket up with my right hand. As I do this I put my left thumb down in the milk and put it into the calf’s mouth. When the calf starts to suck on the thumb you push it and get it just under the top of the milk. After some practice the calf will get trained enough. Then I would move his little nose down into the milk. A few times of that and he would give up the thumb. Eventually he learned the procedure and did well until he started to eat some grass and hay.  After I finished the training he would come up to me when I went where he was and I continued to enjoy him as he grew, but as he matured he became increasingly aggressive. The bull developed a complete change of  personality.  Here are three examples:

Situation Six A

One morning when I was riding a saddled horse across the pasture the bull came charging toward us from the far part of the pasture. Fortunately I raised my leg up just before the bull hit directly where the saddle stirrup hangs at the side of the horse where my leg hung. He struck a crushing blow just missing my leg. Fortunately also the horse stayed on its feet. We then ran to the gate. It was a medium size horse that I was riding and the bull  almost knocked it off its feet. I felt  certain that it was the saddle horn I clung to that kept me from falling to the ground.

Situation Six B                                  

We had a small building attached at the end side of the barn. We referred to this building as the granary where we stored wheat and other grains. The floor of the granary was elevated about 16 inches higher than the ground. It was accessible only by a door facing the corral. I was in the granary getting some wheat for the chickens when I heard a loud snort that told me the bull had come up to the door.  He blocked the doorway from horn tip to horn tip. I was trapped and I knew it was me he wanted to get. He definitely had me trapped inside. Hi muscular head and horns were almost as wide as the door opening. It was obvious that he didn’t plan to leave me any room to exit. There was a wide pitchfork in the granary but I didn’t know if I wanted to try using it. He did not show any plan to enter or leave either. Any movement was up to me.  There were some empty gunny sacks on the floor and it caused me to think how I could use them. I thought if I could distract him long enough to get out the door them I could quickly climb the pole fence attached to the side of the granary. What I did was to take the pitchfork and hold it, with tongs up, and then I placed the gunny sack over the bull’s horns and head. Fortunately the plan worked and the bull backed up to shake the sack free. As he did I made a quick exit out and over the pole fence. I didn’t take the time to close the granary door. After this episode Dad put the bull in a small isolated corral and put him in a log-enclosed pen.

Situation Six C 

My sister, Maxine, and I were seated in the corral in front of the pole gate where the bull was now kept. She liked to play with paper dolls. I don’t recall what I was doing for sure.Everything was peaceful  until the bull started snorting and scratching at the ground. I could not see what was disturbing him until I noticed that someone was driving some cattle along the road in front of our place. Before I could bat an eye the bull was charging toward the  pole gate and jumped into it it, knocking the top pole down on us.  We were frightened but not hurt. Then the bull ran to the outside fence at the road which was strong and topped with barbwire. My sister and I hurried to the exit gate so I didn’t see what the person herding his cattle did but it appeared he ran them on up the road.

After this third incident Dad decided that our bull was too dangerous to keep and sold him to a dairy farmer a couple of miles from our farm. We learned later that the bull killed two of his horses.  What I’ve often wondered  was how Dad managed to corral and move him around. Dad had a special bull whip that would snap like a firecracker. He may have given our bull a taste of that.

Situation Seven

When I was in third or fourth grade at our school, the teacher was introducing the class to poetry.  As part of the study, she requested that each of our class try to write a poem of their own. She told us that we could go outside to find a subject that interested us. I chose to do this, and I was attracted to some milkweed plants in the field next to the school grounds. The teacher told us we would vote on the best poem. As I recall, this was my entry:

The milkweed pod has lots of milk to feed the babies and the silk,

The pod breaks open, and the seed sail out, to seek the breeze and float about,

The south wind blows them far and near to drop them down to grow next year.

I won the contest, and I was very proud until I was told by the teacher that I should write a copy of my poem for each student in the class. It was here that being the smart one wasn’t so smart after all.

Situation Eight

After a couple of years, we moved to a second farm about 3/4 of a mile closer to town. This farm had a few better features.  For example, it had a long row of cottonwood trees on the left side of the property. The house was about 300 feet back from the road. A large irrigation canal ran diagonally across the farm. The barn had a hayloft and a large covered area where the animals could find shelter. Across the road was the city park. It had a stadium for the high school games and other civic activities. It also had a small man-made lake and some local wild animals.  The most popular animals were the bears and wolves. Deer, elk, antelope, and one buffalo were also interesting.

