March 30, 1944

War Eagle Field

Lancaster

Mar. 30, 1944

Dear Mother:

I have received several letters from home and elsewhere since I have attempted to answer any.  The chief reason is that time is rather short here and the schedule run pretty close.  That seems like an old story by now but each time we move we go to a place where time moves faster and intervals between are few and far between.  At Ryan I thought I was rushed but it was a schedule full of spare time compared with our present one.

We get up at 5:45 to meet reveille.  We make our beds and everything that has to be done gets done or else.  We eat breakfast at 6:45 and go to the flight line at 7:30.  We are on schedule there until 12:45.  We return and eat dinner at 1310 and go to first class at 1340.  We finish ground school at 1640 and then go to PT at 1655.  We have an hour of PT and have just time to take a shower.  At 1825 we have supper and then retreat at 1850.  We then have drill for an hour or maybe a little less if it gets dark early. About 2000 we should be free but if you have ground school at night or have flunked some class you don't get any time yet.  We have been having lectures at night that last about an hour and that means we get off at 2100 and taps at 2130.  In that last 30 min. you make your bed and shave.  Then your day is done and starts again before you have a chance to think again.  That's my day.

Flying is going all right I guess but I got kind of discouraged learning to fly all over again. I thought I could fly before I hit this field and here is where I am learning how little I know.  You fly with your right hand on the stick your feet on the rudder pedals and the left hand is flying all over the place.  You have a radio to control and a "mike" you carry if you want to use it.  You have a propeller pitch, a mixture control, a throttle and a couple of heat controls.  You also have a wobble pump, trim tabs, a gas tank switch and any number of instruments.  I sure looked sick in that plane the first day.  You also have a torque correction to take into account, and the altitude of the plane is the big problem.  You try to maintain an even bank, keep the nose on the horizon.  It is a very big job to take on all at once.  Right now I doubt if I could even fly a Ryan but I guess I could if I started to remember a few things.

BT-13A student cockpit

(About 24 hours have lapsed now)

I had to leave off the first part of this letter to go up to the ground school on business.  I had to write a 350 word essay so I could get out this weekend.  I have it all done now so I can go out.  

I don't know what I was thinking about yesterday so I will say something about our flying schedule.  I should solo soon and get in a little time in the air to myself.  Next week we go on our first cross country hop which comes about 300 mi in the form of a triangle.  We are going to have a lot of fun because we will do it solo.  It will be easy to get lost because we will fly over a lot of desert on the way and check points will be few and far between. However a lot of fellows have done it before me so I guess I can do it.

We were kidding the instructors last night about our getting lost.  I told him if I got lost I would fly the "iron beam" (the railroad).  He said that was all right but not to fly down the middle of the tracks but down the sides because the navy flies down the middle.  One leg of the trip will be over a road and near a railroad.  This road follows a rather circular form and goes around a danger area where heavy B29's, B17's, and B20's do precision bombing.  We often hear these boys talking over the radio because this area is not too far away.

I have been dreaming of coming home in the last few nights.  Is that a good sign?  I hope so because they are extending our course another week here and maybe a couple of weeks later on so I may not come home when I expect if I do get home.  It's a wonderful thing to think about anyway.

I will get into your letter now.  I guess the deal on getting out that class book so soon after the boy's death is that one complete page was added.  You can see in the back an empty page.  I guess they had the pages all printed and only had to add this one when they were bound.  It was a rather quick job.

A few of the boys from Beloit went to Ryan with me but only a few.  I think there were maybe 4 or 5 of them.  You see we were only replacements for another sqn. going there so that we got pretty well mixed up.  You will find a few all the way around.  Still fewer are here at War Eagle than were at Ryan.  I sure meet a new bunch every time I move.

As for the group  Richardson the nice looking fellow is here with me.  Rogers and Reynolds went to Marana which his near Tucson for Basic and Rowland was my bunkmate who washed out.  If you think Richardson would be nice to write to you had better write his girlfriend whom he may marry soon seeing he is now near home.  That seems to be the case of most of the fellows here.  Most have very nice pictures tuck up or they are married and their wives live near here.  I guess I am the only totally unattached one in the outfit.

