May 13, 1945

May 13, 1945

Dear Mother:

I guess you were a little disappointed in your wandering son in forgetting you today.  I feel rather disgusted that I didn't take care of things when I had a chance.  I had wanted to send some special notice of my appreciation of my wonderful mother today but as usual I let things slide until it was too late.  It seems that this is just another chance I have missed to show my love but have instead demonstrated a thoughtlessness or at least a laxness.  I only wish I had the sense to see my blessing and show some appreciation before it is too late.

However I have been thinking of this day for months and to fumble the ball makes me disappointed in myself.  I had every chance to send something long ago but missed my chance at the last minute.  I hope everyone is not so thoughtless in their feeling toward you.  I hope I am forgiven for this slip-up even though I don't deserve.  Maybe some one should take me over there knee and give me a good spanking because I deserve it but am a little too old for it.

We got up to fly this morning but the field closed about the time we started engines.  Therefore we didn't get off the ground till late and had to come back early.  Aside from the usual trouble things went smoothly.  As Airplane Commander I don't look far enough ahead to see all the eventualities so I make more than my share of mistakes.  It makes me so mad sometimes when I look back at what I have done and realize there was really no call for them.  I guess I am still learning the hard way.  You may think that I have come a long way from school but when I see my own deficiencies stand out I just feel like giving up and throwing in the towel.

How I wish I were home following a planned future.  It would be so much easier to be going to work every day to a steady job with a fairly secure future than to live each day knowing that some day it will all end and I will have to start all over again.  Just wish I were home in my own room resting and thinking of my days in the army and swapping stories with some of the kids in the neighborhood.  I suppose I will never be able to take up where I left off but will have to find the remains and start over.  That seems to be just life, one struggle after another to find happiness.

I suppose I don't tell you much about training paths because you might have trouble doping it out and partly because I just don't know how to tell it.  Some of the stuff is so new to me I don't even know what is going on. Even so I suppose I could tell you a few of the details.

You asked about feathering again.  Well it is nearly putting the blades of the props in such a position so that the airflow around it will not make it turn.  When you cut an engine it continues to turn over at a constant rate which can be set in the cockpit by varying the blade angle which is done with the prop controls.  However a windmilling prop creates a great deal of excess drag and will do major damage to an engine which started out with only a minor break.

For instance say an oil line should break. If you couldn't feather the engine it would continue to turn with all the accessories operating.  The engine would windmill, the pump would dump all the oil overboard, the engine turning over with no oil would be ruined, either it would freeze and snap the props off or it would start a fire and the engine would eventually drop out or catch the whole ship afire.  However we feather the engine and stop its rotation and have only an oil line to repair when we get down.  Now you are a qualified instructor on the whys and wherefores of feathering an engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDBbDVF8vNo

It is getting awful hot around here now.  I don't know if I can get used to the heat like I did last summer.  It is so muggy that things just stick and make you uncomfortable.  I can't imagine what it will be like in 8 weeks but will probably find out because we are about to start another advance schedule.  This schedule can be broken at any time but I doubt if it will.  The class ahead of us hasn't even shipped and they were scheduled to go a month ago.  We can be pretty sure of going a month after them and they show no indications of leaving.  They expect to get a leave of some kind but it won't be anything big.  I am not due any time for another month so am not looking forward to it.

Well I hope you will forgive me for neglecting you.  I used to wish I had another mother but I have long since seen the foolishness of such a thing.  I wouldn't swap you for a hundred Trusedales and Hunts because they could never take your place.  I guess you are the indispensable member of the family, at least the one who sees all our weakness and loves us in spite of them.

With love
Austin

June 13, 1944

Luke Field

Arizona

June 13, 1944

Dear Mother:

As long as I have nothing pressing at present I will answer your letter of the 9th.

Since you seem to be full of questions I guess I can answer them, while I still have your letter before me.  School papers etc.  Well I have no idea what I could use them for in the future except show them to my grandchildren.  You can throw away anything that doesn't look too much like a lot of work such as chem papers and mechanical drawing papers etc.  I have forgotten most everything else anyway so they do me very little good.  Shoes I guess you can dispose of them the best way possible. I doubt if I will need any more civilian shoes for the duration plus!  The same goes for the clothes.  I may wish I had them after a while but it will be a lot more fun buying a new outfit.  I'll bet the girls wish they had prospects of starting out with a brand new outfit some day.  It sure would be fun buying all new clothes once.

Yes let Esther take the money and buy a Bond.  That seems to be the best place for it.  After next pay day I may send home another hundred.  Since I don't leave the post on weekends it sure piles up.

So you're not going to get attached to that dog, huh!  Well maybe that's what you thought last week.

No a furlough does not have to good a chance here.  As soon as we graduate we are put on active duty and our only chance for a little time off is a delay in route.  That is usually 10 days and unless I have good connections on planes I would spend too much time traveling. If I flew I could get home in 28 hours.  That would be swell.  Otherwise I will get a better look at this west.

We are scheduled to finish 4 Aug 44.  That is the exact day and the hour is approx 11:00.  How do you like that?  

Now the plane I will fly.  As I have said we may get a chance at the P-40's here but that chance seems slim now.  P40's are training ships for P51's now and we are in the wrong area to get 51's easily.  What we will get is the P39 and later the P61 a brand new fighter.  They have a rumor around that we might get P47's but I haven't seen any yet.  All this training comes after graduation. After graduating I may go to "Gila Bend" a gunnery school before I get my tactical ship.  It makes little difference as long as I get through.  Yes I have a lot of time to put in yet before I am even anywhere near a tactical pilot.  I have gotten as far from bomber planes as is possible.  I am strictly a single engine man now.

I like your illustrations very much.  You should have followed up the art work.  You missed your calling.

A feather merchant.  Well they are civilians in general who should be in the army instead of hiding behind the dodge that they are doing vital work for the army.  We get kind of tired of seeing them getting all the privileges of officers and special people and yet enjoying so many more things we can't.  I may not be too clear but to me they seem to be enjoying this war too much.

I finally got through that letter, what do you know.  Well keep up the questions, you may get more letters.  

Skeet shooting in Tyndall Field, FL

Yesterday I had some real fun.  We went to the skeet range on the other side of the field.  We shoot 12 gauge shotguns at clay birds.  It teaches deflection shooting which is so important in good combat shooting.  We get all the shells and birds we can shoot in 7 hours.  We are supposed to get 500 shots but will get 1000 to 1500.  You can bet there are a lot of men at home who would like to get a hold of that many.  They had one gun mounted on an ariel machine gun stand in all the same set up .  We used the same 70 mil. sight which is used on a plane.  You lead the bird one ring in the sight and let fly and poof!! goes the bird.  It looks like this  The sight is a ring of white light on a transparent green background.  It is a lot like shooting the planes in the penny arcade. I got about 20 hits out of 25 and felt kind of proud.  It sure is good to see that old bird explode when you hit it.  You should see the mess of broken birds after we finished.  I sure do get a chance to do a lot of things I never thought I could do as a civilian.  For the 1st time of shooting a shot gun I think I did as well as any of the fellows who have had experience.

Not much happens here.  Everything goes on pretty much as usual.  A P40 came in the other day with his wheels up and landed on his belly tank and caught fire.  They had a lot of smoke and flame and a lot of damage but no one was hurt.  We wear shoulder harnesses now to protect us from sudden stops.

Keep writing about what is going on.  The Independent doesn't quite cover everything.  Please tell Dad what my right address is.  None of his have been held up yet as far as I know.

With love

Austin.