Author: Margo Palmer

Eric didn’t want his mother to worry about him-that’s why I didn’t say anything.

Darlings,

Your letter was swell-I think it would be wonderful to call mom but, I can’t be sure when I can call. I will have to find out when we fly at night. If I call from here at 8 PM it will be 10 PM there. I will try my darndest, believe me.

We flew an across country today. Gosh! I was worried for a while. We make our own course you know. One time I couldn’t find any checkpoints-I thought I was lost for sure. This cross country isn’t a little hop-it lasted for 2 1/2 hours steady flying except for a landing at the Red Bluff bomber base. Gosh! When you are up there alone you have to get things right or else. The trip was a 300 mile trip. It doesn’t take very long to travel 300 miles-cruising at 160 mph.

Gosh! I can’t realize Christmas is so near. We had a beautiful sunny day today. A perfect day for cross country. California is pretty good state, all in all.

Dad, we have a total of 200 hours when we graduate. I have 110 hours now. (I am halfway anyway.) So Harrison doesn’t like the hazing-he’ll learn to like it. He probably won’t get a commission-we are the next to the last class to receive commissions. I hope someday I will wear those bars and wings-sigh!!

Plan on a call from your little son-

Jim

Pete and I went up together on an instrument buddy ride-gosh! It’s fun.

Darlings-

Had a pretty good day today. We flew in the morning and night both. We flew our cross country this morning. It was really fun-we plotted our own courses and flew the whole thing on maps-then hopped in our planes and tried to stay on the right course. The course was about 200 miles in length, I guess.

At our halfway point we landed at a big bomber base at Redding California. Was it ever fun to land our plane on that 2 mile runway. We went to school in the afternoon then right back down to the flight line again. I got two hours of night formation.

Gosh! I thought that formation was hard but, this night formation has it beat a mile. All we have are three little lights to guide by. One green light on the starboard and a red one on the port side then a white one on the top of the tail. At night we can’t see the lead ship signals so we have to watch extra careful for those lights moving up or down. When the light moves it means he is turning so we put our wings at the same angle then we stay right in there. Gosh! It really is fun though-I have almost 50 hours of basic now. My time is getting larger all the time.

I wish they would give us time to sleep once a week though-I haven’t had six hours of sleep in one night since I’ve been here. Well, darlings, I must go to bed now-another day, another dollar they say.

Received a letter from Ned today-it’s good to hear from the boys.

Your loving son,

Jim

Darlings

Your letter was swell-so happy you know I passed my 20 hour check. The pictures are very good-thanks again. All the boys enjoy seeing my little sisters pictures. Bill Hart, our roommate from California, said “Gosh! Can your little sister ski?” Bill Hart is a wonderful piano player. He can hear a tune over the radio then sit down and make his own arrangements. The funny part is that he only had three years of piano lessons.

I got two hours of night flying in last night. We had some excitement for a while. The battery went blooey on a kids plane while he was up there. The radio and all lights went out. He couldn’t communicate with the tower so he decided to land anyway. He came in pretty hot-I’d say he was landing her at about 125 mph. Our correct landing speed is 100 mph. He made it okay though-he had to tramp on the brakes or he would have run off the end of the field.

I got a scare last night-I was flying my middle zone three, at the designated altitude of 2,226’. The control tower give me a call to come in to land. I reached for the mike to answer him and-another voice came in.

“Middle zone three-pitch and flaps.”

Gosh! I thought I hope I’m not running a race with a guy in my zone. So-I called into the tower and asked “Sir-I am middle zone three-how many are there in middle zone three?”

The captain laughed and said

“Who called in at the wrong time!”

Then I heard a meek voice answer “I did sir-middle zone four.”

So-feeling a little easier-I brought her down and landed.

Well, darlings, nearly another week has passed-time flies when we are rushed all the time.

Your loving son,

Jim

Darlings,

So happy to hear that dad was given extra gasoline. I knew they would-we aren’t short of gasoline it’s the tires they’re worrying about.

Gosh! I hope Mrs. Haynes recovers from her illness. That big house wouldn’t be the same without her. I wrote a letter to Ned quite a while back but, haven’t received an answer yet. I suppose he is worrying too much about his mother can’t blame him-I’d worry plenty about my darling mom.