There was a structure that was made with high concrete walls at the back sides. The front was made from steel rods, placed side-by-side and extending up to about 9 feet. Each rod was bent horizontal at the top and extended inward about 2 feet. The bears looked to be quite secure until we got up one morning and saw them standing all the way up onto our front porch. A large brown bear, and a smaller, black bear, both looking hungry. Mother called the park manager, informing him of our guests. In the meantime, our female Pekingese-mixed dog and her littermate from the next door farm got together.  They displayed their combined bear handling skill. Ginger, our dog, would stand out of range and bark at one bear; then when the bear turned to face Ginger, Penny, the neighbor would run up behind the distracted bear and nip it heels. This caused the bear to turn around to face Penny.  She would scamp out of range, then Ginger would run up behind the bear and nip its heels. These little dogs kept this up until the bear was turning in circles. This procedure kept on until the park truck arrived. 

After the bears learned that they could get out of their pen, they continue to come to our place. They liked our cottonwood trees for climbing. This caused us some anxiety because we never knew if we had been invaded. It was very interesting to watch the people get the bears down from our trees. They would set a long ladder in their truck bed and use a rope with a loop and and pull it around the bear’s neck. From this point, they would pull the bear down. I thought they were too cruel at times. The park people finally kept the bears locked in their den until the security was improved.

Situation Eight B

When I was 12 years old, I joined the Boy Scouts. One of the activities that was most interesting was to go to scout camp. The year I joined our troop, we went to this camp south of and near to Yellowstone Park. I shared a tent with a friend and we set it up next to the supply tent. Some of us did some fishing the first day we arrived and put the catch in a container with water as needed. That night we had a uninvited visitor. A bear apparently came to our camp and helped himself to our fish and then raided the supply tent. Not a single scout member was awakened, especially the two boys in the supply tent. It was fortunate that no one woke up but we missed the expected fish for breakfast and some other items we expected to eat later.

Situation Eight C

This situation occurred several years later; since it is also about bears I will add it to the list now. Lucile and I lived in Louisville, Kentucky and often some years we would vacation at my parents’ home in Idaho and then take side trips to places of interest nearby. This particular year we borrowed Mother and Dad‘s Volkswagen camper and went to Brook Lake, which is just over the continental divide into Wyoming. It is beautiful high, forested country. The camper was equipped with a good bed and storage space. Mother and Dad had traveled in it earlier in the year to Alaska. Whenever I turned the heat on, we would get a sample of Canadian dust. When we first entered the campsite at Brooks Lake, I remember seeing a couple of bear. If I did, I didn’t think further. We enjoyed the lake and camp for most of the day that remained, then we assembled things to prepare for dinner. I don’t recall the menu except for the fresh cantaloupe. By the time we finished our meal it had become dark I recall, then I decided to take the leftovers to the trash including the cantaloupe. I knew there were some trash cans about 50 feet from our camper. Since it was so dark, I found it necessary to go carefully. When I got there, I noticed the cats were tipped to their sides. I stood the cans upright, put my trash in one and then started back to the camper. I hadn’t gone far when I heard the cans fall over again. So I guess we had some bear visitors that I had been toe-to-toe with out there in the dark. I didn’t stop to find out and we went to bed. I knew we were secure in our enclosed camper. Later in the night we were awakened by two very close rifle shots. Later  the next morning, we heard a couple of conversations about a couple of rough bears that had visited one of the campers’ tent during the night and he fired the shots to scare the visitors back into the woods.

Situation Nine

We visited my Aunt Ruth and Uncle John frequently. On one of our trips when I was about eight years old, me and my cousin Harold, about twelve years old, decided to go into their town, Blackfoot. Harold had a bicycle. For both of us to ride on it I had to sit sideways across the frame ahead of him as he peddled for us. The trip would be about 2 miles and it was about 1/4 of a mile to the highway to town. We were on the highway, moving right along when an automobile driven by a couple from behind ran into the rear of the bicycle. The impact sent me head first over onto the pavement. I was bloodied, but Harold wasn’t. The lady got out of the car and handled me a towel. They then took us and the damaged bike in the car and took us back to the house. They let us out without a word and went on their way. Aunt Ruth went to work cleaning my blood and then put me to bed for a couple of hours. I wasn’t hurt very much, but I ended up with two scars across my nose, and one scar on my forehead. These scars lasted for years, but they are difficult to see now. The lesson I learned was that a bicycle built for one should not be ridden by two.

