War Can Be Fun If You Don't Get Killed
or
Nil Carborundum Illegitimi
On Nov 13, 1943 I was sent to NAAS Beaville, TX for instrument flight training in Squadron VN13D8. Used SNV's and Link Trainers. Obtained 22 hour flight time plus many hours in the Link. Lt. Irwin was my instructor. Had Thanksgiving dinner with several other cadets with a family in town.
Ordered my officer's uniform here from Finchley in Chicago where my father had his suits made. I paid Finchley $211.35 on April 1, 1944. There may have been a down payment but I don't have that record.
I ordered a new set of wool blues and a set of Wool greens that I still have, except for one pair of the green pants that I used in college. I never had the cadet blues stripped, but I used them a lot during the winter in Texas.
It was about this time that I acquired the leather jacket with fur collar that lasted throughout college and was terminated many years later by my oldest son, Ivor.
Instrument flying was all with an instructor. The student flew under a hood and could not see out of the aircraft. Just had the instruments to fly with. The Link was a ground simulation of this. The Link did not have the feel of an airplane, but if you crashed so what?? Most aircraft had some sense of their own. They wanted to right themselves. The Link didn't.
Rose Antique Airplane Fly In 7/5/92 SNJ
Arrived at NAAS Kingsville, TX on Jan 2, 1944. Was put in Squadron VN15D8-A, barracks #7, squad 14-a. We flew SNJ's which were made by North American, were all metal and had retractable landing gear. They were almost an operational aircraft.
Somehow I picked up one hour in an N3N which looks like a Stearman. The N3N was made by the Navy. The weather was bad much of the time with fog and low clouds. There was a lot of waiting. Put in 103 flying hours (eight were at night) with lots of bombings and gunnery practice. The SNJ had a 30 caliber that fired through the propeller......most of the time. Once in a while you had a hole in the propeller. This was repaired by putting a balancing hole in the other side of the propeller.
N3N at Palwaukee Airport, Wheeling, Illinois
Gunnery practice was done on a cloth sleeve about the size of the fuselage of an aircraft that was towed on a long rope by an aircraft. Gunnery runs were from the side, not the rear end as was the usual combat tactic. We practiced low 90 degree runs where you came up from below the sleeve, level runs, and runs from a higher position. The first qualifying run was from below. I just hung there and fired away qualifying on the first run. I never used the gun sight. I just looked over the cowl and watched the tracers. The higher runs were harder. Each pilot had a different color tip on his bullets that left a mark on the sleeve so you could tell who made the hits.
I had always been more than a fair shot. I used to pop chipmunks out of my bedroom window in Glencoe with a 22 caliber rifle. With the right background I could see the bullets going away from me. A little black dot.
When I was about 14 years old, I went into Chicago on the North Shore electric train. Got off in the loop. Went to the second floor of VL&A on Wabash Avenue, and purchased a bolt action, 22 caliber Winchester rifle and a lot of ammunition. I went out of the store with the rifle fully assembled, unpacked and over my shoulder, got on the train, sat down, put the rifle between my knees and rode home. No one paid any attention to me. I wonder how that would work today. My son Ivor now has that rifle and some of the old ammunition. The ammunition still works.
The first time I went out to the Flight line at Kingsville, a cadet taking off in formation with 2 other SNJ's crashed and was incinerated in a ball of flames in front of me. I made a mental note not to do that.
I went back to the main base at Corpus Christi where I was appointed an Ensign with date of rank April 1, 1944. I had just turned 21 years old. My serial # is 368298. John Paul Jones is #1. I was designated a Naval aviator (A-V (N)) on April 5, 1944. Pay jumped from $75 per month to $150 a month plus $75 flight pay and a $21 substinance. Yes, officers had to pay for their meals at the BOQ and in the ward room on a ship. And they usually cost slightly more than the $21 given us. I believe there was also a small uniform allowance and a combat premium. I also was required to carry $10,000 life insurance at $6.50 per month which was unceremoniously docked.
Departed Corpus Christi on April 5, 1944. I traveled with Ens. Nicholas Terance Redeye who was from New York State and I believe was a Mohawk and wanted to be a doctor. I had known him at Kingsville. We went by train to Florida with a stop over in New Orleans for a few days. He went to NAS Miami and I never saw him again.
I went to NAS Ft. Lauderdale arriving April 10, 1944, for training in Torpedo bombers. I flew Grumman TBF's (plus a few hours in SNJs and one hour in an SNB ( a twin engine Beach that I don't remember) for 105 hours. Eleven of these were at night. I have photos of the squadron but don't remember a single name. Departed Ft. Lauderdale June 10, 1944 by train to Chicago.
The TBF did not have dual controls (the first 50 built did have duel controls but I never saw one of these). You just got in it and went.
The only torpedo I ever carried was dropped on a target vessel out of Port Everglades, Florida and ran under it as it was supposed to do. These torpedoes had no war head and were designed to float after their run was completed so that they could be picked up and used again. This was early recycling.
When the squadron finished training at Ft. Lauderdale, the instructor (rear left in the following photo, I am in front of him) said he was required to pick someone to go to Landing Signal Officers' (LSO) School and the pick could get out of this service only after finishing the school. He chose me. I don't remember what I had done to him.
Squadron Pilots at Ft. Lauderdale, June 1944
While at a restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale with a group of the squadron pilots, the Ensign (front right in the photo) who I believe was from Montana and had a mustache reached out and patted a waitress who was facing away, on the rump. She snapped around with flames in her eyes. He just smiled at her. The flame died out and was replaced with a smile.
Squadron with Pilots and Aircrew
TBF in background
We were required to swim one mile, this was done off shore from the beach at Ft. Lauderdale. I had done this once before when my sail boat capsized in Lake Michigan and swam most of the way with Chuck Sampson until being picked up by the life-guard, Dey Watts, in a row boat.
Ft. Lauderdale was a nice small town with a beautiful beach. It's a big city now with many high rise buildings and not near as nice. The Navy airfield is now the commercial airport.
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