Wednesday

3/17/43

Dear Miss Thompson, et al,

Well, yours truly is attempting to grow a pair of wings  Army style, not the celestial type  down in the sunny south. And, its about the most difficult thing I have ever tried. The Army demands precision and accuracy  a 90 degree turn has to be 90 degrees, not 87 or 92.

Before I got to this place, I had never been in the air. In fact, looking out of a high window in a tall building used to make me weak in the knees. My first trip, found me slightly nervous  in fact for my first four flights I wasnt perfectly at ease  always slightly uncomfortable.

To my surprise, I found no sensation of height. It was quite a shock to look over the side of the plane at buildings which had suddenly become dwarfed in size.

On later flights, I was introduced to the art of stalling, spinning, and otherwise destroying the natural equilibrium of the plane. The ship, if left alone will fly level and straight  one of the confidence-building maneuvers consists of having the instructor take his hands off the controls, you do the same, the ship flies along merrily.

Stalls consist of climbing the ship at a steep angle  too steep for the engine. The plane loses speed, falls out from underneath you. On my first stall, the plane fell out from under (so it seems), the safety belt pulled me down with it, but my stomach continued to rise until it lodged in my throat. The sensation is akin to riding a roller coaster.

Spins are what you see in the movies having aviation as a plot. The nose points down, the tail gyrates around and around madly, the wind howls through the wires, while the earth spins up rapidly and madly toward you. Quite a sensation!

My first loop was quite something. One second Im looking down at the ground, the next Im looking up at the ground!

We fly in planes that have two open cockpits, each one equipped with dual controls. Thus, if I do something wrong, the instructor can correct it with his controls.

Right now Im attempting to learn how to land the plane. I either land it 10 feet in the air or try to land it 10 feet underground.

Half of our day is spent flying. Each instructor has fine standards  we average about 50 minutes apiece in the air each day. The other half of the day is spent at ground school  taking course such as Theory of Flight, Meteorology, Navigation, and Engines. This half of the day also includes an hour of athletics  designed to take our minds off flying.

The field is located near the town of Arcadia, in the southern central portion of Florida. Arcadia means Garden of the Gods, to me it seems more like the outhouse are for the gods. There is nothing to do in town  one movie, six square blocks of business area, and a railroad station. There is more to do on the field during the weekends than in town because we have a gorgeous swimming pool, six clay tennis courts, basketball courts, etc.

The field is run by civilians under Army contract. We have Army officers who conduct the military end of affairs.

We live in long, low, dormitory type barracks. Four men to a room, private shower & lavatory. Green lawns, flagstone walks, Spanish patios, all help you forget that there is a war going on. If it werent for the uniforms, you might imagine yourself at a country club. In fact, the cadets have been relaxing so much of late that we have a rigid enforcing of discipline lately  with resultant gripings on our part.

Its much too early for me to predict whether or not Ill be able to complete this primary course and go onto basic, where we fly bigger, heavier, more powerful planes. Frankly, Im not too optimistic because I cant see much progress in my flying. My instructor doesnt castigate (in Army talk  castigate refers to the reaming out, verbally, of a certain portion of the anatomy not usually mentioned in polite society) me very much, so I cant tell what he thinks of my aptitude. However, of the last class of 300 men, only 120 finished the nine week course. The present upper class, which has about two more weeks to go, has lost 62% of their 300. My class, which has been here only three weeks, has lost about 10% already.

But, Im trying. If Im washed out, it wont be for lack of effort.

The drawing which decorates the first page of this letter is not original. I copied it out of our handbook on flying. The pictures are used to illustrate, graphically, what to do & what not to do. A lot of our flying is done right on terra firma.

Incidentally, in one of last years issues of Colliers or American magazine, there is an excellent article about this field. You can find it if youre interested in a more complete account of the Army training program for cadets. I imagine it would be listed in the digest under Aviation, Carlstrom Field, Aviation Cadets  or some such head. I havent used a digest for quite a long period  I forget just how to refer to them.

Will you please pass this letter on to Mrs. Plenty and Mr. French, I would write them, but their letters would be exact duplicates of this  except that in Mr. Frenchs, my body language wouldnt be quite so restrained.

Regards to all the folks at the college.

Saul

P.S. Dirt.
Mike Lemerman is now attending Georgia Tech, where the Army sent him for training as an Aviation Engineering student. He will come out of there with a commission, when  ?

Irv Rubin is in the Air Corps also at Miami Beach.

Joe Martin is still at Orlando, Fla. Hes getting married soon. So is, I forget to mention, Lemerman.

P.P.S.
How about that folder for pictures? Id appreciate having one  for myself. And, if that picture you took of me at the college came out  a copy of it too, please!

Thanks,

S