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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