Dear Folks,

I was all set to write you last Sun. evening when they called us and sent us off down to Palmdale to get away from some of this fog. We flew all night Sun. and Mon., landed back here about 5:00 A.M. Tues. Got in 14 hrs. which finished us up in that phase and now we are ready to start on the last lap. We start fling the Black Widows either tomorrow or the day after. Andy and I were both plenty tired Mon. morning as all of our flying down there were navigational trips, and they tend to tire out the rear end. Poor Andy in the back end doing all the navigation and trying to keep me awake really had a rough time. He is learning his navigation pretty well and in another month should be petty sharp. His address will be changing pretty soon as will mine but until then you can send it to the same address as mine, Lt. Harold A. Anderson 0872250.

About Zoe’s makeup kit, either brown, tan and if nothing else red. All she needs in it is divisions and maybe a mirror. Oh yes she wants a regular suit case type (shape of a suitcase). As for anything else I am at a complete loss, in fact if you can think of anything that I could get her just let me know. I’ve got her a compact out at the P.X. for her birthday, but I am stumped.

Dad, it’s too bad that you have to work on Xmas + New Year’s, here’s hoping that too many turkey bones don’t get stuck.

About the radio, Bob got one from home so there isn’t any need to send yours. I should have told you sooner but thought it might have been on the way. The Tribune clipping was really swell, as for the name being spelled wrong, that isn’t the first time its happened and it probably won’t be the last.

Cleda, I received your letter and I certainly hope you are feeling better. Can’t Dad prescribe some vitamins for you? Get him on the ball.

Hope everyone at 828 is O.K. give them my love and I’ll write them soon.

Goodnight –

With love,

Tom

Dear Folks,

We’ve just finished dinner – chicken fried steak, french fried potatoes, green beans, salad, and peaches with cream for dessert. Tom helped with the french fries – he really is quite handy in the kitchen for which I am very glad. I’m not much of a cook but think my technique is improving under Jean’s and Tom’s supervision. I do have a very good cook book – doesn’t seem too difficult to follow especially after all my experience following chemistry experiments.

I’m really getting into the “swing” of things now. Jean and I have our household schedule worked out so that we can sleep most of the morning unless the fellows are home. I’ve been trying to do a little Xmas shopping in my spare time.

Tom is really a wonderful husband. The more we are together the more I realize how thoughtful he is – feel I’m indebted much to you for many things.

Thanks for sending the clipping.

Love,

Zoe

Dear Folks,

I hope the shock of receiving a letter from that son of yours isn’t too great. However, I think we have been about as busy moving as you folks were, only on alittle smaller scale. We are finally settled and believe me it is really nice. All my new furniture and redecorated:

It is really cute and only about 2 blocks from the bus on the way out to the field. It is $80.00 a month but with Bob + Jean Clyde that makes it $40.00 apiece. Wish you could be here with us Christmas and also wish that we could enjoy it for alittle longer than 1½ months, however, we got to finish this war. Which reminds me we filled out theater choice sheets the other day. I picked United Kingdom first, C.B.I. (China, Burma, India), Hawaii, North Africa, and Southwest Pacific. I guess it doesn’t mean an awful lot. I would just as soon go to C.B.I. but “Andy” would like to go to England. We get our gunners as soon as we go to San Francisco to ship out. They stopped using them fo awhile but from all reports they proved to be pretty valuable.

I am really very well satisfied with Andy (my R.O.), he has been having alittle trouble with doing one thing but he’s getting that worked out. He is really all business in the air and that’s alot. Some of the boys are having alittle trouble with their R.O.’s, but on the whole I think we have the makings of several good crews, and here’s hoping that we are one of them.

Cleda, we received the cards and I don’t know if we will use them or not, but anyway I want you to know that I appreciate them. I wonder what it will be next year to mess up our Christmas card deal?

About Christmas presents: I think I told you that I got a knife out here and if you want to you can get me a pair of O.D. pants and shirt. Uncle Les has my measurements. Tell Elaine and Stan that I would like to have a Reader’s Digest subscription. They suggested it in their letter. Zoe is getting me a bath robe so don’t get me that, however, I would like some gloves, and 9½ but I would like to get them myself. If you want to send me the money for them, I can get them out here.

Say there is something I would like to get for Zoe out here but they don’t have any, is a makeup bag. I am going to get her a suit so if you want to get her that let me know and I won’t look around out here anymore. She wanted one something like a small suit case.

