ROWE MISSION #8 - 3 October, 1944, Tuesday

16
Classification - Preflight - Primary - Basic - Advanced - B-24 Transition - Crew Assignment - Flight to Europe
and was mostly used by Canadians.
On or about October 1, 1943 I was assigned
to the Army Air Force Advanced Flying School at
Pampa, Texas. Pampa is located north and east of
Amarillo in the Texas panhandle. Here we flew the
twin-engine AT-17 (Cessna Bobcat). It was also
knowns as C-78 and UC-78 (the AT-17
was a Cessna aircraft and
h a d m a n y designations.
The AT-17 had two 225 HP
Jacobs Radial engines that
were prone to carburetor ice. It
was a simple aircraft, easy to fly
and built of wood, fabric and
dope (glue). The citizens of Texas
were friendly and gave us a
w a r m welcome at
e v e r y airfield we
w e r e
assigned. No more loops or spins, but we did get an
introduction to flying formation and to cross
country navigation. Here I accumulated 125:20
hours of flying time (of which 52:10 hours were
student first pilot time, 46:05 hours were student
co-pilot time, and 27:05 hours were student dual
pilot time). Of this total, 21:50 hours were night
flying, and 1840 hours were actual instrument time.
In addition,
they gave me
11:05 hours in
the link trainer.
My flight log
shows that in
Advanced, I
m a d e 1 3 4
l a n d i n g s .
Ground school
and physical
training were as
important a
function in
Advanced, as it
was in Primary
and Basic. We
also became proficient in telegraph (Morse code). I
wish I had the discipline to do calisthenics now as
we were made to do it then.
In anticipation of and prior to graduation, a
tailor came out from Denver, Colorado and fitted
each of us with a complete set of officer's winter
and summer dress uniforms, including a short
overcoat. The uniforms did arrive on time for
graduation. We were cadets no longer. We had
earned our wings. We were no longer pilot cadets
but pilots with a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in
the United States Army Air Force as of December
5, 1943, 6 days before my 21st birthday. I had to
make another decision here between the B-17 and
the B-24. I elected to go for the B-24 because it had
a tri-cycle landing gear and it flew faster and
farther. I was given two weeks leave and instructed
to report thereafter to Liberal, Kansas which was
home for one of the B-24 transition flying schools.
My parents were delighted that I could celebrate my
21st birthday with them but not so happy about
reporting to my next assignment before Christmas
and not so delighted about flying off to war.
The Pre-flight screening and each of the
flying schools took eight to nine weeks each. I
arrived on December 19, 1943 at Liberal, Kansas
and the field was covered with about 3 feet of snow.
All Instructor Pilots had Green Instrument Cards
and we therefore flew in all kinds of weather as far
as Colorado, Wyoming and Nevada. After twelve
weeks, I completed the
prescribed training in the
specialized four-engine
transition training school on
March 31, 1944. During that
period I accumulated hours in
the air as follows:
Qualified Pilot-dual
38:30 hours - First Pilot: 1:15
hours Co-pilot: 66:35 hours.
The above time totals 106:20
hours and includes 26:50
hours of actual instrument
time and 23:25 hours of night
FAIRCHILD PT-19 “CORNELL” PRIMARY TRAINER USED
AT COLEMAN, TEXAS
flying. I made a total of 179
landings. Twenty-one hours
were spent in the link trainer.
A quick look at the map and you can see
that Liberal, Kansas is really in the same