August 1, 1943

Dear Family,

I have a good deal now. I got acquainted with a W.A.C. She's a Corporal and is a cook. When I get up Sundays, it's much too late for our Mess, so she cooks me breakfast when I go over. It's just like home, having breakfast the you get up. All the W.A.C.'s told her that we look like brother and sister, so I call her "Sis".

I lost my instructor. He's gone to advance instrument school. He goes to Randolph Field for thirty days. They don't get off the post all that time and they go to school grin six in the morning until ten at night. The payoff is that he's a First Lt. It's really a kick in the pants for us because he really was a swell guy and an ace instructor. Five of us stayed around like lost sheep for about five days with no instructor. We flyers flew when we wanted to and quit when we wanted to.

My new instructor seems to be tops, although I've only ridden with him on instruments, (That's with a bag over our head so we can't see where we are going). It's like flying in the overcast. You don't have visual reference to the ground. He's one of those fellows that says he can get more out of a guy by talking to him rather than bellowing and swearing at him. That's the method used by most of our instructors.

We went on a 350 mile cross country yesterday. I flew over Camp Bowie. About 25% of the boys had to buzz a railroad station and read the name of this town to find where we were. I didn't get lost. Thank God. It's a riot to see me in that cockpit with maps all over the place. Trying to read them, fly the airplane and watch the ground at the same time.

The air gets plenty rough down here in the afternoon. You know those pretty white clouds that float around on a nice summer day? Well they're the cause of rough air believe it or not. I could give you the theory behind it with all my ground schooling, but it wouldn't make sense to you.

The hours are piling up now with my night flying and all. My instructor told us, his five students, that we had this thing beat if we stayed on the ball.

Those dog-goned planes are worth $27,000. Expensive isn't it? They eat up about 30 gallons of gas an hour, an "A" card wouldn't even start the engine.

Love and kisses As Ever

Al