April 4, 1944

War Eagle Field

Lancaster, Calif.

April, 4, 1944

Dear A.P.

I have received a couple of letters from you lately and have just got around to answering them.  I hope I get this one finished tonight.  I guess I should be studying but I can't study with these fellows making all the noise they are.  They are repairing a radio or what was a radio and you can imagine what is happening.

We had a little speech the other day from our Sqn Flight commander.  Sqn 15 is going to be inactivated, after we leave.  The reason seems to be that the school is no longer needed to train pilots. They are now training the replacements for the replacements and because losses are not nearly as high as anticipated the training program is being cut down.  He also said that it is more than likely that unless we pull a lot of strings or are very lucky we will never leave the good old U.S.A.  We will become members of the Air Transport command and remain in the U.S.

I suppose this is good news to everyone but it brings to mind the fact that I might not see much more of the world.  It also makes me think that I may get a chance to go back to school.  In a way that will be good but I hate to think that I will not be able to fly.  I am getting to like BTs and I can hardly see myself flying anything smaller.

How will I ever be able to settle down to an accounting problem again?  Those things used to be a constant dread to me, ask Esther if you think I am fooling.  I can just see myself poring over the books in the wee hours of the morning.  The Army may be tough but it has something that appeals.  

I know how much you want to learn code but please don't write a letter in code!  You see I hardly have time to read my mail now and code takes a long time to decipher.  It is also a lot of work and I kind of lose a lot of pleasure from the job.  You see we are getting code at 10 words/min now and I don't need the practice.  I don't think visual code practice helps me in what I am doing.

I get a heck of a kick out of our radio course.  They make a very interesting course out of something that could be bad.  I am learning a lot about radio that I could never learn before.  It is getting very interesting.  In fact I am getting some good radio books and am going into the thing a little further.  You see if I learn a lot and remember the code I have learned I could even get an amateur license after the war.  I could fly a plane with a radio.  That would be what I would want.

I am writing this letter form my bed so the writing must be very poor.  The table is covered with radios and I can't write there.

Sqn 15 has a pretty good record now.  It has had no accidents in 4337 hours.  That means that no accidents of any type have happened.  If you drag a wing or taxi into a plane or scratch a plane in anyway that is an accident and you have to start all over again.  I think we have the best record now on the base.

Last Saturday we went to L.A.  I stayed in the Hotel Clark.  Boy what a bed I had.  It felt like feather or a cloud spring.  I thought I would fall through before I hit the bottom.  There isn't much to do in town except go to movies.  I saw a triple feature of horror stories "The Corpse Walks", "Dead Men Tell" and another.  I slept well however.  Each weekend costs an average of 7 or 8 dollars.  3 dollar bus tickets $2 for a room and $1 for a meal and $1 or more for accessories.  Often you see how you can spend a lot more.  If you want to send anything home you spend a more costly week.  The overhead on a job like this is well paid for but the entertainment is what runs up the bills.  You can't live on the flying but you have to get some relaxation somehow.  During the day tension is always building up.  Unless you have a relief valve of some kind something is bound to go.  You don't just blow up but you don't give a darn and that leads to tours and tours lead to more tension and that leads to getting in trouble such as going AWOL or talking back to the wrong people which all leads to a washout.  I guess the first battle is getting along with people.

I guess what I wrote about going back to school isn't as bad as it seems.  The only trouble is that right now all I want is a month to sleep until I wake up of my own accords and not by a whistle or a bugle or some san Commanders raspy voice.  I have a rather tired feeling now.  I also have a year for adventure and a lot of excitement.  How can I slow down to an everyday prewar 35 m/h when I now drive and zoom at a mere 200?

Well it is time for taps.

With love

Austin