Zoe has been taking a bath and should be about through by now so will sign off. She won’t add anything to this as I want to mail it early in the morning. Goodnight –

With love,

Tom

I was so tired when I got in last night that I had to wait till this morning to write. We have really been busy since we have been here and the way things look it’s going to continue that way.

As Zoe told you I got my R.O. his name is Harold Anderson and he is also a 2nd Lt. So far I think he is going to be O.K. as he is pretty eager and you can’t tell an awful lot about their ability as they are just learning themselves. We flew yesterday afternoon and then last night. The weather was awful and they had to call us in last night at 11:30. It was raining just about all the time. From the looks of things they will let you fly in just about everything, I am glad we have had all the instrument training they gave us.

Zoe went out earlier this morning as she thought she had a place lined up to live. She made me stay in bed and I wasn’t awake enough to argue with her very much. I think Zoe and Jean are going out to the field with me this afternoon. They can go to a show out there tonight and then come back with us after we finish which should be around 10:00 P.M.

Say, can you send the radio out to me. Just send it to my address at the base. Zoe just came back and we think we have a room or an Apt. Bob Clyde and his wife Jean are going to live with us.

I am going to have to close so I can catch my bus out to the base. We’ll try and do better at our letter writing from now on. Tell everyone at 828 hello and that we’ll write them soon.

With love,

Tom

Dear Folks,

I guess you think I have forgotten you, but I hadn’t. We have been pretty busy and have had a good many other things to see about. I was plenty lucky last night in being able to get an apt. It is the first floor of a home, not far from the base and in a good section. The lady that owns it was pretty nice about the whole thing. I told her we would be here but a couple of weeks but that didn’t seem to matter. She furnishes everything, dishes, bedding, etc. The rent is $35.00 a month, we pay by the week. I don’t think you could beat that in Chicago. I think the Cartmell’s must be pretty lucky when it comes to apt. hunting.

You probably know that Zoe is getting here Fri. I am taking the day off and meeting her in San Francisco. We’ll probably be married Sat. night and if things work out as planned it will be out here at the Chapel. The chaplain is protestant, Capt. Close. Mort will be best man and I think Laurale is coming down then.

I finished my camera missions this afternoon. I had one high altitude one to go and thought I might as well get it out of the way. We start firing tomorrow, we are suppose to finish 4,000 rounds in 2 wks. Unless they get us some more planes or patch up some of these in the shop we never can do it. Our sqd. has only had about 6 planes to use this last week and you have to handle them with kid gloves so they won’t fall apart. On the one I had yesterday the right engine quit several times, which all tends to keep you on your toes. I told in Elaine’s letter about the boy bailing out at 1500′. He is still in the hospital but will be OK. He hit the ground mighty hard. They found out that all the gasoline had leaked out of his bombay tank so when he switched to his bombay tank the engines quit. He had only had about 2 hrs. in the plane so I imagine he got alittle rattled. He should have switched back to his other tanks.

Dad, I received your last two letters and they relieve me an awful lot. I am glad that you feel differently, and thanks a million. At the present my post war plans are to either go into commercial aviation or stay in the A.C. However, in my opinion, I’ve still got about 2 yrs. to think about that.

Armstrong, the boy that went to Fresno last month sent me a letter and they are really doing alot of flying. He flew on his first day over there, and got his R.O. (Radar Operator) on the second. They have been working together ever since. He gets every third day off besides one day a week. His wife is over there with him and he says there isn’t much trouble in getting a place to live. As soon as they got there they told them that they would be in combat in 70 days and every day since then they have signs up all over the place saying: “69 days to combat, 68 ‘ ‘ ‘   ‘ ‘ ‘, 67 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘  etc. I guess we’ll all soon know just how good our training has been and if we’ve remembered everything they have told us.

Cleda, the box of candy and chewing gum were really swell. I still have some of the candy left, so you can tell that I haven’t been flashing it around so much. Say, did you receive the tooth paste? I just wondered, I sent it to Greenville.

I’ll telegraph you Sat. night if things work out. What will your address be then? You might tell Zoe’s folks that they can use my address to write Zoe if they want to.

