I sat in a real P40 fighter

P-40E Warhawk

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