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JN-4D Aircraft Fabric from Lt. Mather's Aircraft

Note: This item is currently in storage.

 

This item, which is 14-15/16 inches high by 10-3/8 inches wide, is a handwritten note to the Kalamazoo Gazette editor on piece of JN-4D aircraft fabric.

 

The text as written is: 

 

“Kalamazoo Gazette     Feb. 3, 1918

Kalamazoo Mich

 

Dear Editor:

 

Perhaps you heard of the

sad news in which the Lieutenant from

Paw Paw was killed. This is a piece from

one of the wings of that plane.

 

They started out to fly in formation of

three. As he started to close in and take the

lead, the front two planes ran into a

dense bank of fog from the Gulf. They

collided about five thousand feet in

the air. The third man heard the crash

and followed them to the ground. He

banked near the wreck and finding

the two men dead, got back into his

own plane and flew six miles back to

this field and reported the accident.

 

The engines were destroyed. They were

not able to use any of the parts over.

 

The weather here is fine. Warm most

of the time. We leave soon for an eastern

port but as I have a while to spend

yet, in the hospital ‘till my leg and

ribs get strong, I may not get to go with

them.

 

Corporal Scott A. Matthews" 

 

Donated by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Mather, Calif.

 

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