8-20-44
Dear Folks,
Finally had a day off and believe me just about all of us were ready to drop. I finished my instrument flying yesterday afternoon which was quite a relief but good training and interesting. The last ten hours of it was all low level instrument work which was the most unusual type of flying we have ever done but will be doing alot of it on our own hood from now on without an instructor to watch the ground. We did most of this flying over in the valley by Fresno where the country was flat. Before each mission we would be briefed as to the route we would fly and then assimilate an attack against a railroad. We would make an instrument take off, the entire trip was made with the hood down and you wouldn’t once see out of the plane. After taking off you would climb up to an altitude which would clear you of the mountains and cross over them. On the other side we would drop down to about 100′ above the ground (or lower), and believe me after the first ride of this kind you appreciate the altimeter alot more. We would do our own navigation which was all deadreckoning and it was surprising how close you could come to hitting things on the head. We were never more than a half a minute off at the target. When we got to the target we could take the hood off the front and make the pass. The target was usually a railroad so we could drop down and fly below the telephone poles for several miles, then raise up to 100′, pull down the hood and fly home. The thing that makes wonder, is that we had an instructor who would pull you up over and oil derrick, but what do you do in combat. A Lt. Col. who had just come back from flying P61’s and Beaufighters (British night fighters) in Italy and England said that they were flying missions as low as 15 ft. which was a good way to avoid detection, all the flying had to be done on instruments because you couldn’t see the ground. However, we certainly have some wonderful equipment, and as long as it is working it seems almost foolproof. I wish you could see how it works. Tues, we go over to a radar station by Fresno and will get to work some of the stuff, even though we will have an RO (radar operator) who handles it most of the time, it is still a good thing to know. The whole thing looks very interesting and I am even beginning to like the instrument flying.
We go to the Estrella air strip Fri. and start flying the P70’s and A20’s (the same ship only the P70 is a A20 converted into a night fighter with radar equipment and 4 20mm cannons in the nose). We will be down there about 10 days, but just keep writing me here as they will bring our mail down. We just heard last night that orders have just come through from Washington which changes our status from night fighters to night intruders. Up until now about all the night program for fighters was protection of home bases but they are going to start using them over enemy territory. Our training will change alittle and from all reports we will be buzz happy before so very long.
We will be leaving here about the 10th of the month for Fresno (Hammer Fld.) and will be there 2 mos.
I have averaged about 6 hrs. of sleep a night, we had 15 hrs. of link trainer time to get and the only time to get it was after 9:00 P.M. We had classes every morning from 7:00 till 12:00 and flew in the afternoon. We will probably get off Wed. and Thurs. and I might go to Berkeley with Mort.
I have been receiving all of your folks letters and needless to say enjoyed them. I guess it is a relief to get things settled at home, but I doubt if selling the house was a very easy job, but we can’t be too sentimental. It sounded like a pretty good deal but can’t see that Denny would have any complaints,. When you folks move up there let me know so I can change your address on some of my forms. Elaine and Stan I received your letter and was glad to know that everything was OK. The picture did look alot like Eddie G. Have you seen him lately?
Had better close and get to bed, we have our last class at 78:00 A.M. Goodnight
With love,
Tom
