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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 1122.PDF
is THE DOG WHO FLEW. 4* ^Bll% a fat woman in several Generals. " There rillowed monocle By " D. D. D. D. LYIN'," said William Henry, " comes natural to some people, •just as warts or freckles comes •£^|L^^ natural to others." ,l,/*^m 1 readily agreed with William I > >v\ Henry—I always do. But perhaps il^$\t\ I ^ better explain. It is just ^H >£-£]) possible that you have never met William Henry—if so, the loss is entirely yours, for he has been a knock-out pugilist, a first-class cricketer, a star football player, a tennis champion, a channel swimmer, a show, and the intimate friend of He has been on trail, shot big game, seen the Aurora Borealis, and been complimented on his personal appearance (though this must have been very many years ago). He has been in several State institutions, has an intimate knowledge of wireless telegraphy, seismography, and the laws respecting the consumption of intoxicat ing liquor in this or any other country. He has knocked a man over, saved a child's life, and outwitted the brainiest detective in Scotland Yard. All this I have learnt from William Henry's own lips—not that he has spoken in a boastful sort of way, far from it! These little things have, as it were, escaped him in the course of general conversation. Whenever he struck the personal note, it has been merely to point the moral or adorn the tale. At present this great man is a cook for the officers' mess of a certain Flying Corps, so that his utterances on aviation have an ex cathedra flavour, a sort of semi-official char acter that gains for them a ready hearing in the parlour of the " Spotted Dog." is to in only one wear the this camp, and that's Pilling. x>*r I A Foreigner had He would give the pilot a fright. bull-pup once that was a born flier," continued William Henry, remi nisce n 11 y. " Sounds odd, doesn't it ? But that there dog had the soul of an eagle — never his pup, Not for happy unless he was going up in aero planes ; didn't much mind whether they was monoplanes or biplanes as long as they had good engines. By Gad ! sir, what a nose he had for engines ! I've seen him get into a B.E. 2-C machine, sniff around, and walk right out 'cause he knew as well as Joynson- Hicks that the engine was only 90 to 100 horse-power. And never will I forget the first time that bull-pup heard a Halberstadt over our lines. When he heard the 260 horse-power engines' hum- min'awayhe rolled his blood shot eyes up to heaven, and shivered with delight, like a girl in front of a hat shop. " When we were camped near London, that there bull-pup spent all his spare time runnin' up to Hendon, and doing' the stow away act in the smartest machine he could spot. And he was cute—never came out of his hidin* place till the machine was about 3,000 feet high, when he gave the pilot the fright of his life. " His maiden name was Spot—'cause he had a spot over one eye, but the fellows up at Hendon called him Pemberton Billing, and then Pilling for short. Wouldn't answer to the name of Spot after he got his wings, so to speak. " That dog gave up a lot to take to flyin'. He got a kink in his neck through everlast ingly lookin' up for aircraft, and as a matter of fact Pilling lost first prize at the Dog Show simply and solely because he held head more like a cock-pheasant than a bull- The judges remarked on it. that Pilling cared—he lived flyin'. To see him sniff the weather when he come out of his kennel in the mornin' was a treat. Anyairmanwho was doubtful whether to go up or not used ^X^JJ to go and have a look at Pilling, just as ordinary people have a look at the baro meter before going on *r -^fctf1*- a picnic. His tail, "Consulting the barometer. ~T ^ ^5^
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