All the boys enjoyed Jocie’s pictures – they really are good. Someday my little sister will probably be a designer for some big company.

We had a night flying schedule last night-I flew the graveyard period from 10:30 PM to 12:00 AM. I got up to my zone okay, when it started to rain so they called us down-darn it. I was really enjoying myself too. During the day I flew solo formation with my instructor as lead ship and Bob Thomas on the other side. We really held a tight formation. Our instructor did steep turns, chandelles, steep climbs-everything-but we stayed in there pretty close. Lots of times he’d turn without indicating the direction so we never take our eyes off his ship. We don’t even know where we are all of the time.

It seems so funny when we are coming in for a landing-he wiggles the stick to let us know we are coming in-and, I didn’t even know we were near the field. Gosh! It’s so much fun.

Well darlings, I hope you have heard about me passing my 20 hour check by now. I am sending my promotion papers. Aren’t I big stuff?

Your loving son,

Jim

Darlings,

So happy to receive your lovely letters. One year from today the United States declared war. It doesn’t seem that long does it. I have been in the Air Corps about six months now. I certainly have learned a great deal in six months.

I can’t see why you can’t get enough fuel oil. It must be terribly uncomfortable sitting in the kitchen all the time but, our barracks aren’t any too warm either. The weather hasn’t been very good lately. It rained yesterday and is blowing pretty hard today. All in all though-the weather is nice. I don’t imagine the regular California rains will come until January or February.

I am so sorry to hear Mrs. Haynes is sick. I remember she wasn’t feeling tip-top when I left. I certainly hope her condition improves. I think if Ned was transferred it wouldn’t do Mrs. Haynes any good. Ned just idolizes his mother, you know and, so does this kid. I’m very lucky to have such lovely parents and such a nice little sister.

Give Jocelyn this dollar bill for improving her marks. I want my sister to knock the spots off my high school grades. Of course, that wouldn’t be too hard. Keep up the good work Jocie.

Well, darlings, mess in 10 minutes. I just have time to finish this letter.

Your loving son,

Jim

Darlings,

Today is Sunday-flying as usual. We will probably fly tonight too. A kid across the hall taxied into a parked ship yesterday. The captain was furious. He said there was no excuse for such a thing. The kid goes up for a check tomorrow because of it. I’ll bet a dollar the poor guy gets washed now. We have to be so darn careful here. Things happen so fast.

I passed my instrument check yesterday. Now I can go up with another cadet as my observer while I fly instruments or I can change around and be observer while he flies instruments. The observer has complete charge and responsibility for the airplane.

Gosh! Flying is really getting interesting now. Formations-night flying and a cross country tomorrow. If you don’t get any letters for weeks you will know your son got lost in the cross-country. Ha! Ha!

Pete is fine-both of us of passed our check so far anyway. When dad talks about mom’s meatloaf and pasties my mouth waters. Gosh! I certainly miss our home. We had lots of arguments but, we certainly had fun didn’t we.

Well, darlings we will be called for dinner in a few minutes so I must end my letter. I also have to plot my own course for that cross-country.

Your loving son,

Jim

Darlings,

Didn’t have time to write yesterday. We flew in the morning at school in the afternoon and flew again at night. Gosh! Is night flying ever fun. My instructor took me around four times and then hopped out and said “Okay Jago do a good job.” I feebly answered “I’ll do my best sir.” Gosh! I was scared-my knees were knocking. I tried to comfort myself by blaming my shaky limbs on the cold weather. I have my winter flying suit on so that didn’t hold water. I gave my call into the control tower.

“Lower zone one ready to take off.”

“Okay lower zone one you are free to take off.”

When I got the okay, I wound down 20% of the flaps put the prop in low pitch-zero off my stabilizers. Then checked the mags and cleared the engine.

I forgot to tell you about the zones. During night flying the Chico area must be divided into zones. Zone I, II, III, IV. Upper and lower. This is necessary because they will know where the ships are then and also there won’t be any midair collisions.

Well, when I got my bearings I swung the nose of the ship parallel with the string of lights on the take off strip. I looked over the nose-everything was black. Well, Jago, you had better watch your instruments because it’s blacker than pitch. Finally I gave her the throttle and off we went. When I reached my zone again circling up to 1726 feet. Then I waited for my call to land.

