Hall was born near Higginsville, Missouri, the son of George Hall.\n', '

Bert Hall learned to fly in 1910 at Buc, France, using a "Maurice Farman Biplane Pusher, with a fog-cutter out in front and an air-cooled Renault motor behind." He subsequently acquired a "new 1913 Bleriot, equipped with a 60 H.P. Gnome motor", and on February 16, 1913, he along with his French mechanic André Pierce became soldiers of fortune flying for the Sultan of Turkey, Akbdul Hamid, for $100 American dollars a day, against the Bulgarians. The first day he was paid in Turkish currency and refused to fly, but received "in gold money" from then on. After two months the Turkish Army payments became inconsistent "fifty dollars one day and sixty the next and forty-five the next", so Bert and André "packed up and flew into Roumania (sic), stopping at Bucharest ... receiving the equivalent of one hundred dollars gold per day in advance.". After 30 days the Bulgars welshed, but before Bert and his mechanic could depart with their gold, Bert was arrested, leaving André to bribe the jailers for Bert\'s release.\n', '

After a brief barn storming tour through Ukraine, his Bleriot motor quit over the Pyrenees Mountains outside of Tarbes and crashed. He salvaged the motor for 2,500 francs.\n', 'In early August 1914, Bert met renowned big game hunter René Philezot and both enlisted as infantry in the French Foreign Legion Deuxiéme (Second) Regiment, which had been redeployed from Morocco to France for trench warfare. In early October, 1914, Bill Thaw, Jimmy Bach, and Bert applied for aviation, and on December 14, 1914, the three entered "into the French Flying Corps."\n', '

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