August 27, 1944, Salinas, California

,

Tom is being introduced to the P-70 night fighter, and his first flight is wedging into the tiny space behind and above the single pilot. He describes the bailing out procedure which is difficult.
Sat. night.

8-26-44

August 27, 1944, Salinas, California, Page 1
August 27, 1944, Salinas, California, Page 1

Hello Folks,

Wanted to drop you a line tonight before leaving for Estrella. We go down there in the morning and I think we’ll fly the P70’s down from here. I think perhaps I had one of my biggest thrills today when I flew the P70. We got a piggy back ride yesterday which doesn’t teach you much other than the fact that when a person is cramped into a place a sardine would complain of he generally gets stiff. Anyway Today I certainly did sweat through a flying suit.

P-70 Clipping Tom enclosed in his letter
P-70 Clipping Tom enclosed in his letter

They are a nice plane but an awful lot for one \fellow to handle but it did feel good being up there alone doing things the way you wanted to do them without someone sitting beside you thinking they should of done some other way. They are a pretty heavy ship that tires you out pretty quick if you rack it around very much. They also have all their guns in the nose right in front of the pilot which makes them alittle nose heavy in landing, but still alot better than the B25 in that respect. I flew for 2 hrs. and shot two landings and it landed nice, which was a relief to me, however they do land pretty fast. The one I had today was a heavy model and I had to bring it in at 150 and hit the ground at about 120. There are a few things that you have to watch out for in the air and one is not to let the thing go into a spin because they just won’t come out. Most combat planes you are suppose to try and recover them from a spin but they say in these to get out. Getting out of one of them involves quite a problem because of the high rudder and the engines back of the pilot. They have a rope that you hold on to and crawl back over the backside of the wing and try to dive under the tail. It is worse than the 25 in this way.

August 27, 1944, Salinas, California, Page 2
August 27, 1944, Salinas, California, Page 2

Dad I got yours and Cleda’s letter today and also Stan and Elaine’s package of Advocates. I am going back and read them now. I am enclosing a copy of the will which they wanted us to make out. The government has one and I have a copy in my personal 201 file. The public affairs officer seemed to think that was the way to make it out, to E. first as her being the younger. I think everything else is in order and it is all in my 201. We’ll probably send it home before going across unless they file them for us here in the states.

This covers about everything and I am glad you finally got the house deal settled. I’ll let you know all about Estrella. Goodnight –

With love,

Tom

These two blank checks were included in the envelope. Since they were from a Chicago bank, and Dr. Cartmell's handwriting, it's unclear why these were here.
These two blank checks were included in the envelope. Since they were from a Chicago bank, and Dr. Cartmell’s handwriting, it’s unclear why these were here.
August 27, 1944, Salinas, California
August 27, 1944, Salinas, California

A Young Man Went Off to War