“Were you working in the cockpit of Airplane Number 1 this evening?”
“Yes, I was,” replied Dixon. “Come to think of it, I did have a piece of board with me, but I don’t know if that’s the one, for I left it in the cockpit.”
“Why did you leave it there?” asked Smith.
“Barney told me to clean out the cockpit and I couldn’t find a dustpan,” said Dixon. “I took a piece of board with me to gather up the dirt. I had just started to look for the dirt when Sergeant Barney called me. I left the board there so that it would be handy when I returned. I didn’t know that anyone wanted the board or I would have put it back where I found it. It looked like a piece that someone had thrown away.”
“Now listen to what I say,” said Smith. “Hereafter, don’t you ever leave anything in any airplane which doesn’t belong there. This little piece of board came near wrecking an airplane tonight. It might have caused the pilot and a mechanic to lose their lives had it not been for good headwork on the part of the pilot. Just remember that. That’s all.”
Dixon was obviously too astounded to speak. He was a recruit and knew nothing about airplanes or their workings. To him a piece of board was just a piece of wood, and there was no more harm in leaving it in the plane than there was in leaving it in the old farm wagon back home. He saluted and withdrew.
“Well, there’s the whole story,” said Smith. “There’s nothing more to be done about it as far as I can see. It is unfortunate that there are such things as recruits, but we can’t have old soldiers without their first being recruits.”
“I hope that the next recruit practices on someone else’s plane,” said Bill.
As Bill left the office he stopped to read the notices on the bulletin board. Aerial gunnery the next day, all pilots to be on the field at eight o’clock. Bill liked aerial gunnery and looked forward with pleasure to the next day’s missions.
Seven-thirty the next morning found all the pilots at their planes. Each was testing out his engine or standing by while the mechanics checked up on the synchronizing gear and guns. The targets which were to be used were pieces of floating wood in Drakes Bay. Other pilots were designated to do shadow shooting—that is, shoot at the shadow of their own or another plane on the water.