A box will be very welcome you can bet.  We don't have too much we can eat after meals around here.  We can have food in the lockers if we don't keep it too long.  As for 5 and 10 cent candy that will do very well.  I like the licorice that was sent last time.  Any kind of candy that will ship always tastes good.  I suppose things are getting short everywhere except in the Army.

(Another 24 hours has gone by)

This letter seems to be extending over the best part of a week.  Well you can read it and imagine it is three letters all received on the same day.

Today is Saturday and we have just finished our inspection and have the day free soon if they will only have PT. After PT we can go to L.A. and see the town.

I received a letter from Cousin Emma in Hollywood the other day and she said she had Dana's wife is living with her so I guess I had better not expect to stay out there.  I can find a hotel room easily if we get to town early.

Yesterday I soloed that BT13A.  It is quite a thrill of course and I bet I got a dozen grey hairs in the process.  there are so many things you could forget and anyone might make a trip very uncomfortable.  How I would like to get into an auto where you can live with a peaceful mind knowing that if anything goes wrong you have just to stop and think about it.  Up in the air that is rather hard to do.  I guess anyone can fly if they put their mind to it even though there is a lot to remember.

BT 13A Vultee

It is so different flying a closed cockpit plane.  You can't hear the wind as well and you can't feel the air rush by when you do a slip in a turn.  You can easily let the airspeed drop until the plane stalls because the controls are so heavy.  They are so smooth to handle though.  You can maintain your altitude by just moving a trim tab and it will fly at that altitude even when up and down currents of air bounce the plane around a lot.  

I have a lot of fun with my instructor.  He is always trying to screw me up and when I do something a little out of the ordinary he makes some witty remark.  Sometimes he gets awful mad at me for some of the things I do but I guess I am slowly catching on.

I may not get a chance to answer Aunt Emma's gift right away.

I have started now to finish this letter but for good this time.  I won't tell you how much time has gone by.  I guess I have quite a manuscript now and I have run out of things to talk about.  I may get a chance to write during the time we are on the flight line.  I may write to Aunt Emma tonight so if I mention my thanks for the sewing kit that hasn't yet arrived I guess I will be in the clear.  I am sending Mary a few additions to her charm bracelet.  They came from L.A. (maybe you can guess how long it has been since this letter started).

Well I think I will close up for now and get some sleep.  I had a long week end.  I will write about it in my next letter.

With love

Austin.

January 2, 1944

Santa Ana Army Air Base

Jan. 2, 1944

Dear Mother:

Well I have been sitting around eating nuts and other people's fruit cake and in general making a pig of myself.  But that was getting me no where so I decided to catch up on the correspondence.  So to the music of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra coming over a nearby radio I will tell you about a very uneventful weekend.  We couldn't get out too early so I decided not to go to Cousin Emma's.  I really should have but I didn't think I had the time.  As it was I had more than enough time.  I got as far as Los Angeles and went to several movies.  I went to the Cadet Service Center and the Officer and Cadet Club.  Both places really make you comfortable and glad that such organizations are around.

California is the most expensive state I have been in.  The Servicemen gets none of the privileges extended to him as in other cities.  I don't mean that there are not organizations interested in our welfare such as the Officer and Cadet Club, the U.S.O. or the C.S.O. but that they have to pay full price for everything.  For example in the P.X. you pay considerable more for ice cream and fountain service than we did in Missouri.  The jewelry and that fellows always like to send home always cost more than in other P.W.'s.  Outside of camp you get no consideration.  In Chicago you get free transportation and half price on theater tickets and in general they make a trip to town very inexpensive.  In St. Louis we could get free meals but not here.  Oh well we do get pretty good pay don't we so money shouldn't bother us.

We got paid the other day.  I get $105 a month now you know but minus deductions I have about $42.98, some drop.  When I was a hick private I used to get $50 a month and still have $40 when deductions were taken out.  Oh well, that's a $3 raise.  But then to be an aviation cadet is an honor.  I'm not kicking because I have more than enough money to do me.

