On October 16 he wrote: We were issued helmets, fur coats and goggles. Went out to look at the hangars which are all new, as well as the machines. They are French Farmans, biplanes with pusher propellers and open fuselages. The planes were Maurice Farman M.F.11 Shorthorns. The preceding Farman design had been equipped with long forward outriggers supporting an elevator ahead of the wings, thus the nickname Longhorn. By contrast, the Shorthorn model had no forward elevator. For the rest, the M.F.11 was an ungainly 53-foot-wingspan biplane with a bathtublike fuselage and pusher engine nacelle suspended between the wings. The pilot and student were seated in tandem, exposed from the waist up to the slipstream, as there were no windscreens. Two framework tail booms supported the horizontal stabilizer and twin rudders. The complex landing gear had two pairs of wheels, each pair equipped with a jutting skid. Powered by a Fiat A.10 engine, the multistrutted M.F.11 could muster a maximum speed of 66 mph.

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Lewis' first flight came on October 17. He recalled: When my turn came, I mounted the forward cockpit. Instructor Cibolini motioned not to touch the controls….Throttle open, we rushed along till I felt a lifting sensation. Up and up. Made about 50 mi. an hour and arose to about 500 meters [1,640 feet]. Circled the field, out over the farms and back. Made a landing….My first flight was over and I had credit for 8 minutes in the air.

In succeeding days flight training — though increasingly hampered by the onset of late fall winds — continued, with 10-minute flights. In between flights, the trainees had a lot of slack time. In my room, Lewis wrote Bert on October 21, there are eight men, representing Columbia, Oklahoma, Yale, Chicago, Princeton, Dartmouth, Georgia Tech and the University of Pennsylvania. Quite a combination. All were motivated young men eager to get into action, impatient with the frequent Troppo vento non si vola (too much wind, no flying) flight cancellations. The cadets explored Foggia and nearby towns and sought out local restaurants.

In that same October 21 letter Lewis told Bert, We have not heard a bit of war news for a week. He made no further mention of the war until November 1, when he recorded in his journal, The rumor is that the Austrians, strengthened by German regiments, are threatening Northern Italy. Apparently unshaken by that possibility, he added, Played football in afternoon.

Three days later, rumor turned out to be fact. Austrian and German troops had broken through the Italian line in the northeastern corner of Italy. The Italian Third Army was in orderly but full retreat, and would fall back 60 miles in the next three weeks.

Some 350 air miles south, training of the eager-to-fight American cadets dragged on. Thus far, although there had been several accidents in the slow-moving Shorthorns, none of the Americans' flying mishaps had proved very serious. The day after Lewis' maiden flight he recorded: My pilot sighted a plane in trouble so we circled and landed nearby. The fellow had a broken propeller blade and came down with no real damage. On October 28 he wrote, Saw a solo man break a landing gear turning against the wind. November 6, I helped bring in a machine with a broken landing gear. Two days later, A fellow pancaked in from about 20 feet trying to glide without flying speed.

LaGuardia had decided that the morale of Italian citizens would be strengthened by seeing Americans in uniform. Accordingly, Lewis and a group of his fellow cadets were given four-day passes on November 8. Financed with a 150-lira loan from a fellow cadet (and future Hollywood director), Walter Wanger, Lewis spent his four days in Rome.

The dual lessons droned on, now extended to about 15 minutes per flight, though the M.F.11 could stay aloft nearly four hours. Finally on December 9, more than seven weeks after his first flight, Lewis soloed. His journal entry after that milestone was simply: Solo. A 'Giro de Campo.' Made steep climb. 6 min.

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