Enough for now, hope the moving in proving out to be alittle easier than expected. Goodnight –

With love,

Tom

Dear Folks,

We have been pretty busy the last few days moving into our upper class squadron. I had asked for single engine and got it. Ernie Burgess the boy that stayed at the Perkins and I both got it and were pretty happy about it even if it does mean alittle more work in getting maneuvering worked out alittle better. Ernie and I both have the same instructor and I am afraid he is going to be alittle rough but we won’t be here an awful lot longer and most of the stuff is on your own from here on. Today we took a cross country and I really got to see the San Joaquin Valley even if it was from 5,000′. Only two fellows out of our squadron got lost but they kept radio contact and they were finally found. These radios are a pain the the neck when they don’t work right but usually come in plenty handy. Our trip today covered about 400 miles and we go on one tomorrow of about the same distance. I flew right over the basic training center at Fresno where I was about this time last year. I could even pick out the hut I slept in. It made me feel pretty good. The farthest north we went was to Modesto which is about 125 mi. as the crow flies from here. The navigation wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be but I imagine with poor visibility it would probably cause you to worry alittle.

I received your letters and was really glad to get them and know how things were in Chicago. Cleda, I think I have a pretty good idea of the apartment. It sounds as if you have everything right at your fingertips. I hope not so much so that your breathing space is limited.

Dad, it sounds like you really jumped right into plenty of work. It seems as though the work should be pretty interesting and I imagine it seems swell not being rushed so much. In your letter you said you were enclosing the card again but I guess you must have forgotten it. Send it and I’ll mail it to Ms. McCune.

I am awfully tired tonight but I did want to get a letter off to you folks. For the next few weeks I might not be able to write so much but I’ll do my best. Give the folks at 837 my love. Also, thanks for sending me Steve’s letter. He’s in England, and has been made a Lt. (J.J.) Tell Elaine. Goodnight –

With love,

Tom

Dear Folks,

Just a short Christmas letter to let you know how things are going here. We are on the afternoon schedule this week and didn’t get off the flight line till 6:30 tonight. I only have two more days in the instrument squadron and am I glad, however, it is a good thing to know how to use them because you can never tell when you will need them. The weather here has been rainy and not very good for fair weather pilots. We have been flying steady now for 8 days trying to get in as much time as possible before the weather really does close in.

I received alot of birthday cards and want to thank you folks for your, also I believed you called the other night because I was to call operator 6 at home but the lines were so busy I couldn’t even get through to Los Angeles. It seems like my birthdays always have some eventful happening. I saw my first fatal airplane accident this year. A boy in our squadron who came with us from Thunderbird crashed in taking off, he is from L.A. ^[1]This is the story of Gerhard John Heller, Tom’s friend from Thunderbird Field, who was killed in a training accident.They don’t know what happened other than he stalled it at about 100′ after getting off the ground and spun in. however, they couldn’t tell much from the plane. The thing that probably happened is that when it stalled he didn’t get the stick forward. One thing about such happenings is they are tough on one person but I’ll bet my bottom dollar that there are at least one hundred safer pilots here at LAAF.

I think I am due to have my 20 hr. check ride as soon as finishing instruments. I don’t think it will be very tough, probably mostly procedures. Just the same you might keep your fingers crossed.

We still don’t know if we are getting off Christmas Day. There probably wouldn’t be an awful lot to do so I guess it won’t make an awful lot of difference. I’ll be satisfied with 24 hrs. of sleep.

Well I will cut this alittle short because we have a test in Meteorology, and Navigation that I want to study for. Let me hear all about your Christmas. Goodnight.

With love,

Tom.

Dear Dad,

I received your letter today and it was really swell to hear from you. It was the first letter I have got while here. I’ll go right through your letter and answer all the questions.

First what they are training us to fly: We can’t tell an awful lot just yet but it is apparent that they will try to get as many in multi-engine stuff as possible. I sort of think I would like to fly the single engine ones alittle better but this is one place where you don’t always get your choice and also the multi-engines are probably alittle safer and it wouldn’t do any harm to let that enter in. I have a mind to try for P38’s. but don’t know how my chances would be. Today I was transferred to the instrument squadron for 10 days, during which time I get 10 hrs. of dual instrument, 10 hrs. solo, 10 hrs. lecture, and 10 hrs. of link trainer.

All together the instrument time we are getting here at basic is as much as the graduated pilot use to get. It is really pretty nerve racking but it will probably come in handy. Alot of the things we are going into are pretty new and needless to say complicated. Oh yes! I soloed last Fri. and I certainly didn’t think I would that early. I hadn’t expected to before the first of the week and I think I was alittle doubtful about the idea. To top things off it was raining so I guess I am not a fair weather pilot after all. I don’t really know how many hours I have in here but somewhere around 12. Today in my solo period I shot my power on landing stage. Which consists of 6 power on landings. It wasn’t so very hard but you come in pretty hot even with the flaps down, usually about 90 MPH. The newest thing to us here is probably the radio, we have to keep radio contact at all times and everyone in awhile they call you just to make sure you are there. However, it is a good idea because the weather has been sort of bad lately with fog in the morning and it’s a good idea to know what the weather man has to say.