Situation Ten

The situation tells of another lesson I learned when visiting my cousin Harold at Blackfoot. Harold, a friend of his, and I decided  to go out to the Blackfoot River preserve and hunt ducks. We drove as far on the road as we could, and then walked to an uninhabited area near the river. I think I had borrowed a double barrel shotgun from Harold. When some ducks flew over, we shot at them. Two ducks fell to the ground, but the one I had fell into the river. Harold said to forget that one, and he and his friend went on, leaving me to decide if I was going to abandon the first duck I ever shot. I studied the matter for a while and decided that I would find a suitable stick and go down the riverbank and reach out to get it. I found me a stick about 10 feet long. I laid my gun securely on top of the bank and then proceeded to go down for my trophy. This was a cold day in November and it did not occur to me that the ground on a rather steep bank would be icy and slick. What happened was I slipped completely down the bank and right on into the river. I was wearing open top rubber boots that quickly filled with the ice cold water. I concluded immediately that I was no longer trying to save my duck, and I was now trying to save myself. Fortunately, I was still holding the stick. As it was all I had, I stabbed the stick through the icy dirt and mud and then raised my knee enough to push upward. I kept doing this for several times while I suffered from the cold. When I was able to get up on a flat service I didn’t try to take the boots off. I just lay on my back and held my feet straight up and let the icy water run down and out. By the time I got back on my feet, Harold and friend were a good distance away, so I decided to catch up and inform them of my attempt to do what could have been a disaster. I squeezed the water out of my pants and socks the best I could. I was wearing thick, woolen pants and socks, which warmed enough to allow me to continue to hunt from there on.

Situation Eleven

The second farm we lived at had a canal that flowed diagonally across the top left corner where the barnyard fence began. The canal then flowed across the barnyard and all the way on across the fields. This created a parcel of land on the other side of the canal where the horses could graze on alfalfa scraps after the hay was gathered. We had two horses that Dad asked me to go and bring into the barnyard. I went to the side of the canal with some ropes and attached them to the horses’ halters and led them to the bank of the canal.  I mounted one horse that would neck rein and rode it across the canal while leading the other. When across I dismounted. The far side of the canal was on the same level with the field but the near side now was banked up a couple of feet higher relative to the field on its side. On this side was a deep ditch that ran parallel to the canal. It was dry so I figured that I would lead the horses down into the ditch then up and over. The plan worked just fine for the first horse. For the second horse, I lead it up to the far side of the ditch and I stood on the side across from the horse expecting it to follow the same; down, up and over. I was standing directly in front of the horse when it decided  to jump across. The way I was positioned it jumped straight toward me and knocked me back down to the field below.

 The horse landed directly over me.  Its front feet landed on each side of my head and its back feet landed on each side of my body. My Dad saw the horse jump and knock me down. He thought I might be hurt but he knew I was alive because I made so much noise. The wide span of its landing tracks, Dad said, obviously proved that the horse made an effort not to step on me.  In a normal jump he said the tracks would be closer together and the horse made an effort not to land on me.

 Situation Twelve

Our Dad was from the state of West Virginia and had not gone back since he came for many years. Mother moved to Idaho a couple of years later (from Kansas) but she hadn’t gone back there either. They decided if we had a good crop season that we would all take a trip and go see Dad’s parents and  relatives in both states. This was the Fall of 1934 and Dad bought a 1931 Buick sedan for the six of us to go in. We boarded our livestock with friends, packed up our needed things and started our trip. We went bumping along on highway 30 as far as it went for us then turned southeast to Hornor, West Virginia. Our grandparents still lived on the farm that Dad grew up on. I immediately loved the country with all it’s grapevines, creeks, and hills. We had hardly made our arrival until I started to explore the area. I went across the creek, road, and up the side of a hill to test the grape vines when I saw a small pretty pink snake. I picked the snake up with a stick and took ahold on the tip of its tail to the house to show Dad and see if he could tell me what he might know about it. I took it into the house and when he saw it he just about jumped to the ceiling. He told me it was a copperhead and it was very poisonous.  And he told me to carry it very carefully to the outside and dispatch it in some way. That was the way my grandparents first got to meet with me. We had  a memorable visit with all of our relatives. I brought back with me a land terrapin, a soft shelled turtle, and some seasoned hickory wood to make me an archery bow. ( no snakes)

