Feb. 27, 1945
Dear Mother:
We have had some bad weather of late so I have time to write again. We had an ice and sleet storm last night that has rather disrupted our flying schedule. We were scheduled today and as a consequence have had most of the day free.
I haven't done much writing but rather done some reading. I read the book "Random Harvest" by James Hilton. I never would have read it except that it was left here and I picked it up in a dull moment and liked it so much I had to finish it. My writing has to suffer while I read.
Maybe I wrote that we flew one day last week. We spent 11 1/2 hours on the line and I was the tiredest I have ever been. I only had had two donuts and a glass of milk for breakfast and no dinner to work on. Seeing they are trying to check up airplane commanders out undid all of the work and 6 hours of flying was almost too much. The last hour was the longest I have spent in a long time.
I have not yet been to town because there is not much of a town to go to. It is about 14 miles from the base and rather small. The base is not very much either. They burn dirty coal here and things are pretty well spread out. Things are not too comfortable but we expect to be on the line and in school a lot more than in the barracks. They have one theater on the field for entertainment but not much more. Anyway we are just getting used to the new post regulations which seem senseless and useless. Well we will be settled down soon and life will take on a new color.
I feel very fortunate in getting the crew I did. They all look like good boys. My pilot is married and 25 (Mary must be very disappointed). He is a very quiet sort of a fellow and a wonderful fellow. He doesn't know anything about the B17 and I doubt if he can land it even on a bet but he seems ready to learn. He is really a good man and a lot of fun. He comes from upstate New York and speaks English.
My navigator is a rather good looking kid. He is also quiet and a lot of fun. He is about 20 and single and about my size or a little shorter. He is a fun loving kid so I guess we will get along well together. He comes from Conn. so we have 3 damn Yankees down here south of the Mason-Dixon so if we stick together we should get somewhere.
As yet I haven't seen my Bombardier because he is still on leave. He should be back tomorrow and I will get an idea what kind of a knob twister I will have.
I don't know very much about my enlisted crew. All I do know is that one just turned 19 yesterday, he is the tail gunner. He is from El Paso Tex. My ball turret gunner is a Okie and very small. My radio man is pretty good. He can take 20 words a minute and knows a lot about his radio. My engineer is quite a boy. He doesn't know much about the ship but he can read instruments and looks bright enough to catch on quick. He is eager to learn and will be a good man after he has had enough ground school. I don't know anything about my Armorer. He is a heavy set fellow and looks like he knows his job. All in all they are a pretty good looking bunch. I don't think I could have picked a better bunch. I am so happy with the men I got.
We are scheduled to fly tomorrow and we may if the weather gets better. I in a way hope we don't because they are throwing a party in the club tomorrow and I want to see a stage show they are having. I want to fly because the sooner I get the first 3 rides over with the better I will like it. We are to have an instrument check and a formation check before we can solo out. We are suppose to have 20 hours of instruction which amounts to 2 more rides. I am rather eager to get going.
I don't have too much to write except that I got the big picture and the little photos the other day. My big picture came out pretty well. I liked the little photos too. Honey came out good too. In fact I believe I kind of spoil the pictures. What do think I should do with the big picture? Well enough for now!
With love
Austin
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