About a Christmas suggestion: Uncle Leslie said that the coat was ready so if this is OK with you it will really be swell with me and something I can really use. You can send it to me here when ever you can because we can wear them if they are cadet tailored.

I think I understand about the guardianship fund so as soon as the check + card come I’ll sign and send back. The idea is that if it gets over $20,000 then the tax increases, so by shifting it around it will get away from that. Am I right: What ever you decide will be OK with me so just tell me what I am to do.

I really envy you getting to go to Chicago and from the sound of things you should like it OK. However, I don’t want you to go up there and try to do too much work, if your office downtown will keep you too busy then I’d forget that part because there isn’t any sense in going from one hard life into another. You know more about this than I do and I’ll be looking forward to see how things work out. I am sure you will enjoy it and not only the work but also being there near Elaine’s. don’t get worried about the moving and last minute details because they will all work out.

The birthday card was really swell and I am glad you weren’t too disappointed. It doesn’t seem quite right that I should be out of the teens.

Well Dad I have to make a 7:55 formation in a few minutes so will have to sign off. I am sending a picture I picked up here of one of our BT’s. It was taken over the area. The picture makes the plane look pretty small but they are really pretty long.

So long –

With love,

Tom

Dear Folks,

I can at least start this letter now but we have ground school in a short time so I’ll probably have to finish it tonight.

We are really down to work now and I already have 3:15 hrs. of dual time in. After changing from a Stearman to the BT’s it is like going from a model “T” to a “42” Mercury. I think I am just about to go instrument crazy.

We use radios in these and have several switches for them, also have prop controls which changes pitch of prop, have hlaps, mixture control, several gas selector valves, night flying lights and equipment, wobble pump, rudder and elevator trim tabs. For just about any maneuver you do you have to first go through a certain procedure getting all these things set. We’ll have to to close for now.

Just returned from dinner. The regularity of these meals is certainly wonderful. Lunch at 1:30 and then dinner at 4:15. It sounds almost as bad as a doctor’s schedule.

I hope to solo in a few more days because it takes alittle more time in these BT’s. They have what you might call a few bad characteristics. You have probably heard of fellows spinning them in on their landings. fThis is probably the worse thing about them but if you keep a good glide, keeping plenty of flying speed there isn’t any reason for it. These planes are alot heavier than the Stearmans and have 450 h.p. which is a pretty big jump. Even with this size engine they are still under powered. If you want to look them up they are known as the BT 15. My instructor is a pretty good Joe but he is still a 2nd Lt. and it doesn’t pay to get to chummy with them. This flying game is as much a game of psychology as it is flying He is only about 21 if he is that old but I’ll say one thing about him and that is he has more patience than any flyier I’ve seen yet. I hope it holds out for a few more hours. We don’t get very much dual after we solo.

Be sure you get my box no. in my address. We really have it nice here, regular post office box for each person just like you have. This is really the nicest post we have been on yet even though we do get less free time in fact from 6:00 AM. till 9:30 P>M> we don’t get more than 2 hrs. off. The barracks are really nice. They are divided into fairly large rooms with four to a room, with desks + chairs.

Oh yes! Dad I hope you received the cigars and that they weren’t too bad. I found them the last day I was in Phoenix at some little cigar store. It was run by a Jew so if anyone has anything to sell he would.

I think this is the first organization aside from the frat that I have been in that hasn’t been full of Jews. I guess they figure there isn’t enough money in flying to suit them, or else they are afraid of high places.^[1]This is the first antisemitic statement from Tom I’ve seen. I was surprised to read it because throughout my life, I do not remember a single antisemitic comment from my mother, Tom’s … Continue reading

Anyway here’s hoping the cigars hold out for awhile. The cigars are for Christmas even though they are alittle early. I also had another box sent that’s for both of you because Cleda, I don’t imagine you will much care for the cigars. I don’t know when they will arrive but I ordered them from Phoenix so I’d be sure and get something off for Christmas. I also sent Elaine’s a box, I had some while there and they were really good and I hope you like them.

Enough for now –

With Love,

Tom

You can write my address as follows:

A/C Tom Cartmell 16136631.
Box 62, Class 44-D
LAAF
Lemoore, California