Delivered to Newport Dec 21
No 3 Wing (France)
Admiralty
Whitehall
London

Dear Sister

Yours of the 14 Nov just to hand tonight, Dec. 2nd. I left my address with Metcalf so it was forwarded in good time. The American flyers left this station just a few days before I came so missed seeing them but from all reports, they were some bunch, attached to the French as we are. The French Com. Officer or C.O. as he is called sent over word that they were to go and patrol the lines one day & they sent back word to know if it was an order or just a suggestion. If it was an order to tell him to "go to hell". They had no fear of anything & had a good record for bringing down huns.

I don't know how much I can tell you Ann about our work but it is the real stuff now. In our "Red Flight" named from the coloring of the formation marks in the planes, are four Toronto fellows, two of them were at Newport News with me. [?] to have almost brothers flying each side of you, [?] Chisholm, [?] a son of Bill Bright's Partner at the [?], & two other Canadians from the West so we are quite a foreign legion as much so as the Americans. We started them at Hockey, in the ground, as the weather here is just like October at home - playing it in the old Canadaian way, which is hardly the way the dear old thing Englishmen play it.

I was up for five hours today and am quite tired out. You have to pile in the clothes & furs too. You are so hot when you start it is uncomfortable, but when you get up to 14 to 20 thous you almost freeze & the cold just stabs you. Mind you, all that is exposed is your nose & it does ketch the devil.

We are just like one big family here such a fine bunch of fellows but we don't fly as much as you would think. You see the engines are only good for a short time & so they are kept for raids or fights only & you watch you machines like a Kat does a mouse. There are five machines we have the finest? in the land, 1 1/2 strutter sopwith with 130 hr engines.

I had a letter from Eloise tonight. Avro is fine. I will be home in the spring if I get through this winter O.K. Best regards to you & Skip. Tell Skip to send me some "Dukes Mixture".

Lots of love, Pete.