May 26, 1943
Wed 7:30 P..M.
Dear Folks:
I am writing this in Corsicana. We have open post tonight until 9:30 but there isn’t much to do. I came in mostly to see if I could buy a watch but all the jewelry stores are closed.
I had my 20 hour check ride yesterday and I didn’t do so good. I got a U-4 on it. Which means unsatisfactory and I have to take it over again after 4 more hours of instruction. I thought I was doing good but when I got down he said I was coordinating my rudder and stick. After the check ride yesterday, I went up with my instructor and gave him the best ride I’ve ever given him.
Today I had my accuracy stage. On this we have to land on a certain spot. The instructors stand about 1/3 the way up the field and we are supposed to land opposite them. My first 2 landings were a little short of the spot but my next 3 were just about right. I sat that plane down nice and easy too. My instructor said that I done good. All I have to do is ride that U off. It will probably be about Friday.
About 20% of our class has washed out so far. One of the boys in my room has an army check tomorrow. If he fails that he will be finished. He worries a lot about these check rides so I’m afraid he hasn’t much chance.
A boy in the next room washed out yesterday because of air sickness. He is a great big husky boy too.
The upper class men moved on to basic yesterday and a new class came in from pre-flight. So we have to move to a new barracks.
I heard that Murell is home for a week. Which reminds me, I got a letter from Gladys yesterday.
I now have 22 hrs and 5 min in the air so far. Today I went up and did 2 spins while I was alone. On one of these when I was recovering I got the nose too low. If I hadn’t had that safety belt on I would have been thrown clear out of that plane. There was a little slack in the belt and I could feel myself start out and then I could feel the safety belt holding me back. Boy that certainly gave me a funny feeling. My bunk mate went up and did a spin by himself. He wasn’t supposed to do it but he did anyway. Well he got it into the spin and when he tried to get it out the old thing just started spinning faster. When he finally got it out he had dropped over 3500 ft and he wasn’t too far from the ground. I guess the plane brought itself out. These planes will straighten themselves out in time if a person just takes his hands and feet off the controls. That fellow was scared out of 10 years growth in those few seconds.
We had a funny experience when we was moving yesterday. We were busily putting our stuff in our new lockers when the fellow next to me saw a big snake curled up in the bottom of his locker. Well everybody came a running but they took one look and some of them got out of there. One fellow got way on top of the lockers on the other side of the room (which is almost up to the ceiling). Another one got up on a table and most of the rest of them were ready to run for the door. Well a couple of the boys got some sticks and were going to get the snake outdoors with the sticks. This one fellow said that he knew something about snakes so he was going to show us how to get him out. Well we fooled around for about 15 min when we finally found out that it was just an imitation snake. Then we all laughed until we were almost sick. We just laughed and laughed and laughed. What struck me funny was: here we were a bunch of “brave” pilots and we were afraid of a wooden snake. But that thing looked just as live as could be.
Hardly any of the boys are going back for Navigators or Bombardiers. Most of the wash-outs are being sent right into the G.I. army.
Well so long,
Alva
Ancestors Across the Ages 