We are sure of being shipped this week but keep on writing because all my mail will be forwarded.  We are going to stay here in Calif. or go to Arizona.  I have little telling in the matter.  It would be swell to stay where I can come and see Cousin Emma but if we leave the coast we will be sure to fly. (My bunkmate just came back with $47 he had just won playing cards.)  It will be another state that I have been in.

If you are having trouble reading this letter it is because I am writing it on bed and on my stomach.  I keep putting down mistakes and writing up and down hill.  This seems a hard way to write letter but it is really comfortable even though the results aren't readable.

I think I will need some more of those eye drops.  I think I am beginning to have trouble again.  They are not very bad but the drops can't do any harm. I will send the old box along if you can't get the prescription filled some way.

By the way does anyone have an extra shoe ration coupon.  If you have one that you are sure no one will use please send it because it will help my morale.  It would be swell to get a pair of military low cut shoes even though I don't really need them.  We can't get the coupons here on the base.

How I would like to get home.  I suppose if I should get home I would have to shovel snow but just the same I would enjoy it.  But I am so far from home.  I am now beginning to realize how far it is.  When you tell about Lt. Sewards' 10 day leave it looks like I will spend my leave on the railroads.

With love

Austin.

December 30, 1943

Santa Ana Army Air Base

Dec 30, 1943

Dear Mother:

I have a lot of spare time now so I am writing and spending the time the best way I know.  Of course I could have written last night but I wrote to Cousin Emma in Hollywood.  I think I hsall go there over the New Year weekend.  She is really so nice I really enjoy the visits very much.

In a week or 2 or more you will get a package of stuff I have collected here in California.  There will be old letters, cards, etc. along with books, papers and other junk.  The reason I am sending them you may be able to guess.  We are sure to be shipping out in a short time and although I am not positive I will go I am not worrying as  much as these fellows who got low academic averages and too many giggs.  They have washed out a few fellows already for too many giggs.  My grades in school were not too bad and we don't know just how the averages came out because some classes got more credit than others.  Anyway I got a 95% in Physics, 87% average in Math, 93% average in Aircraft Identification, 93% in chemical warfare, 85% average in gunnery but fell down in Navel and at 78%.  I had one midterm examination that was very poor and it pulled the whole average down.

One thing I do know.  The squadron will be broken up and different sections will be sent to different fields.  We were not good enough to stay together.  I was going to leave a lot of friends anyway because a lot of fellows are being held over for some reason or another.  Only 7 from one section of 46 will leave.  In our section however (No I) we got all good averages and will have only 1 holdover if things all go well.  Our section by the way seta  few records around here.  We got the largest number of superiors in class (43 in a row) that has ever been recorded.  No one failed code, another record.  Got the highest marks in Aircraft Identification of any class (above a 90% average).  We carried the E flag for 4 straight weeks.  Oh well, we did pretty well but I only wish the whole sqn had done better so we could stay together.

There has been a rumor around that we are going to ship out of California to Arizona or Texas or some such place.  The reason is that the last class has not received enough flying time to leave for Basic and therefore we shall be shipped to some clear weather states where we have a chance flying.  This is a poor time of year to be flying out here.  Last week there were only about 1 1/2 fly hours per student and that is not enough.  You have to have at least 20 to get out. Well it really isn't too bad to see such rain if you don't have to fly but if you want to it is disappointing to see all the rain we get.

Maybe the Chamber of Commerce has fooled the whole country but not the natives around here or the soldiers who are training here.  We fall out at 5:45 and find a clear star-lit sky but it is usually raining by 8:00 and not later than 1200.  It isn't a bad rain but a slow drizzle that always seems so cold and penetrating.  Out here however they are warm and do not chill so much.  Some times it really pours and then it really rains.  The water comes up about an inch every where so that it is impossible to keep the feet dry.  We wear the wet shoes to dry them out and because they will dry out no other way.  The only trouble is that socks wear out fast and with no mother around to mend we just have to buy new ones.  It is terrible waste but then we figure our time is worth more than the stockings.