Situation Thirteen

I was completing the fifth year of school when we moved from our farm to one that was within the city school district.  I was enrolled in the number two sixth grade class to start. Some of this class would be those considered the trouble makers. Since I was a new face I was in line to be tested. This was a period of time where boys wore pants that were fastened with snaps on a band that wrapped to the right side of one’s body instead of a belt.  These pants were subject to being grabbed open with a jerk by a Jerk and embarrassing the wearer. On one morning when the class was beginning to march down from the third floor a Jerk grabbed my pants, pulled them open, and then ran down the stairs ahead of me. I turned my back to the group of students and snapped my pants back into order then I proceeded on down. When I got there he was waiting for me with his hands held high intending to grasp me and put the wrist bending maneuver on me. I figured even though he was bigger than me that I would be stronger since I milked cows twice a day and did many farm-related chores. I let him bend my wrists back some to let him think he had me then I turned on my strength and put him to his knees. I kept the pressure on until he was begging me to stop. When I did he got up, turned around and walked away. From that time I never was bothered by him or any other one at the school.        

Situation Fourteen

During the sixth grade our teacher requested the boys make a bird house as a special project. We had the option to choose all the details we wanted to build our design. I always liked this and I often did well with them. When all the birdhouses were submitted the teacher asked the shop teacher to judge them. Surprisingly my bird house was  selected for first place. It had a perch and a peaked roof that partially came out over the perch. I heard the shop teacher say that was the part which caused him to choose my entry.  My prize was a bag of marbles. This was the same as for the second and third prizes. Mother showed my bird house to a church friend. She paid me a silver dollar. This was about eighty years ago and a silver dollar looked mighty big then.   

Situation Fifteen

 When I was 12 years old I joined our church Boy Scout troop and went with them to scout camp. This was the time I discussed earlier when the bear camped in our supply tent next to the tent I was sleeping in. This camp site was located a few miles south of Yellowstone Park in a as densely forested and remote area as I had ever been. We freshman scouts were hearing about the area being ideal for Snipe hunting and when it got good and dark was the best time to hunt. Questions were generally answered when we got out to a site. After our evening meal when it became dark the leaders said all the new boys interested could go with the them to hunt. So I showed great interest to join the group. When deep in the dark woods we were told the procedure as follows: First, Snipes are attracted by light so we would need flash lights. Second, you had to have some way to catch them. Then we were told you would put the flashlight down in the sack and hold it open. Then when the Snipe flies into the sack you got it.  As we were all standing around in the dark some of us started to get suspicious so we decided to go back with empty sacks and tell the promoters we caught some because we didn’t like the rat smell in the air.

Also at this camp the scout leader had a forest ranger talk to us about some frightening detail related to when it was dark in the forest as we were all gathered around a campfire, in a dense forest. His talk was all about grizzly bears. When we went back to camp I expected a grizzly bear to pounce out of the woods at anytime. There wasn’t a scout that walked more than two feet from the group.

Situation Sixteen

The second year I was in scouting we went to a camp located in Idaho near the border of Wyoming at the northern foot of the Teton Mountains. This year we joined the event with the troop of another church. One of the main activities was to take a one day eleven mile hike to Table Rock which is a popular spot part way up the Grand Teton peak. Each scout member packed a lunch and filled their canteen with water and we started our all-day scenic hike. It was uphill most of the way, steep at times. Especially when we crossed over into Wyoming. As we approached Table Rock three of us noted we could take a shortcut  instead of following the trail that hooked around to the side and back for a greater distance. The shortcut route we chose went straight but the way was down and across and up a steep climb. I don’t remember the names of the two scouts that were with me so I will call our selves 1, 2,(me) and 3. Scout 1, went up the steep slope OK; I followed and got up also but scout no. 3 reached a point where he got close to the top edge and couldn’t quite make it. He didn’t feel safe to go back down so he panicked for help. I put No. 1 and my belts into a loop so he could hang onto and try to to pull up but he couldn’t. I held on to the top part of the belt loop and jammed it down into the ground so it would not slip. Scout No. 1 put out an emergency call to the scouts coming up the trail. As I held on to the belt thoughts that  are  going on in my mind was like if we slide down more should I fall with him? Or should I let go of the belts if I had to? We both held on and the scouts coming up the trail found a small, dead tree trunk and brought it to the scene. They slid it down along side of me to a point where scout no. 3 could reach and get a grip where a broken branch was and pulled him up over the edge safely. Everyone was so  overjoyed getting him up that they forgot that I needed a little help also. With things now OK we all continued the short distance to the place called “Table Rock”. It is part way up the side of the Grand Teton peak. The view from there is spectacular to say the least. One can see the Twin Buttes in Idaho which were over 100 miles away. Another thing I learned on this hike is not to wear tennis shoes. Climbing 11 miles is OK but going down that distance is torture.

