March 11, 1945

Mar. 11, 1945

Dear A.P.

I guess I have kind of neglected my writing to you of late so here is one going your way.

Well here it is Sunday again and nothing special in the way of a schedule.  Most every Sunday so far has been a day of rest with no flying but next week we have a change.  Next Sunday we fly the second mission in the afternoon.  That means no rest on the one day a week you want to have off.  Well I am rather used to looking at a schedule rather than a calendar.

So far we have had no real hard work but rather a full schedule.  We usually get up at 0530 or 0630 in order to have breakfast and get to class on time.  Our first class is at 0700 and they continue till 1700. we then have the rest of the day to ourselves.  Sometimes it means getting to bed right away to meet a formation at 0230 the next day.  It makes you rather tired after the second day.

The other day we flew the second mission.  We got up at 0230 and went to briefing at 0330.  Our take off time was 0530 but we got off at 0600 instead.  Our mission was to have the navigator checked out on cross countries.  I had to file a flight plan for the route because we went along the airlines.  I had to call each station on the way.  The experience was brand new to me and along with my other duties made me very nervous.  We of course went to the line in the dark.  Nothing seemed to go right.  It was our first solo hop with the crew and they were very dependent upon me.  We had no flashlights due to my own negligence which made things all the worse.

The lights on the ramp shine in your eyes rather than on the ramp and made me almost night blind.  Then the lights in the navigators comp. shined up in the pilots compartment making it almost impossible to see the instruments.  Then we had a heavily loaded ship, not exactly overloaded but about 4000 # from the maximum.  I had never flown a ship like that.  Then I have an engineer who knows practically nothing about the ship so when the lights went out he didn't have any idea what was wrong.  I had to get the lights going myself.

Then they have good sized hills all around this field so that when the ship so heavily loaded didn't climb too well I was almost ready to give up.  I just held on and kept the power on until there was no danger.  For all I know we just made it over the hills but actually we probably went over them with plenty of space to spare.  We couldn't see the ground it was so dark and the light from the navigator's lamp made the instruments unintelligible.  Then we couldn't see any other ships in the air so I half expected to get run down any second.

Then I sighted what looked like a star because it was where stars should have been and found after looking at the instruments that we were in a steep bank.  It rather scared me especially when our airspeed was so slow and anything can happen in a heavy ship with the nose too high.  I finally got things righted and not until later did I realize what a strain it had been.

I never was so glad to see the sun come up as I was that day.  For that 2 hours before day break I had felt like I was running through a field full of ditches and gullies full of barbed wire fences in the middle of a moonless night with my arms full of high explosives. I felt like letting go of everything and letting the stuff explode.  Sun brought security again and a feeling of knowing what was going on.  I finally did let my pilot take over and went back to have some coffee.  I drank it black and shook so bad that it almost spilled.  Finally after 6 hours in the air I got back to the base and finally to the room where I was too tired to roll over.  I was almost shaking all over.  I guess I fell to sleep and slept 3 hours and woke up refreshed.  However the feeling of futility of that morning will last for a long time.

I really like my job and get the biggest kick in the world out of it but it gets so nerve wracking at times that I only wish I could be home in bed rather than making little moves and decisions which effect the lives of 9 others besides my own.  I am not afraid to make a wrong decision but I only hope I make them on the ground rather than in the air where it is so important.  Maybe I will be an old man when I get home at least I will have aged a little.  However I believe everyone will still recognized the kid in me.  I will know that I am ready to settle down for a while and live a peaceful life with no responsibilities for awhile.  I guess it will be rather hard.

I don't know if I should write this or not and get everyone's hopes high but if we finish flying ahead of schedule we get an eight day leave.  It will mean getting home again for a short time which will be a break.  However I am not planning on any such thin to happen so please don't you at home plan on it. It is just something to think about.  It sure would be swell.

I hope you are saving for that plane and not just thinking about it.  I am sure I will have enough money before this thing is over to have one so I think we had better have a plane fund like the camp fund for the future.  I have a government check for $144 here and a check for $350 coming next month so a lot is going home next month.  Someone besides me had better start saving.

What has happened to Bill?  He never writes though I hardly blame him but I would like to hear from him.

I guess I have written enough for 2 letters now.

With love

Austin

February 27, 1945

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.

Random Harvest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alMA9WVruZg

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

February 22, 1945

Feb. 22, 1945

Dear Mother:

This letter will be very short and probably be the shortest yet.  We are down here in Ardmore Okla. at our final phase base.  I have a full crew which makes 9 men.  They no longer give the crews 2 waist gunners so we have only 9 men.  I have not seen the bombardier yet because he is on leave but I am very fortunate in having a crew such as I have.

Ardmore Army Air Field
Check out the link for stories from the field.

The enlisted men are all privates and corp. and my navigator is a Flt. Officer.  My co-pilot is a wonderful fellow but a little quiet.  He has only had 30 hours in 17s and a graduate of a twin engine school which helps a lot.  I feel very fortunate in getting the officers I have.  My bombardier has been through the school once so we have a good chance of flying overseas.

My enlisted men have had very little time in the ship, especially the engineer upon whom I was going to depend. He knows nothing about the 17 and the ground school and I will have to give him all the dope.  They are all pretty clean cut from most everywhere in the country.  This will have to end because they have put us on a tight schedule for the first 4 days and then on the next 9 so don't look too much for news. 

With love

Austin