January 17, 1944

Ryan Field

Tucson Ariz.

Jan. 17, 1944

Dear Mary,

Yes I guess it is about time I wrote to you after the letters you have sent and the little newspaper each week.  So I am taking a little time off from the "Sack" (the bed to you).

I really get quite a kick out of that "little" newspaper and everyone who sees it is interested in what I have and make some comment on the side.  Even though the news is rather old and may be past history I like to see the funnies, the Dahl cartoons, and just run through in general.  ( Just came back from Retreat)  I don't know just what I was thinking about 15 min. ago so maybe I will seem incoherent.  I don't know how you get the little newspapers so maybe you won't be able to get them on your new job.

Just a taste of Francis Dahl's handiwork.

I was glad to hear that you were about to take a job that was really beginning to pay.  It only seems sensible to me that the more money you can make now the better off you will be later.  Even the amount you will make will not be too much because you must have carfare, lunches and maybe board to pay.  However I guess you can save some and go to school later on.

That little animal I sent you is getting vague in my mind and all I remember is that it looked like a squirrel and was mad of Redwood.  I guess you could call it most anything you like.  If you like things like that I could look around and maybe send a few home.  You see I am scheduled to see Tucson next Sat. and Sun. so I can find a few things to send home.  Of course Mother will get her card and I will try to find something for you.  Such things are not very expensive and they are a lot of fun.

We are having a swell time out here on the desert.  It is really a pretty good even life and a very healthy one at that.  We get our 8 hours of sleep, hour of flying, and hour of P.T.  The rest fits in to the schedule but is not very interesting.

We get up at 0500 and stand reveille at 0515, eat chow (breakfast) at 0600 and report to flight line at 0700, five men are assigned to an instructor and 4 of us fly each day for an hour or more, (I got 0101 hours today),  at 1300 you eat dinner and you can bet we are all hungry.  Then 1/2 hour of drill, 1 hour of P.T. and 2 hours of classes are sandwiched in the next 4 hours.  we stand retreat at 1830 and eat supper at 1855.  At 1945 we study for an hour and to bed at 2100.  You get 15 min to shave and take a shower before bed.  The schedule is really full.  We get about 15 to dress and clean up in the morning.  10 min to get ready for P.T. and 20 min. at P.T. to shower and get cloths on again.  Only after classes and after supper do we get any real time to do anything.  Even then we should be studying because the crosses are all rather tough.

Every once in a while we see a few cracked up planes and the odd part about it is that no one ever gets seriously hurt.  One fellow flew out of the limits of his area and plowed into a canyon wall.  The plane was wrecked but he only got a broken leg and a headache for a couples of hours.  He was court-marshalled of course.  Another plane was landed too high and really got smashed up.  The wheels and shock absorbers folded up, the plane doubled up in the middle, the wings folded up and the plane really looked ruined.  Nothing happened to him and he got 2 gigs for landing against a traffic T.  Every day they ground loop a plane and every once in a while they stand one up on its nose by putting the brakes on too suddenly.  Not much really happens.  You see I really know because the junk heap is right out behind our barracks.

The instructor does a little acrobatics each day to keep his hand in and also, I imagine, to entertain me.  He does chandelles, lazy 8s, loops, snap rolls, and slow rolls.  The slow roll is the oddest because you have time to think about what's going on and as the motion is not rapid gravity work on you.  When you are half way around in the roll your head points rearward and you are attached to the plane only by a safety belt.  So you hang by the safety belt looking at the ground 3600 away.  It is really an odd sensation.  I may show you someday.  In a snap roll the same things happen but so fast you hardly know what happens.  I guess a roller coaster will be very tame the next time I ride.

Well lights are out in 5 minutes.  A lot has happened since I started this.  There has been a lapse of about 2 or more hours in between maybe you can tell by the difference in writing.  Part was written on a table and the rest on top of my bed and it is really bouncing around.  This kid from Kentucky below me is a heavy weight and every time he moves I bounce.

Well keep up the letters even though I can't answer them all and keep up the little papers if you can.

With love.

Austin