ELEMENTARY FLIGHT TRAINING SCHOOL
PRINCE ALBERT
THE SALVATION ARMY
“Keep in touch with the folks at home”
ON ACTIVE SERVICE WITH THE CANADIAN FORCES
Oct 29
#6 E. F. T. S.
Prince Albert, Sask.
Dear Mother:
Is it really the 14th since I last wrote? I always note it down each time I write but that seems an awfully long time ago. I wrote so many letters the last week in Saskatoon when I had nothing to do all day except dodge the sergeant that I must have lost track.
Oh—now I remember—mentioning about drawing flying kit etc.
Anyway we arrived in Prince Albert about noon and transferred to a couple of busses which took us the six miles to this station. It is a wonderful station too. North of the town I think and on the edge of the N. Saskatchewan River. The parade ground is openly exposed to the cold winds coming off the river so that for the first two days whenit was cold anyway I was freezing all the time.
Best of all the school is run by a civilian company. All instructors, ground and flying, except one (armament) are civilian. Actually the pilots are sergeant pilots on indefinite leave but they wear civilian instructors uniform and are paid by the company. Thus there is practically no discipline to hamper us and virtually no drill. Another thing of course is the meals are infinitely superior to anything we have met before. One reason for this is that there are only two hundred students here.
The day we arrived we were shown how a parachute is packed and then we went out to the sports field with the instructor who put the chute on and pulled the rip cord to demonstrate how to handle the risers in the wind etc. Afterwards we were each issued a chute for the duration of our stay here.
We fly half the day and go to ground school the other half and are supposed to fly on four days in each six. After we solo we get a lot of link but until that time arrives we apparently spend the link afternoons doing nothing. I’ve had two of these so far.
Ground school seems a bit of a farce so far. After waiting ½ hour or so for the instructor
you may get a short talk on the subject and then away he goes again. You wait 15 minutes and then there is a regular 20 minute recess. How different from I. T. S.! However the instructors say we will not have a minute to spare while we are here and so won’t mind being home at 10:30 every night except when we have to fly in the mornings when we cannot go off the station at all.
We had a test in armament and aircraft rec. when we arrived to see what we remembered from I. T. S. I got 96. In a wireless test at about 7 to 7½ I got 100 despite the long lay off.
Our class of 45 is divided into three flights, one flying while the other two are at gorund school and later on, at link. Being in the last flight I didn’t fly till yesterday.
We start by memorizing a cockpit check which you do when you are waiting around. There is plenty of this waiting to be done too because your flight is say 50 minutes and the rest of the a.m. or p.m. you do nothing.
When your turn comes you climb into the back seat, the instructor shows you how to fasten the harness and the location of various controls, and you taxi off to the starting point. The first flight is level flying. I did one turn and quite a bit of straight flying. This seemed fairly easy but I have a tendency to keep going into a slight climb.
On our flight today I handled the elevator on the takeoff while the instructor looked after the more complicated business of keeping the ship in a straight direction. I did more turns today but as there was a very low ceiling (1000’) we couldn’t do the climbing turns the schedule called for. I have 1 hr 40 minutes chalked up so far. I certainly have been up in the air. These moths give you a feeling of security despite their flimsy appearance.
I noticed that the province mentioned an accident we had here. Well it is the first fatal accident this station has ever had.
Mrs. Teddy Dodd phoned me last night. She saw me get off the train at P. A. and has asked me over for Sunday dinner. Ted is stationed at Dafoe which is close enough for him to come home for the weekends I believe.
Bob Davis is here. He had his 30-hour check yesterday and passed O.K. You are supposed to get between 50 and 75 hours by the time you finish here. The course is eight weeks and the ground school exams are written in the seventh. In the last week instead of ground school we get some machine gun practice and, weather permitting, skeet shooting.
With love from
Tony.
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THE SALVATION ARMY
“Keep in touch with the folks at home”
ON ACTIVE SERVICE WITH THE CANADIAN FORCES
[Prince Albert]
November 9, 1942
Dear Mother:
I am afraid I cannot yet report on a solo flight. Un fact I only have 6:10 of dual in so far. Such a small number is partly due to my having the ‘flu—today is my fourth day in the hospital. I am allowed to be up today and so should be out tomorrow.
