October 3, 1943
Sun. 9:00 PM
Dear Folks:
Well folks I guess I better write a few words. I put in a full day yesterday. We flew in the morning, afternoon, and night. Altogether I got in 5 hrs. We flew today too. We flew a cross-country. We went part way at 500 ft. which is pretty low and then we were supposed to fly the last part at 15,000 ft. but it got cloudy so some of the boys didn’t go up. I found a big opening and went up to 17,000. This took me just to the top of the clouds.
I’m slated to go to Matagorda Island for gunnery instructor. My instructor is taking just 3 out of his 5 students. Jim Bouwkamp* isn’t going. Those that don’t go get put into X squadron and get extra time on
instruments and cross country. They won’t be fighter pilots. All of us who go to the island won’t be fighter pilots either because they don’t need that many. The idea is they can only take 70% to the island. So they pick out those who they think won’t make fighter pilots and leave them behind. The boys who are being left behind feel pretty bad.
I flew Friday night too. I went up with my instructor and he decided to go out and check the weather. Well we got out a ways and it was raining pretty hard. It was dark and everything was very confusing. My instructor was doing the flying and it got so bad that he had to go on instruments to get back. We went through clouds too. Once a person gets twisted up at night he’s just out of luck. You can’t tell up from down. Last night I took off on the wrong runway once.
But I don’t think they knew who it was that done it. Another fellow started to land on the wrong place. He was going to land on the taxi strips where some planes were taxiing out to take off. One of these fellows got so scared that he turned off and run out into the mud.
Last night I didn’t even ride with my instructor. I just went up solo.
Those of us who go the island get to fly P-40s too. We get 12 hrs. on them. The P-40 is a 1200 horsepower plane. They use them in combat. They are what was used in China by that American Volunteer Group. They are still being used very extensively. They are one of the toughest little planes we have. We start on those P-40s this week.
We are all done with school now so the half day we used to be in class we spend at maintenance and flying the P-40s. At maintenance I suppose we will learn how to tear ’em apart and put ’em back together again.
I’m certainly glad to hear that Jim likes school but I’m surprised at Dort for not liking it. tsk tsk.
43-I is all graduated and probably most of them are home on a 10 day leave by now. Just a month from today and we are scheduled to graduate. (Nov. 3)
Well folks I think I will close now and take a shower and go to bed. It doesn’t seem like October already, does it?
Yours truly,
Alva
P.S. What was that you said about the dog being gone and one calf lost?
*Note: Jim Bouwkamp did become a fighter pilot. After the war he attended college in Kansas and then re-enlisted in the Military during the Korean Conflict. He married and had three daughters, five grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 86.
Ancestors Across the Ages 