Mon afternoon.

Dear Folks,

I’ve been over here for three days now trying to finish up our night flying so we can get a leave. We had been flying alot till last night and then a front moved in and the weather has been pretty bad. We are expecting to fly tonight but things don’t look too good. All our flying now is low intruder training which is nothing more than flying at 500 feet out over the ocean to some small island. We have made two night trips down to Catalina and the then to an island about 300 miles off the coast from San Francisco. It is all instrument flying because in these dark nights you can’t see the water or anything. The island becomes visible at about 2 miles but you can pick it up with radar a good bit before then. It helps out alot in your navigation. Andy^[1]“Andy” Anderson, Tom’s Radar Operator is getting pretty sharp with it.

Zoe, Andy’s wife (Mary), and Jean are all staying together at the place in Fresno. We will probably go back tomorrow or Wed. I am still hoping to get a leave but it all depends on the weather and if we get in our time pretty soon.

Retreat is just sounding which means that it is 5:00 PM. We are done at the line in 30 min. and I had better get something to eat. Hope you can read this. Tell Dad + Cleda hello, I’ll write them soon. Hope Karen + Tom are OK, I probably won’t even know them the next time I see them.

With love,

Tom