SAAAB
Santa
Ana Calif
Oct
25, 1943
Dear Pops (I forgot; A.P)
I suppose
you have been wondering just where this letter got lost. Well it got lost before it started more times
than you can tell mainly because time around here is very limited and what time
you do get off you would rather spend at pleasure rather than at letter
writing. As it is we are not going on
parade so I am spending this time before chow in the best way possible.
Today has
been very interesting and rather exciting too.
We had our altitude tests today and those who were in physical good
condition made the tests in a pressure chamber.
The whole thing was to test your ability to live properly at
38,000’. We made a “check run” to 5000’
to see if everyone could clear their ears quickly with the changes in
pressure. After 2 had left because they
couldn’t clear their ears we went to 18,000’ to test for symptoms of anoxia, a
condition resulting from lack of oxygen which results finally in
unconsciousness. 2 fellows passed out and removed through the “air lock” and
were brought down. So far I had no ill
iffects. After being at 18000’ 12
minutes they asked for a volunteer to leave his oxygen off as the altitude went
up so that anoxia in all its forms could be studied by the other 15 in the
chamber. No one wanted to volunteer so I
did just for the heck of it.
At 18000’
you suffer very little from anoxia but as the altitude goes up and you get less
and less oxygen you get slap happy and act very drunk and laugh a giggle just
like the joke was on everyone else.
First you loose sense of judgement, then eye sight, hearing,
feeling, and finally you lapse into unconsciousness even though you don’t
realize it and might continue to go right on feeling good but be
unconscious. The finally stage is fainting
and complete unconsciousness.
At 18000’
they told me to write the little rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” This I did for the 1st few lines and then I
found it hard to dot the i’s and make periods; then I couldn’t see too well and
the surroundings turned gray. Things got
harder and harder to do and see. When I
got to the sentence that has “teacher” in it I couldn’t remember what came
after that. I just sat and tried to
think; and think, and think, and think and just sit and think hard. They then took the paper I was writing on
away and I looked down and saw that my oxygen was turned on and I could see,
hear, and feel better.
While I sat
there just thinking (that’s what I thought) a number of things went on that I
didn’t know about. When they noticed
that I couldn’t remember what came after “teacher” they told me to write down a
number. This was when I passed into my
sub-conscious mind. I wrote the number
down and when told to write down the number which I was to multiply the 1st
number by I just continued to write the zeros of the 1st
number. When asked to subtract 6 from
the number, I just wrote a long scrawl down the page. They then gave me oxygen and I came bak to
consciousness trying to think about “teacher” and what came after it. I lost about 2 minutes of life and went to
38000’ before getting oxygen. Even then
I didn’t pass out but just lost all my normal faculties. Most of the fellows lose consciousness at
32000’. It was just a lot of fun for me
and I have no ill effects.
Altitude is
a dangerous thing if you are not in good condition. Many get the “bends” and have to be brought down
to an altitude of 30,000 ft. After that
few have trouble. These “bends” are like
those suffered by divers but not so bad or so dangerous because they can be
fixed very quickly by bringing them to sea level or in most cases 30,000’. Some people develop “chocks” cough, sinus
trouble, ear, eye and nose trouble, tooth aches and just every thing in general
goes wrong all because the air inside of you expands 5 times larger than
normal. You burp all the time going up
and all the air in side you just comes up.
The oxygen
apparatus is the best in the world and the most recent perfected. You can really use it at high altitudes and
have no after affects in fact you feel better when you get down than when you
went up. All but your ears, but everyone
has a little trouble with them for a while until they have done a lot of this
work in the pressure chamber or do a lot of high altitude work.
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It is
getting cold around here in the moring.
The temperature is between 38F and 50F when we “fall out” at 0500 every
morning. We are now wearing O.P.
uniforms. There are the all wool
uniforms and are a lot warmer. At noon
however it is really hot and we wish the sun would hide behind a cloud. Of course there aren’t clouds here, only the
low hanging fog or ground fog. I get to
like this place better and better each day.
I hope the
potatoes are coming along. I don’t know
very much about potatoes because I wasn’t exactly brought up on a farm. I suppose they are all out of the ground and
put away by now. I wish I could have
been home to help but Calif. is a long way from home. I would like to drive that tractor or just
drive anything. I haven’t driven for 4
months anything but a plane. You
probably wish you could drive something but an auto, well that’s life I guess.
I get
letters from Aunt Emma and Grandpa every now and then and I try to answer them
as soon as possible. Grandpa seems to be
just about as ever. He sends along little
inspirational poems and notes about the Air Corp which he gets from his
magazines. They are really rather good
and I enjoy them a lot.
I would
like to hear from you again soon but until then
With love
Austin
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