About a dozen of the class have soloed so far. None of these have been from our flight which has had fewer allotted flying periods and more periods washed out by bad weather. One of my pals – Doug McGrath soloed yesterday. He had just over 12 hours dual which is about the maximum you are allowed. However he could have flown earlier but recently the weather has been so bad dual flying only was allowed. There has hardly been any sun since I’ve been here. It is snowing again today and I think there is practically no flying right now.
Two of the class have already washed out and gone to Trenton. One could not get over air sickness, the other was too nervous off the ground. I imagine several more will go this week.
Back on Aug 31 on my fourth flight I did some spins which I rather enjoyed. We started these at a height of 4500 and probably came down about 1000 feet. I was expecting the horrible sensation of the first drop on the Grand Dipper but didn’t get the feeling of falling at all. However you do turn quite quickly so that I would not want to do very many consecutively. The instructor did the first 2 or 3 and I the next two. Recovery from the spin was much easier than I expected it to be.
The last two trips have been to practise landings—we call it ‘circuits and bumps’. This is what you do—as soon as the runway is clear give full throttle. Take off at 50 mph and skim along the ground until going at 65, then climb at that speed. At 300 feet throttle back to 2150 rpm. At 500 feet look well around, open throttle, make a 90° climbing turn. Then throttle back again. At 1000 feet level off, throttle back to 2050, set trimming tab and keep air speed at 85. In a minute you make another 90° turn and fly till you’re in position to land. You are supposed to round off at 20 feet and slowly ease back the stick for a three point landing. As you can see there are much too many things to think about for each one takes a great deal of concentration. On my first attempt at this stuff the instructor seemed satisfied. He told me when to level off and when to ease the stick back to land etc.
On the next flight though I was extremely bad in every phase. Turns were not nearly so good as the second day I was up. Another flight like that would wash me up. I can only hope it was like that because I already had the flu.
On Sunday Bob Davis and I had dinner with Gint and her people. Ted was not there—his 48 came this weekend.
I wonder if you would send in my old ration book. Its number may be different than that on the letter since my licence & plates are different.
I have just got the letter you forwarded from Dick. The only censored part was his address so I’ve no idea where he is. He has just successfully pass [sic] his trade test for A grouping which gives him another 25¢ per day. He must be very close to a fighter station because Spitfires and Hurricanes are flying just over the chimney pots all the time.
Let me know if much time is saved by this going airmail. [Of the 10 letters posted from Prince Albert, this is the only to be sent via air mail. All the letters took three days to travel from Prince Albert to Okanagan Mission. The cost of regular postage was 3¢, of air mail postage, 6¢.]
With love from
Tony.
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THE SALVATION ARMY
“Keep in touch with the folks at home”
ON ACTIVE SERVICE WITH THE CANADIAN FORCES
[Prince Albert]
Nov 14 1942
Dear Mother:
I am back on my feet again but I was in the hospital for six days. All I had was a slight temparature [sic] and inflamed tonsils. I had a day off when I got out so now I am a long way behind the rest of the class. 20% of the class have now been washed out and have gone to Trenton. The rest have all soloed and have between 15 and 22 hours.
I did an hour of circuits and bumps yesterday and felt quite satisfied with the results considering the weeks lay off. My instructor has gone on a holiday which is a bit annoying as I liked him but the man replacing him is going to be OK too and he is one of the senior instructors. I had another hour today—mostly climbing turns and spins this time. These spins were really violent this time and gave me quite a thrill. We came out of one quite sharply and I had to tense my neck very strongly to hold my head up. A funny sensation. Only one landing today and it was bad—almost a ground loop.
With love from
Tony.
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THE SALVATION ARMY
“Keep in touch with the folks at home”
ON ACTIVE SERVICE WITH THE CANADIAN FORCES
[Prince Albert]
Nov 20 1942.
Dear Mother:
Well I was in the hospital for six days altogether and then I had a day off to recuperate so I’ve lost a valuable weeks flying. Really it was the mildest flu I’ve ever had. I nearly got out one day but my temparature [sic] went up slightly at night which meant staying in all the next day and night.