So far I have been very lucky and have lost only a few minor articles of clothing.  I have only lost one O.D. hat with the insignia on it.  I always thought that you would lost more than that but it seems that I am in with a picked outfit and they don't swipe so much as the regular "run of the mill".

I seem to be just rambling along here and not answering any of those questions you are always asking. Cousin Emma asked me if I ever got questions from home and if I ever answered them.  She said that her boy Robert hardly ever answered her questions and I guess I must seem that way to you too.  I gave her the only answer I know and that is that whenever you write you never have the old letters available to get questions from.  Right now I am C.Q. and don't have letters available.  I guess if you have anything you want answered you will have to write it on something special that I can carry around for reference.  By the way, the Independents are coming through very well and I have received the last 3 or 4 issues.  They are really swell; I must write something some day to put in.  You wrote that old Seward got his commission.  Well if I don't become a pilot I will look like him when I get home.

With love

Austin.

November 28, 1943

Nov 28 1943

Dear Mother;

A lot has happened since I wrote last.  Thursday was thanksgiving and we went to the beach for gunnery and the swimming tests.  We swam in the morning and went to the range in the afternoon.  You can bet that the water was very cold and we nearly froze to death.  I took the advance swim test and passed it.

It consisted of a 250 yd swim 1/3 back stroke 1/3 side stroke 1/3 breast stroke.  We then swam 45" under water, made 3 jumps from a 11" tower 1st at attention 2nd with a barracks bag so we could float and finally with a life preserver.  We then put on a suit of clothes (Better than the ones they issue) swam 100' took off the pants blew them up and floated back to shore.  We then blew up the shirt and floated with it.  It was a lot of fun except that is was much too cold for comfort.

We had coffee and sandwiches for dinner and left for the range.  It is constructed so that you shoot off over the ocean and many of the slags skip over the sand into the ocean.  The land is patrolled by blimps run by the Navy and the Coast Guard runs a cutter out 2 miles or so just out of range to keep small craft out of the area.  We first shot the 45 cal pistol for record.  Next we went to the machine gun range and shot 250 rounds at moving targets.  These were aircraft 30 cal. machine guns, the kind they used on all the early airplanes.  The machine gun was the most fun.  We next went and shot the Thompson submachine gun and finished with the 22 cal. rifle leading targets.  We had 50 shots.  Tell Pop that is where all the 22 shots are going; teaching us to hit a moving target.  The range was the best part of the training so far.

We came home to a wonderful turkey dinner.  What a meal. Mash potatoes, gravy, vegetable, turkey, vegetable, ice cream, nuts, candy, turkey dressing and everything.  I am sending a menu of the dinner which everyone got. (in a magazine that is coming)  I only wish that I was home for dinner rather than so far away.

Saturday I got out again and went to Hollywood to see Cousin Emma and "Cousin Will".  They are really very hospitable people and made me feel very much at home, so much so in fact that I didn't want to leave.  Their son Robert was still home from Peru and was headed for O.C.S.  They have a very nice little house with all kinds of fruit trees in the back yard.  Orange tree, fig trees, pear trees and a tomato plant that has been bearing for 2 1/2 years.  I am going to send home a pinecone they picked up in the mts. to burn in the fireplace.  Not only do the have what we have at home but the size will amaze you.  I am trying to find a box to fit it.  I will send it as soon as possible because it takes up too much space.

Thanks for the cake.  It was delicious and I happened to open it after chow when no one was hungry so I got all I wanted.  It was very good.

Tell Pop that the code is coming along but is beginning to slow up because I have hit my maximum for awhile.  If I can pass this 8 word check I have passed the course and got to the point where high speeds will be easier.

We are getting very well fed now and I begin to worry about the folks at home.  Rationing must be plenty tough now.

I have not had too many gigs since I have been here.  Things are getting tougher and you have to be more careful each day.  However our section took second place in the 3rd wing and we are very proud of the fact.

Well I am going to bed now.  I will answer Williams current letter as soon as possible.

With love

Austin.