“Lower zone one come in for a landing.”

“Lower zone one okay pitch and flaps.”

Down I circled to 1000 feet making a rectangular pattern to the landing spot. Then I turned on my base leg and gave them a call I was coming in. Then I turned on the final approach, turning on the landing lights at the same time. Saw I was a little high so I wound some more flaps down and cut the throttle slightly. And I am correcting for crosswind-then down for a pretty good wheel landing. Well, darlings I hope you have enjoyed my night flying-write soon-I miss you terribly-

your loving son,

Jim

Darlings-

Thanks for the letter it was swell-tell Jocie her picture is very cute-no fooling.

One of the boys in our flight was killed today. Don’t worry mom he could’ve saved himself but, he tried to save the ship, before he knew it he was too close to the ground to bailout. His instructor feels badly about it-you see it happened during formation flying. His instructor was the lead ship. Another cadet and Gould (that’s the kids name) were flying formation – V formation. Gould came too close to his instructors ship and tried to get away by diving beneath the instructors ship-which is bad. You should turn away from the lead ship. When he tried to get away the instructor couldn’t see him so Gould’s tail surfaces were smashed by the instructors prop. He could have saved himself easily by bailing out right away but, I can’t understand why he didn’t.

I hope you don’t worry about it mother and dad. I can take care of myself. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you about these things but, I hate to keep anything from you. Our poor Captain told us to forget about it-this is war.

Well, darlings, flying is very interesting now. Everything is new-formation, night flying.

I just found out today-our instructor was in the RCAF for two years before the war started then he transferred back to Uncle Sam. He certainly is a wonderful instructor. He’s only 21 but, he’s been flying for four years.

Well, darlings, don’t worry about me now. I shouldn’t have told you but, I always said I’d never keep anything from you.

Your loving son,

Jim

Thanks for the letter Jocie. I love to read them – write more often.

Darlings,

I passed 20 hour check. “Whoopee.” I was so darn surprised. Over half the boys have needed re-checks and to top it off-I had Lieut. Nance-the worst check rider of the bunch.

He cussed-raved-pushed the controls around-I thought I was a goner-when we got down-he stood telling me my mistakes until I was just about ready to ask him when I got the recheck. Then he said “Well Jago, you passed.” I felt like jumping over the plane.

Walking back to the stage house all the boys asked “Did you make out okay?” I said “yes.” They asked “who did you have for the check?” I said Lieut. Nance. “No kidding? And he passed you. Well, I’ll be.”

Gosh! I’m happy darlings. Passing the basic 20 hour is something I guess. Some guys go as far to say your wings are cinched after you pass the 20 but, I’m still as pessimistic as ever. Until I get those wings I will stay pessimistic.

Well darlings thanks for the letters. Miss you terribly-forget about the watch. It was just a suggestion anyway. I really don’t need a thing-honestly-

Your loving son,

Jim

Darlings.

Today is Sunday but, we are flying and attending ground school just the same. Gosh! I wish they would give us a day of rest once in a while.

Dad asked how long a period in the air was. A period is an hour in length. The 20 hours checks are coming closer and closer. I’m scared to death. I wish I didn’t worry all the time about these checks.

Ralph Fleming, my roommate at Rankin, wrote me a letter the other day. It seems that one of my classmates from Rankin went completely out of his head when he washed out at Lemoore Basic field. Without permission he took off a new B.T. 13A with the intention of taking his last fling at flying.

He flew over Rankin Academy so low that the vibration from the motor shattered the plate glass windows in the control tower. Everybody at Rankin was scared to death. One of the flying officers went up and pleaded with him over the radio to land but, the kid just tried to ram him in midair. The West Coast interceptor command had orders to shoot him down on sight. The worst part of it is-some poor farmer riding on top of his load of cotton was scared into the ditch when the fool buzzed him. The cotton bales crushed him to death. Then when he decided to head back to Lemoore field, he climbed to 8000 feet and put it into a power dive, full throttle, low pitch. I think he had planned to commit suicide then. Evidently he chickened out and when he pulled out the rivets on the wings just popped out. I can’t see how he ever landed the plane. It was a complete wreck. He is court-martialed now. He must’ve been out of his mind.

Well, darlings, I must stop.

Miss you terribly,

Jim