It was most unfortunate to miss this week for it is the only week our flight got any decent hours. Thus while I still have only 8:10 hours everybody else soloed ages ago and have over twenty hours on the average. Our flight has had no flying at all this week until today due to poor weather. Actually we weren’t slated to fly today but were sent over to fly in the afternoon in an effort to catch up with the other two flights who have been much more fortunate in the weather. This meant that our own instructors were not there and so again I got no flying. The others did because they can go up solo. One of the senior instructors said I might have to drop back a class. (Three of the class that arrived two weeks after us have already soloed). This is O.K. as far as flying is concerned but I am damned if I’m going to repeat ground school which is so slow here as to be uninteresting. We have been writing our mid terms this week and I’m certainly not behind in ground subjects. It is also very annoying to lose all your friends.
Of our class of originally 45 ten have been washed out so far. (A high percentage isn’t it?). Among these are Cam Maddin, Lorne’s brother, and my closest friend here Doug. Lee. Even after you have soloed you are by no means safe for two of ours washed out after successful solo flights. And in the last graduating class two washed out at the 60-hour mark.
Last Saturday (the last time I flew) the circuit was so crowded we couldn’t practice landings which is what I need more than anything. Instead we did more spins. I was with a different instructor and these spins particularly all climbing turns were violent. I didn’t know where I was for awhile on one of his demonstrations.
On Sunday I spent the afternoon with Ted and Gint. Ted had to go back at 5:30 and we walked down to the station with him. It was very cold and we nearly froze. Soon afterwards it started to snow heavily and there was about 8”. It has been snowing intermittently since then (every time we are supposed to be flying). Yesterday it was 28 below but it is away above zero today.
In the last two days I have put in my first two hours on the link. All our link is under the hood—blind flying—and it is fiendish. The instruments are airspeed, turn and bank, tachometer, compass and altimeter and at least the first three must be watched with the most deadly concentration. Unfortunately the turn and bank works rather opposite to the moth so that the turn indicator is controlled surprisingly by the bank on the stick which is more like the Cessnas we fly later and so natural impulses must be restrained. I try not to move the rudder at all because it is too much effort to figure out just which way the ball of the bank indicator would move. On the first lesson you just try to keep the turn and bank centralized while occasionally glancing at the compass to see you[r] heading remains about the same. The instructor has a duplicate set of instruments and so knows what you are doing and in addition an electric ‘crab’ on his desk traces your path on a piece of paper. So far so good. The really tough part is to keep the airspeed at 85 by raising or lowering the nose. Suppose you find the airspeed is 70 you push the stick forward into a glide. Unfortunately there is a lag until the speed picks up and so you hold it forward too long and when the speed does pick up it keeps on going, even though you now have the stick back, up and up passed [sic] 90 and even 100. So you put the stilck frantically forward and the process is repeated. To make it worse the thing is extremely sensitive and actually the stick is not moved ½” and usually less than 1/4”. Just when you get it more or less at 85 rough air is turned on and you concentrate hard on keeping turn and bank central. Then suddenly you realize with horror that your airspeed had dropped to 50 and you are almost in a stall. (The link will spin just like an aeroplane if you drop below the stalling speed).
I thought this would never be mastered but today I held it dead on 85 for a long time and travelled in a straight line. My system was to hold the stick with both hands supporting it gently with fingertips and hardly breathing at all. However this didn’t last long because I had to try something new. This was to move the throttle down from 2000 rpms to 1500 rpms and keep speed at 85 by slightly moving the stick forward. This was hard but not as hard as keeping the airspeed at a given figure and maintaining a certain altitude by varying the r.p.m. and of course the stick. I suppose later on these last exercises will have to be done under rough air and while turning. You have a two way phone communication with the instructor. They were wise to design it so that your own headphones are connected to your microphone for a muttered curse is loudly amplified in your own ears. Thus you don’t do it twice.
We have airmail service from here to Vancouver, the mail plane landing on this airport twice a day. Airmail letters from Vancouver get here very quickly which is why I thought it would save time.
Well, it is too bad you have to lose the 7% from the mill. It certainly has been a profitable investment especially when you get all the capital back.
It sounds as if you had a very successful shooting season this year.
