August 28, 1945

Aug 28 1945

Dear Mother:

Saturday I got your letter from Maine post marked the 14th.  It had taken 10 days to find me.  That doesn't say much for postal service.  I don't know if any more letters will come that way or not but I will look for them.

When you wrote about that camping trip I just wished I could have been there.  Boy I would have had more fun getting wet and then dry again.  I would have been just one more male to run you ragged but I would have had a lot of fun.  When you go camping you have to run into a little rain or something or else it takes all the fun out of getting soaked.  But I guess my point of view is not quite like mine on such matters.  I wish you would write some more about the trip because I got quite a kick out of picturing the thing and I am getting a vivid imagination.  Anyway Pop must have enjoyed relaxing for a day or two.

I suppose you are all wondering just when I get out of the army and all.  Well to tell you the truth no one around here knows very much about us and information is rather hard to find.  They have three lists of men to be discharged in the next 6 weeks but they are from groups A and B which the army has set up.  I am in Group H which will be the last bunch to get a choice.  Last Friday we signed a statement as to our preference and I indicated that the earlier the better but that may be many moths away.  We don't fly B29s anymore but get our time in the AT6's which makes me very happy.  We get 4 hours of ground school now on the B29 and cruise control of the B29 but it is just to keep us busy and have no great value to me.  They are continuing training principally for the fellows who have indicated their wish to stay in the post-war Air Corp and there seems to have been quite a few who wish to stay in.  Financially $240 a mos is a lot more than any of us will be making of a good many years.  However the longer you stay in the longer it will take to get started over again.

Mary writes once or twice a week and to me it seems that everything is all peaches and cream.  I guess she has been taken into a society much to her liking.  I am really so glad that she is happy away from home for a while.  Maybe you feel that you have lost a daughter now but never fear because home always looks good.  Even I after 2 yrs look at Stoneham as the place for me and as soon as I am free again I will make tracks for 15 Wilson Rd.  It is too bad William and Esther can't drag themselves away for awhile and see how the rest of the world lives.  Maybe you don't like the idea but remember you were away from home for a year when you went to school.

We have had the most wonderful weather down here for the past few days.  Starting last week it got really cool, enough so that we slept under blankets or sheets.  It rained a couple of times and then we began to get warnings of the tropical storm headed this way.  The storm never got this far but we were in the area of strong winds and it has just been swell.  We have had a cool breeze all day and the nights have been wonderful.  It is too bad you and Mary could not have been here to see what Texas can be like when it tries.  In fact I am a little surprised myself.  I had no idea it could be so nice and cool.  I hope it stays this way for awhile.

Yesterday I looked at a chart that gave distances from one place to the next and noticed that I am aprox 2010 miles from Boston.  That is a lot farther than I had thought.  But when I get travel pay home it will amount to about $160 plus meals etc.  Not a bad price just to see some more country.

This is an early morning letter.  I got up special so I wouldn't have to write last night.

With love

Austin

June 4, 1944

Luke Field

Arizona

June 4, 1944

Dear Mother:

I really have the best intentions in writing but as in every other place time is short here.  We start about 7:30 in the morning and finish about 8:10 in the evening.  In between that time we fly and have school and all our meals.  After that time we have time to our selves.  As it is now we are preparing questionnaires so I can solo tomorrow.

Last week has been rather uneventful.  I haven't yet received any letters directly from town but I guess I should get one or two tomorrow.  (I can't find a good position to write in)

Saturday I went to the dentist and got my teeth fixed good and proper.  He filled 8 little holes in my head.  He had quite a time but said when he was finished I was done.  I sat in the chair for more than 2 hours and you can bet I felt done before he was.  The dentist ruined my Saturday schedule and made it impossible for me to solo.  Well tomorrow I will get off the ground in a hurry and solo and then go up and see what I can make this AT 6 do.

AT-6 Trainer

The AT6 is one of the best training planes in the Army.  It handles like a dream.  You don't have to move the controls you just think about 'em and they move by themselves.  You can fly by using pressures and don't have to make any noticeable movements.  It has retractable wheels and hydraulic flaps.  It has all kinds of safety devices to keep you from fouling up the works.  However it is a fighter pilots ship and much too hot for a bomber pilot.  It must be the easiest ship to ground loop in the Army so if I keep away from ground loops I will get through all right.  I have just go to get through.

I can just see that this phase of training is going to be the one to "sweat out" but be the most interesting one yet.  It is all in the plane.  It really is a wonder.  You can train it to fly straight and level and level and then you can fly it at any speed you want and not break an arm trying to control it like you did in that old B.T.  May the Lord help me if I have to become an instructor on BTs.  You can do everything with this ship you can do with a tactical ship. Spins near the ground are dangerous but with plenty of altitude you can do anything.  You can even do slow rolls going straight up.  When I get a little more familiar with it I am going to have some real fun.  "Rat racing" is in order here so we are really going to have fun.

This post is a regular GI post but has quite a number of "feather merchants" working in the hangers on maintenance.  Also they have WAC's but we hardly see any of them.  They have quite a lot of military discipline but it hadn't bothered too much yet.  The food is about the best you can get anywhere.  We really live off the fat of the land.  The only trouble is that the fellows waste more now.  I must admit I waste more myself than if I were starving.  We get pie and ice cream or cake for dinner or supper every day.

Would I like to get home!  I still don't see much chance for  quite some time.  We have heard that 1/3 of the class will get a 10 day leave when we graduate but 10 days will do me no good unless I could fly both ways and plane reservations are hard to get.  Well maybe the rumors don't mean anything.  They also say we will fly P47's or P39's before we get through.  

Well I have got to write to my old primary instructor so....

With love

Austin