Defense lines are forming in Alaska. Throughout our far north possession a ring of giant air bases is being built. It is to the headquarters of the Alaskan Air command that Warsaw Roger Sanders will report for active duty with the air corps.

Captain Sanders was an instructor during the war. He reported for duty February 10, 1941, taught pursuit-ship gunnery until February, 1946. Since that time he has been with the Equitable Life Insurance company in Warsaw. He volunteered for the gratis job of director of the county Red Cross, continued to serve his country in peace as well as war.

Roger requested active duty again, was selected in a highly competitive examination for the regular air force appointment. He will go in as a captain.

Mrs. Sanders, the former Sarah Jane VanDyke, and the two tiny Sanders, Sandra, 5 and Roger (Scooter) II, aged three, will remain at their Eagle street home in Warsaw for the time being.

Captain Sanders reports to Great Falls, Montana, (a jumping-off place for Alaska by air) on January 20th. He is to be stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska, wherever that is.

Fog
Fog, the real enemy of the airman, has been a persistent troublemaker the past several days. Pilots caught out late Saturday were grounded all over the middle west, wherever they happened to be. Sunday the stuff lifted through the middle of the day and the airports were very active, with smooth air, no wind, but very low visibility. Discretion is the better part of valor when dealing with fog. When the stuff gets down on the ground and you can't see very far ahead, land! Anywhere. Just land!

High Speed Stalls
Chick Herendeen stood still in his braces the other day long enough to tell me about his crash last summer. I'm going to pass it on to you because he and Bud Summers lived through a deal that kills better than 90 percent of the airmen involved in that type of crash.

The two men were "feeling" the aerobatic Stearman out at 3,000 feet. They were wearing parachutes and were stunting. Although they had a stunting ship, the motor died at 3,000 feet and they headed for Chick's airport with a "dead" stick.

Now, normally, that is no occasion for alarm and the boys were not worried. Herendeen says he was flying, gliding the Stearman at a steep angle with plenty of speed. (He says it glides like a streamlined brick, with no motor). In making the last turn into the field, they started to drift in the wind past the runway, and Chick pulled the ship around sharply to line it up. This resulted in a high-speed stall and she went right on it, nose down, with Chick still pulling back on the stick.

He shook his head as he told the story. Said: "I should have known better than to keep on hauling back on it, but I did it just like that. The Stearman is a good airplane, and it was all my own fault." I admire his frankness and his faith in flying. Chick loved flying before the accident and has been back in the air three times since the crash. Of course he is still trussed up in a fancy neck brace and has his arm in a sling.

He will continue to fly.

Warsaw Daily Times Mon. Dec. 22, 1947