With love from
Tony.
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THE SALVATION ARMY
“Keep in touch with the folks at home”
ON ACTIVE SERVICE WITH THE CANADIAN FORCES
[Prince Albert]
Nov 24 1942
Dear Mother:
Well at last I have done it. I soloed today! I was feeling pretty blue last night because I could not get the hang of these landings and it looked as if I was finished. I did circuits and landings for 1:40 hrs on Saturday and 2:00 on Sunday. At noon Sunday when I had a total of 10:50 hrs my instructor said he could afford to give me only one more hour. Well he did that in the afternoon and then another hour on Monday. The extra time was because I was in the hospital and perhaps because the rest of my flying was O.K. After the hour on Monday the instructor gave up. He said he had done everything he could and he had. I had no kick against him after being given the extra time. However he said the flight commander would take me up and see if he could find what the trouble was. I talked with the latter Monday night and he seemed to hit on the trouble right there. I had been looking too straight ahead rather than off to one side. When I went up with him this morning the first landing was perfect and I was sure he had really found the trouble. However the next was as bad as usual dropping in from about four feet. The next was worse. I was about seven feet up and had to slam the throttle and go around again. I forget what sort of landing it was eventually except that it was bad. The last landing was fair. One difficulty I have that the others in our class missed is the snow which makes it more difficult to judge the distance. This afternoon I was called away from classes to go up again. There was a moderate wind and it was quite bright for a change—really ideal conditions except that it was bumpy air. I made two circuits with the flight commander. Both landings were rough but really not too bad. As we taxied back he asked if I thought I could bring it down alone and I assured him I could. I doubt if he was too confident for he said he was taking a great responsibility so I promised I wouldn’t let him done [sic]. Then we got out and looked in the compartment for the red ribbons to put on the wings so that other air/c would keep away. They were missing so I went up without them. I wasn’t the tiniest bit nervous—it was great. It felt a bit strange not to see anybody in front of you—that was all. The landing was fair—probably stalled in from not over 18 inches. The flight commander is awfully nice—the sort of jovial chap who immediately instils confidence, which was something I was fast losing. I am not really in the clear yet. For the next four hours or so I will practise landings going up with an instructor for the first one or two circuits of each hour. I had 14:10 hrs dual before the solo which is quite a bit more than any of the others.
Now that I expect to be here awhile will you please send up my two pairs of Siwash wool socks. They should be good inside the flying boots.
As far as ground work is concerned I will stay with this class but may be attached to the class that just came in for flying. In the few, easy midterm exams I averaged 92% which is probably first. I failed in Aldous lamp but this was just marked pass or fail. Each in our class had “50” rounds on the skeet range yesterday. It was miserably cold there which might be one reason why none of us hit many birds. Then I fired 50 rounds on a Browning .303 machine gun. I was much better at this. However quickly you release the trigger button it is almost impossible except for an expert to keep a burst below three rounds. They fire 1150 rounds per minute and when you see the mechanism you wonder how this is possible.
Well I am glad this letter did not have to tell you a much different story.
With love from
Tony.
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THE SALVATION ARMY
“Keep in touch with the folks at home”
ON ACTIVE SERVICE WITH THE CANADIAN FORCES
[Prince Albert]
Dec 1st 1942
Dear Mother:
I haven’t been off the station since I last wrote. For the last three or four weeks we have been flying Sunday morning which keeps us in on Saturday night.
I have now got over 21 hours of flying 6 of which is solo. All this solo has been on the circuit but now I will be able to leave the circuit and practise the other phases of flying. And high time too—it is so long since I made a right hand turn I have alsmost forgotten how. My landings are far from perfect yet but the number of good ones each hour increases and the odd one is really good.
It was awfully crowded in the circuit yesterday and it really keeps you busy looking at your instruments and keeping a very watchful eye for other planes.
So far I have not been transferred to another class even for flying. We write our final exams in ground school next week. I don’t think the class as a whole will do very well as nobody bothers to study. It is rather hard to know just what to study as grtound school seems so disorganized.
