E.W.Springs

Elliot White Springs. Is there a Biography on what seems to have been an interesting and adventurous life?

[leo]

After the war he was in the textile business. He ran a company called Springmade. There was an advertising campaign connected with which showed an obviously worn indian brave and a amiling indian maiden. The caption was a buck well spent on a Springmade sheet.

leo

Burke Davis has authored "War Bird". It's a bio of EWS. I was interested to note what a hard time Grider's sisters gave him. They unfairly thought "Diary.." was solely their brother's work and that Spring's was an arrant plagarist and profiteer. Other "War Birds" works are Skelton on Callahan: "The Last Warbird" and "The Camel Drivers", re the 17th Squadron, U.S.A.S. by Reed and Roland and "Henry R. Clay- Camel Ace" by Skelton and Williams. The English-trained contingent never recieved much publicity as contrasted to the French contingent of the U.S.A.S. but mixed it up with the Boche with a skill and determination certainly matching their French trained contemporaries. I note it in an earlier thread this week: how odd to read that Clay in June of '18 thought it untrue that there were any American Squadrons operating on the French front. Apparently there was a most restricted flow of information around and between the different sectors/command areas. VBR...Lee

Thank you for the information.I would like to acquire the biography of E.W.S.
Do you know when it was published? i.e. the year
The name of the publishers?
Does it cover all his life or only W.W.1
Sorry for all the questions.

VBR
Peter S.

Springs hated the title "War Birds." That was the publisher's choice for the book Springs called "Diary of an Unknown Aviator."
It is a little known fact that Springs sent special copies of the book to all surviving members and families of the original group and that he turned his income from all book sales over to Grider's family, who had fallen on hard times. Grider did not actually write the diary; it was a novel, as Springs hinted in the text while warning historians not to take the dates therein as fact. Hardly what an author would do if he were copying from a diary.
There is an EWS Memorial Hospital in S.C. and Springs is depicted in the entrance lobby in WW-I flying attire.
The 1951 series of ads on the back page of Life Magazine has in one, the complete text of the poem about the Roman Senator, part of which is included in the text of War Birds. Springs had begun the poem while at Princeton, but it was not completed (or suitably revised) in 1926 when he penned "War Birds."
All of the above is from conversations that I had with a friend who was a charter member of Cross and Cockade (U.S.)

Peter: If you'll go to the site <bn.com> and enter their "Out of Print" offerings you will be able to enter this title/author and find some 15 used copies are available. This bio covers his entire life. I see in looking over the issue of authorship Springs wrote of Grider's sisters: "But why spoil one of the outstanding books of the war simply because two fool women want to bask in the glory?...If they insist on going to court that is another matter..".
Springs soon conferred with the sisters legal representative and "paid $12,00 for the rights to Mac's diary, and the Grider family agreed to drop its challenges to 'War Birds'."
One of Griders sons was the famed sub skipper in WWII. Best wishes...Lee

[Ira_Silverman]

Hi Peter:

Lee is correct about Burke Davis' bio of Springs, but if you'd like further details, here they are:

Davis, Burke. WAR BIRD - THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ELLIOT WHITE SPRINGS. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1987. 268 pp., illus.

It's an excellent read and well worth looking for.

VBR,

Ira

LEE & IRA
THANKS FOR THE HELP. ONLY SUBSEQUENTLY DID IT OCCUR TO ME THAT BOOKS CAN BE OBTAINED VIA THIS SITE. I LOOKED UP EWS POTTED BIO AND THE BOOK IS QUOTED AND THERE IS A LINK WITH AMAZON.
DOES $30 SEEM REASONABLE?
IT'S MY AGE, IT'S SUFFERING FROM THE RAVAGES OF TIME.
VBR
PETER S
PS. IRA, DO YOU HAVE ANY INFO ON MY QUERY RE VIGILANT (CLAUDE SYKES?

[Ira_Silverman]

Hi Peter:

It's good to hear from you again.

Davis' book sold new for $20.00 when published, so all considered $30 is a fair price for a copy in good condition with dust jacket.

I should be able to pull up some info on Claude Sykes, but it may take a few weeks. We're doing some refinishing on the house and about 80% of my books are in storage. I'll be looking, though.

VBR,

Ira