Month: February 1943

Darlings,

I flew 2 hours and 30 minutes last night. Boy! This ship is much easier to handle at night than that old B.T.

I shot landings until I could land that baby in my sleep. The landing lights are much brighter on this A.T.6 also.

Our instructor is really a peach. He told us a bit about his family. His Dad came over from England about 40 years ago. It seems that he always did have some money. Anyway he was a famous horse breeder. So over here in Arizona he really went to town. He owns three ranches that cover 75,000 acres. Boy! That’s really something isn’t it. Our instructor said it is very hard for him to stay in a big city for any length of time. He can’t get used to the buildings blocking his view. He says he always feels like he’s hemmed in. He just can’t stretch in the city. Anyway he certainly is a grand fellow.

We had another lecture from a RAF pilot. This fellow was a bomber pilot. He has made 67 trips over Germany. Boy! I wish I could say that. Give me time though-I may make a name for myself yet-we will see. I wish you would rid Jocie of those darn tonsils. They seem to cause her a great deal of trouble. Must report for the flightline in a few minutes.

Your loving son,

Jim

Darlings,

Your lovely letters arrived. I’m so happy to hear business is picking up for the Jeanine Hat Co. Also the Northern States Power dividends have gone up.

Say, Mom, if I ever get a furlough I will have Thelma, mother, dad, and Jocie under my arms wherever I go. We will have a grand time-that is, if I ever get a furlough.

You asked me if we can fly above the storm. Well, it isn’t the wisest thing to do but, necessary at times. Meteorology is a very interesting subject. We must know a little about it for our flying-what to fly into and what to stay away from.

Poor old Eric certainly is a peach isn’t he. I do hope he isn’t too far behind now. Sometimes when a person doesn’t fly for a while he gets very rusty. I think he will make out OK though.

Some new underclassmen came in yesterday. You should hear the questions they pop at us. Is it a good ship? Is the cockpit procedure hard? Will it ground loop easily? Are the instructors tough? How about the ground school? Etc. Etc.

It does make a person feel good when he knows he has conquered something-such as this flying. I never thought I could absorb as much as I have. The poor Osterberg boy had basic to look forward to. I personally think basic is the toughest part of the course. Because there is such a jump in airplanes-instrument flying-etc.

Well, I must quit now.

Love, Jim

Darlings,

We were scheduled to start our night flying tonight but, I guess I fly tomorrow instead. I’m sitting by my bed with my little radio. I am listening to some hymns I can remember so well. “Stand up! Stand up! For Jesus” and “onward Christian soldiers” – gosh! Darlings, I can remember not so many years ago when I sang those sweet hymns. I can still see Dad standing beside me in church. I was always so proud of him because he had such a nice voice. Then we would file out after the sermon-Mr. Hoefner there at the door waiting to shake our hands. Gosh! The old neighborhood will look good when I come back.

Seriously, darlings, I wish you would look for a new home after Jocie finishes school. The good old friends we knew seem to be leaving. I’ll bet that neighborhood will look like “Sam Scratch” in a few years. I’m contradicting myself  today.

Well, darlings, I’m so glad you’re feeling up to par now. It must’ve been a rugged winter. I have ordered my blouse, two wool green shirts-one pair of pink pants-one pair of green pants-and a garrison hat. I will wait until I get into town for the fancy stuff. I bought this much at our Post Exchange. I looked some private stores uniforms over but, thought the P.X. had them beat. And cheaper too.

Love, Jim

They can’t get the material Uncle Sam can.

I am not going to order a ring-I didn’t care for them at all. My St. Thomas ring is much better.

Darlings,

I’m afraid the schedule will kill me before long. Today is Saturday-but, no day off. Gosh! I wish they would give us at least one day off so we could sleep and write letters. We signed our reserve commission papers last night. We are the last class to receive reserve commissions in the Air Forces. The classes coming up take the upper 15% and give them commissions in the United States Army. As soon as the war ends their commission ends. If we are lucky and pull through this thing we will have our reserve commissions-of course we will report for a period of active-duty each year but, that will be fun.

I am so glad I joined when I did-remember when I planned to wait? Boy! Am I glad I didn’t now.

Darlings I witnessed the best airplane acrobatics yesterday. Wing Commander Donaldson (A.A.F. pilot with 20 victories) put on a show for us in his P40 the American government gave him. He was flying so close to the buildings we all ducked when he came overhead. Gosh! He is a wonderful flyer. I hope to fly like that someday. He made a hit with the boys from the start. At the start of his talk he said, “I hope you can understand me, I speak a foreign language you know-‘English’!” Everybody laughed-all that boy had to do was fly that P40-everybody stood around open mouthed. He actually started a loop just 10 feet above the ground and completed it. Before we try a loop we must have 10,000 feet of altitude.

Well, darlings, I must go to the flightline again.

Jim

Darlings,

Well, I had parts of my uniform fitted today. I had a look at some of the uniforms the private owners had but, they don’t seem to have the material our post exchange has. I guess Uncle Sam has taken the best for himself. Well, anyhow, the blouse is really nice. I also bought two green shirts-a pink shirt, a pair of pink pants and a pair of green pants to match the blouse. The green shirts cost $12 apiece and are form fit. Boy! It will really look sharp with those wings. I haven’t started to buy my complete uniform yet but, I think I will wait until I get into a large town so I can see what they have to offer. I will give you an idea of the prices.

One blouse-$40

One green pants-$16

One pink pants-$15

Two green shirts-$24

One pink shirt-$12

I still have many things to buy but, it is a good start anyway. Our tailor has worked for 30 years as a uniform tailor. I hope he does a good job on mine. Our post commander said our uniforms must fit perfectly because we must set examples to our men under us. Gosh! I’m really going to try to look good.

We haven’t been doing much lately. We fly formation every day, also instrument rides. We will be starting our night flying in a few days. I wonder what these A. T.s will land like at night. Well, I’ll soon find out, I guess. They are rushing us through with our time because the lower-class is due in pretty soon.

I’m sorry I haven’t written as much as usual but, we have so much to do here.

Your loving son,

Jim

Darlings,

The start of a new month-a little closer to those wings. Say, darlings, you don’t have to send me any presents. Gosh! We all need our money nowadays. I’m glad to hear the oil company allows you a little more fuel. What did you do on those very cold days?

What do you think happened yesterday-I sat in a real P40 fighter. You know the plane with the sharks teeth painted on it. Boy! That certainly is a ship. It has six 50 caliber machine guns mounted on it. The gunsight is the same as the one we have in our A.T.6. I wonder if I will ever fly one of those babies. It is very well protected. It has very thick armor behind the pilot’s seat and bulletproof glass 2 1/2 inches thick for the windshield. Uncle Sam protects his pilots but the Japs sacrifice armor so their planes will go faster. We have faster planes though, even with the armor.

I certainly will love to send an announcement to T.C.Grogan. That’s a good idea Mom.

We had our cross country today. The storm came up just before we reached home so we had a tough time landing. Boy! That wind blew the sand so fast we couldn’t even see the field. The man in the radio tower told us when to make our turns. I don’t want to live like that again.

Say, darlings, there’s a good article in the readers digest about our training-some points are a little off but, it gives you a good idea of our schedule. I am listening to Dr. I.Z. now. Remember when we listened to that program together? Boy! Those were the days-oh well, thanks for your letters.

Your loving son,

Jim