The instructor who soloed me is very optimistic. He says I can finish up with the rest and it sounds O.K. on paper. 2 hrs a day day [sic] for 20 days makes the total up to the minimum 60. Actually it is hard to average this much and I should get much more than 60 due to soloing so late. Also it will be hard to catch up in night flying as the others will be finished with this before I am ready to start. The only chance I see is that if the class happens to get leave I might forgo it and hence catch up.
Link is as maddening as ever. Today I was doing turns which means another instrument to watch. This is a stop watch which you start when the turn commences. Turning a rate 1 turn on the indicator is 3° per second.
Today the station changed over from civilian to RCAF as far as flying is concerned. This brings some funny circumstances. Most of the older and hence [better?] pilots here are sgts. Even the chief flying instructor is a sgt. while some of the junior instructors are pilot officers.
We moved to a different barrack block last night and it seems to be devoid of any heat. The old one was unsatisfactory too for the [sic] must have [been?] 10° difference in temp on upper and lower beds. When it was really uncomfortably hot on the upper bed even for me it was chilly on the lower beds.
Thank Mary for the pictures she sent. I hope you got the photos I sent O.K.
With love from
Tony.
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[Prince Albert]
Dec 8. 1942
Dear Mother:
I have got 29:20 chalked up in my log now. Flying is becoming more interesting now because I can go away from the circuit by myself. My instructor showed me how to do steep turns recently and I have been practising these mostly when I am out on my own. Doing these you have about 60° of bank and the horizon fairly whizzes past your eyes. I don’t usually hold the turn for the full 360° because if you don’t lose any altitude (and you shouldn’t of course) you will hit your own slipstream and this can easily knock you over on your back. This hasn’t happened yet but I’ve had to give hard aileron several times to hold it. I am usually up 4500 feet so that I have lots of time if anything happens. On my first trip away from the circuit I got up to 6000 on a climbing turn and suddenly found I was practically in the clouds. I soon came done [sic].
Usually I just leave time to get home within the hour so I have to fly straight home. So I put the nose down and gradually lose altitude all the way back and let the speed build up to 95. Then I trim the aircraft so it flies itself, take my hands off the controls and relax to enjoy the panorama below. I have a 30-hour check coming up soon but before that time I must have lots of forced landing practise (done with an instructor only) and be able to do spins on my own.
We have just finished the first day of our final exams. Navigation and armament—the latter a very easy exam. We finish up tomorrow and then can really concentrate on flying.
The link continues to be very troublesome. I am now doing compass turns which brings in more difficulties. Turning on to a N heading you have to overshoot about 30°. Going on to a S heading you undershoot a like amount. But you can turn right into an E or W heading. This is further complicated since compass and magnetic headings are not the same and you have to look up the difference on a card posted in the cockpit.
If I get put back one class I will get 1 day at Christmas, 5 at New Years. I am hoping our class will all get leave so that by forgoing leave myself I could catch up again.
With love from
Tony.
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[Prince Albert]
Dec 16. 1942
Dear Mother:
My flying hours are slowly mounting but hampered a lot recently by poor weather. The log now stands at 40 hrs. I should have had my thirty hour check long ago but the instructors who give these are busy with final checks on our class who leave on Friday. Very few have had this and as it is snowing hard right now (noon) I don’t know how it will all be done in time.
My first spins were exciting—had I not been so busy they would have been alarming. The first two were fair but on the next I got out of control. I had the spin stopped and the nose was coming up on the horizon when I felt something seemed wrong. Then I noticed that although the wings were level the bank indicator was right over. I couldn’t figure this out and my efforts to correct it resulted in another spin. I stopped this very quickly, in fact it was almost a jolt and it nearly started to go the other way before she got properly level. I came out at a terrific speed and climbed quickly up to regain some of the 2000 feet I had lost. I had started at 5800 feet so had lots to spare really but I confined the rest of the time to lesser exciting steep turns. (I have now got spins mastered so that I have no apprehension about doing them and indeed rather enjoy them). Soon after commencing the steep turns I noticed the engine was throwing oil. By the time I got home forward visibility was zero so it si lucky the field was almost empty when I came in.
