A New Hobey Baker ’14 Portrait?

I HAVE had on my desk your issue of the ALUMNI WEEKLY for January 18, 1957, ever since it came out. My reason for saving it was that I had been intending, when I could find time, to write to you with respect to an article in it by Breck Jones '44, entitled "Hobey Baker, Hero. " Baker was one of the closest friends that I have ever had, as we served together in the Air Force in World War I. I thought it would be well to correct some mistakes in the article, which I am sure that Hobey would have wished done.

The article starts off by saying that Hobey was a volunteer in the RAF and was credited with the destruction of seven planes before he transferred in April, 1918 to the 103rd Aero Squadron (formerly the Escadrille Lafayette) . The fact is that he never served with the Royal Air Force and when he came to the Front with the 103rd Squadron (then stationed near Chalon) he had not been credited with any planes at all for the simple reason that he had never before been on the Front and consequently had had no opportunity for combat. When he arrived I was a Flight Commander in the Squadron, the Squadron Commander being William T. Thaw. Hobey was put in my Flight. I took him out for his first flight over the lines a few days later on April 12, 1918 in the region of Fismes, to which the Squadron had moved a day or two before.

In May, 1918 we moved up to Belgium and Hobey and I roomed together. He and I were out (of course each in a separate machine) on May 15th in the region of Ypres, when I was shot down, which put me in the hospital for a month. When I got out of the hospital we were both transferred to the 13th Aero Squadron, a new American squadron just being organized. However, before that Squadron got into action, Hobey was transferred to the American aviation schools to organize another new American squadron, of which he was made Commanding Officer.

Image

Hobey Baker as hockey captain in his Princeton sweater, 1912-13 season.

He was at no time Commander of the 103rd Aero Squadron, as stated in the Jones article, and he was credited with the destruction of no planes at all until he was returned to the Front in October as Commanding Officer of an American Squadron, one of four Fighter Squadrons in the 4th Pursuit Group, in which Squadron I was also serving. While there he brought down three German machines, which was his total score. The fact that he did not get more was no fault of his but simply due to the fact that circumstances over which he had no control gave him a rather limited time on the Front. He never really had a chance to get going until he got back to the Front in October, 1918. He was then going strong but the war of course ended on November 11, 1918.

When Hobey was killed in December I had been ordered back to the United States and had just arrived home when the accident happened. The reason for the flight, as related to me by eye witnesses, was to try out a machine in the Squadron of which Hobey had been in command and which he was about to leave. The machine had been having some engine trouble.

So much for the record. What really prompts this letter is the suggestion that I would like to make that something be done about the portrait of Hobey that hangs at the entrance of the Dillon Gymnasium. It is really an awful picture both as a work of art and as a representation of Hobey to one who knew him intimately. Something should be done about it and not leave it to posterity as a representation of Princeton's most prominent athlete. The photograph accompanying the article in your issue is a good one. I have a couple of good ones and there are others. I feel sure that a firstclass artist could do something that would be a tremendous improvement. Take, for example, the portrait of Jim Forrestal in the 1915 Dormitory. I believe it was painted after his death and is certainly an excellent picture and an excellent representation of the man.

Of course a fund would have to be raised. I would be very glad to help with it and I would think that the place to start would be with the Class of 1914.

CHARLES J. BIDDLE '11, Andalusia, Pa.

One feature of the portrait not brought out in PAW's black-and-white reproduction is the color, which is a sort of tank- car blue. Mr. Biddle's address, for those wishing to contribute, is Drinker, Biddle & Reath, 1100 Philadelphia National Bank Building, Broad and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia 7. —ED.

This was originally published in the October 11, 1957 issue of PAW.