Lucky Among Moors

Into the Washington embassy of the Spanish Leftists stepped onetime U. S. Army Pilot Harold Dahl. A secretary offered him a contract at $1,500 per week to act as an instructor of Leftist fliers in Spain. The contract provided that Pilot Dahl's wages be paid outside of Spain directly to his bride, Mrs. Edith Rogers Dahl, who used to appear with Crooner Rudy Vallee's band. After signing, Pilot Dahl was sent to Mexico, provided there with a passport showing him to be a Spaniard by the name of Hernandez Diaz. Bridegroom Dahl sailed for Spain and Bride Dahl settled down in a French hotel at Cannes where she registered as Senora Edithe Diaz.

Last week Rightist air fighters shot down the Leftist plane of Pilot Dahl who descended by parachute unhurt, was conducted to Rightist headquarters at Salamanca and readily told the above story. Its main lines were soon confirmed to Cannes reporters by Mrs. Dahl who begged U. S. Ambassador to France William Christian Bullitt to intercede for her husband's release.

"I was flying alone in a biplane of Russian make similar to the Curtiss Hawk Pursuit," explained Prisoner Dahl. "My parachute landed me in the midst of a company of Moors we had been bombing the daylights out of for two or three days. I'm lucky to be alive, all right, because you can imagine how those Moors felt about enemy airmen.

"I got a clubbing right away from the first who reached me, and I could not very well blame them. We had all been told the best thing to do would be to shoot ourselves if we ever came down behind the enemy's lines, because they said we surely would be tortured before we were killed.

"As a matter of fact four or five Moors cocked leveled rifles at me, when three Spanish officers came up running and knocked the guns from their hands."

Queried by correspondents for details of how Spain's Leftists conduct aerial war, Pilot Dahl reminisced:

"When I first arrived in Spain I was supposed to be under 'Comrade' Cisneros, the Spanish aviation chief, but I soon found I was taking orders from a Russian, 'General Douglas.'

" 'General Douglas' passed out of the picture some time ago and was replaced by another Russian, whose name I never learned.

"The Russians are plenty good as airmen, but they don't speak any language, apparently, except their own and never mix with pilots of other nationalities. They are grim and secretive rather than congenial.

"When I flew with them, which was most of the time, I never knew where I was going or what might happen. I was merely told on short notice when to take off and then took my place in formation until we landed.

"Until recently the Spaniards flying for Valencia were not numerous and not very good. Several weeks ago, however, about

100 young Spanish Communists returned from Russian flying schools and about 60 others returned from French aviation schools. These began flying with the opening of the Government's offensive on the Madrid front, for which hundreds of new planes have been received lately from Russia.

"I am not a Communist and never was, but I had no job and I heard I could get plenty of money for flying in Spain."

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