Another day I went up with my instructor. At 1000 feet we got into clouds and visibility was zero. At 2200 we were above the clouds which were an even grey blanket just below us. Very far away you could see ground. After awhile we spied a hole in the clouds and came down below again. We practised forced landings for awhile but the ceiling was really too low so we headed for home. Soon after we got in the weather cleared completely which should have been an indication of something and we were all sent out solo. I was up at 5000 most of the time where it was quite smooth but the unusual drift indicated a pretty strong wind. Coming home I let down to 2000 and started to encounter very bumpy air. In fact I never dreamt air could be so bumpy—the closest comparison I could make would be riding a bucking horse. Not realising the wind had veered I came in out of wind the first time and drifted obliquely accross [sic] the field. I saw I would drift into another plane even if you could land that much out of wind so at 20 ft I gave her the gun and went around again. The same thing happened the second time so I went far down wind and made a powered approach from 1000 feet. The eventual landing was perfect. I tried to taxi in but I just whirled around in a small circle due to the strength of the wind and had to wait for someone to come out to hold the wing tip. There were planes dotting the field in similar predicaments and some planes parked on the tarmac had blown into one another before almost every available man had been called out to usher them into the safety of a hangar.
I have just learned that our class is being posted 6 to Dauphin and the rest to Saskatoon ones [?]. The latter have leave until Jan 10 so at present I see no reason why I could not make this. I did well in ground school with an average of 95.7. I don’t think there is anybody else in the 90s because the average of the highest marks got in any subject by anyone else is 93 4/7.
My link mark (not included above[)] was 71. Most people were in the 70’s and highest was 85. In the link test you trace out a U track that looks like this. [diagram] It takes about 13 minutes. Most of the time you fly at 85 mph but from A to B you climb 500 at 65 and from C to D lose 1000 at 65 and from E to the finish X at 70 maintaining constant altitude. Each turn must be timed and when the compass settles down, adjusted to the exact compass heading. Just after point D you must remember to reset the stop watch. It is altogether quite a strain.
I was over to the Dodds again on Sunday and have been asked their [sic] for Christmas.
With love from
Tony.
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[Prince Albert]
Dec 27. 1942
Dear Mother:
Well Christmas is all over and it was very pleasant. Many thanks for the parcel and everything in it. The cake is splendid and you’ll be glad to hear the cellophane comes off better as the cake ages. As for some days there have been only two of us in the whole barrack block the cake will last some time. The Sweater is lovely and something I really needed. Thank you Mary. I spent Christmas eve and Day with Mrs. Chaney, daughter Gynt and Ted. Both the children had just caught colds and could not enjoy Christmas to the utmost but the elder recovered enough to open his presents and to have some turkey. It was very pleasant and quite a change which is what I needed for I was getting rather fed up lying around the hangar waiting for a flip.
Since our class left I have had a lazy life. I never go on a parade, rarely have any breakfast and often don’t get up before 8:45. I am transferred to Course 68 but at first was still flying at my hangar which was different than 68 so perhaps they wondered just were [sic] I was. They haven’t quite caught up to me at the guard house yet and I have been going out nearly every night even though my flight was CBed.
On the 23rd I was shown how to do loops and rolls and went on a crosscountry [sic] dual flight. Then on the 24th I was moved over to the new hangar. That is when I got fed up for it took most of the day to decide which flight I was to be in and then to realize that that [sic] flying was not on that day. This was particularly annoying as I could see that I was now even behind Course 68 and because I have had no night flying will not be able to finish quite when they do. Of course I will be through long before my old class starts in Saskatoon but it may be difficult now to arrange to get in that draught.
Yesterday I went over to the hangar determined to get some flying so I got the flight commander to authorize me out and I put in three hours solo. I practised landings the first hour, making small circuits to get in a lot of them and they were all O.K. A bright sunny day makes all the difference. After that I climbed up to 7000 debating whether or not to try a loop. Yes, I would, and that first one was so enjoyable I tried many more.
Today I put in the maximum daily allowance of 4 hours making the total now 58:45. The first flight lasting 1:50 was a triangular cross country solo. It was clear and sunny and so warm I didn’t need to wear gloves. This made keeping my log much easier and it was a pleasant trip.