 Situation Seventeen

When we returned from our trip from West Virginia, I brought back a piece of hickory wood that I used to make my first archery bow that would shoot arrows. This was the beginning of a hobby that lasted for ten years and I became quite a good archer. My bragging point is that I could hit a rubber ball swinging like a pendulum from forty feet away. I took my third generation bow with me deer hunting. Dad rode a horse and had a 30 caliber rifle to hunt with and didn’t see a deer all day. I went on foot through the woods like an Indian and saw five deer. I made a shot at a large buck about 30 yards away that was standing looking at me. My arrow hit where he had been but he was gone into the woods. I measured the distance of his jump to be about ten feet. I thought deer ran but this one bounded like he had springs for legs and jumped like bouncing ball for a distance of about ten feet if it was an inch.

Situation Eighteen

In July of 1942 I enlisted in a flying program sponsored jointly by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) and the Army Air Corp. Its purpose was to train people for miscellaneous service that required less stringent physical scoring such as not having 20 20 correctible vision. The training locations were major flying services that were where universities were accessible for ground schooling. The training was set up in stages and I trained my first two stages in Pocatello, Idaho. Billings, Montana and Chanute, Kansas were where I took Cross Country and Instructor training. I will list only a few of the most memorable situations.

Situation Twenty A  

We always landed our planes into the wind and in Pocatello there was usually wind.  On this particular day I was taking a solo flight in a Waco biplane.  This plane had two wings, an upper and a lower. It also had two cockpits  During my flight period a violent wind storm developed and I knew I was expected to return to the airport.  The wind became so strong that flying into it it seemed I was progressing about 20 miles an hour as the ground speed. I planned the touchdown at the beginning of the runway and when there I held the stick forward. This kept the nose from lifting up. I also kept the brakes on so the plane would not move.  As I was making my descent on to the runway I noticed a pickup truck coming toward me. They were the mechanics from the hangers. When there they immediately put themselves, one at each end of the wings to hold them down and two at the tail surface to keep it up. I was told to keep the power on and try to make a diagonal, slightly cross wind. We made it to the hanger OK. Wind storms like the one I experienced are rare in Idaho but they are a landing hazard no matter where they occur.

 Situation Twenty B

My next flight stage occurred in Billings, Montana for training stages of Night, and Cross Country. I don’t recall the name of the type planes we flew, but they were enclosed side-by-side two passenger single wing planes. Each passenger had a full set of controls, one for the student and one for the instructor. I think that flying in total darkness was a shock to all the students. It was like sudden blindness. One had to replace seeing the horizon with looking at instruments in oder to understand what the plane was doing. The Ball & Bank instrument told you the alignment of the wings of the plane were level with the horizon. The Altimeter told you if the plane was flying level. The throttle was used to control a constant or hold the air speed. This trusting the instruments is not easy at first. On one of these sessions I accidentally pulled the gas shut off valve instead of pulling out the carburetor heat valve on. This caused the engine to stop and it then required a power-off landing. Fortunately I was flying in the traffic pattern and I was able shorten the landing enough so I could still hit the poorly lighted landing strip. Today a manufacturer would not be allowed to put these two valves controls next to each other.

Situation Twenty C

The airport in Billings was located on a mesa that goes for miles east and west behind and north of the city. There wasn’t a totally level foot to the length of any runway. This mesa was about 300 feet higher than the level of the city. Planes taking off south would become high in the air as soon as they were airborne. If you landed to the west you could just fly till touching the landing strip. To the east on a hot day the glide path would stretch out. One hot afternoon I was flying a practice lesson with my instructor and flew into a strong thermal current coming up from the mesa edge and the plane went into an abrupt climb. My instructor told me to put the plane in a spin maneuver with less lift on the wing surfaces. I did at least a two turn spin and was able to slip beyond the thermal up current. When we leveled off the instructor told me we gained altitude in the spin, believe it or not.