The Tring Parish Magazine for April 1918 published a letter from an officer in the Royal Flying Corps in Italy. The other day I was at --------- aerodrome, it began to snow, so I beetled back here as rapidly as might be. The snowstorm put up a pretty good fight but we beat it alright. But we had to go! Normally I fly at 50 -55 miles per hour, to ease the engine, but I saw now that I should get a move on. So I started at 70 mph, and for the first 10 miles kept level with the storm, which was about a mile away. I could see quite clearly up to the south but then it looked like a thick white mist. I said to myself “My child, carry on at 80 mph”. But even at this pace the snowstorm gained on us slightly. In the end we beat it by four fields. I have been caught too many times by rain and muck to take any chances by going slowly. These jiggers will do 105 mph near the ground and I was flying at only 800 feet. It was quite amusing and my engine was priceless.
I went up for a joy ride the other day to try the electric heating, which I think I told you about. There is a 250 volt dynamo on the machine driven by a small propeller 18" across, and a switch box containing about eight switches. Three of these are for body, hands and feet. For your body, you put on under your tunic, a wash-leather waistcoat, which has resistance wires all over it. For your hands you have thin cotton gloves, with wires down the back of each finger. For your feet you have socks - the sort you put in your boots when they are too big - these also have resistance wires in them.
The other switches are: (1) for heating the guns to keep them from freezing; (2) to power the klaxon horn used for contact while flying; (3) for navigation lights, which are on the wing tips and also behind the observer, and underneath the machine. (these are to show who and where you are in night flying), (and also to prevent being run into); (4) for charging accumulators for wireless; and (5) for Holt landing flares under each wing for night landing, and are fired by a hot wire.
When I got up I turned on the three body switches and everything worked gorgeously. In fact, I had to turn the hands switch off after a bit as they got too hot.