After lunch I had my first flight with my new instructor—no other flight has been like it. Before we even left the ground I put the hood over and took off blind flying under his direction. We climbed up to 6000 practising turns on the way and then I did two spins still under the hood. I think I must have been lucky for he was simply amazed with my recoveries which he said were just as good as if there was no hood over me. However I had some difficulty pulling out of the ensuing dive for although the airspeed was dropping rapidly the sensation was that of a vertical dive. It is hard to subdue your senses sometime.
Then he put the plane in such a position that the turn needle was right over and bank indicator over in the opposite direction and told me to recover normal flight. I don’t know what it started as but I got into a spiral dive. I saw the airspeed creeping up and up passed 150 and naturally pulled more and more on the stick. This was the wrong thing to do for I should have got the turn and bank control first. I didn’t know how to do the latter anyway so he had to give me a hand. (Incidentally the reason for the bank indicator being hard over in those first spins is simply that I was skidding. A touch of rudder would have fixed it).
After the spiral dive I came out from under the hood and my instructor asked me how my stomach was. However I had been unaffected so he took over and really gave me the works. Stalls, stalls turns, inverted flying slow rolls, a variety of snap rolls and stunts as yet unnamed. Several times I felt as if I had had enough and was on the point of remarking on it during a lull when he would suddenly do some other crazy thing. It was quite fun but almost too much of a good thing.
Then I took over and headed for home. All of a sudden the motor cut out. It took a few seconds for me to realise that I was supposed to do something and then I turned the gas on again. So then he cut the throttle and told me to make a practise forced landing. It wasn’t very good. I picked about the worst field and made a bad approach. Just above the ground he took over, made a thrilling steep turn and away we went.
This instructor is one of the first to realise I am behind the others and don’t want to be so we should get on very well with each other.
We have absolutely no fatigue work to do here. Distributing coal to the various barrack blocks, sweeping floors, taking planes in and out of the hangars etc. is all done by the civilian personnel. Absolutely the only exercise I get is walking to the mess hall or hangar. There is no P. T.
I had a letter from Peter just before Christmas. He must have lost my address for it had started out at #3 M. Depot and gone to every station I have been to. He says he is going to Sandhurst (or did you tell me that).
I imagine S.m [?] Simpson made a good deal. Wasn’t there a terrific surplus (did they call it a “Rest Fund”) which would indicate that the value of the shares had doubled unless the assets were very much overstated.
With love from
Tony,
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[Prince Albert]
Jan 2 /43
Dear Mother:
I am moved back again to my original hangar but while flying from the other one I got in a lot of flying and I’ve now got 72:45 hrs. That instructor I had at the other hangar could really fly. Last Tuesday we went on a cross country to Saskatoon. I flew in the instructors seat and my instructor took off under the hood and set course under my directions. After awhile, still under the hood, he did some loops and rolls perfectly. I might say here that in the last two days I have had two different instructors whom I have asked to show me rolls. The first one showed me a couple but they were bad. He blamed it on the ship and I know a lot of these ships are hard to roll. The other flatly admitted he couldn’t do rolls very well and didn’t even show me any. You’ll get the idea it cannot be easy under the hood.
Continuing on our way to Saskatoon we started to run into bad weather so I said to the instructor that soon we would both be flying by instruments. So he lifted the hood and I showed him where we were on the map. We had to come down a bit but it wasn’t bad and we had no trouble getting to Sask.
However we stayed too long and the engine got so cold it wouldn’t start when we were ready to leave. The next day it snowed very hard all day so that we couldn’t leave till the following (Thurs.) morning. My instructor wasn’t very happy for he was due for 5 days holiday and wanted to get to Calgary for New Years Eve. (He did too—by flying).
I did my first hours night flying tonight. It was a pitch dark night which did not help any. After that one hour flying was washed out which is most annoying as I have to get a total of 4 and you ca only fly 2 hrs a night. There is night flying on Sun and Mon so I may be able to leave here Tues. But if bad weather stops night flying there may be no more till near the end of next week which would be dreadful.
When I do get leave it will be indefinite—that is I will wait until told to report somewhere. Quite likely it won’t be before Jan 28th.
Had quite a good time New Years Eve. I teamed up with Dave Bone who used to be in our office and went to a good show and then a dance at the Armouries.
Well with a little luck I should be home quite soon.
With love from
Tony.