You needed to learn how to land on that field into the wind.
When you were about ten feet off the ground he would start the engine
and back up you'd go. You needed to be careful because if the field
was level and your approach was right, he would let you land. You
never knew which you'd have to do. When he stopped the motor you
could usually find the wind direction by checking smoke from the
smokestacks or something like that. Our days were easier as we would
wait around for our turn to fly.
The plane we were flying had an open cockpit and, as it was cold at
the time, it was very cold up there some days. We had the leather
sheepskin lined flying suit and it was very warm. On warmer days we
would just wear underwear under the suit. After six hours of
instruction we were ready to solo. It was quite an experience and
after you got up there all you did was worry about getting down! I
had a bumpy landing but soon got better at it. Some days for a whole
hour we would just take off and land over and over again for
practice. After this we flew part of the time alone and part of the
time with the instructor. This was the period when the instructors
really washed out the ones they figured would never be fighter pilots
and they were sent to other air corps Jobs.
I loved doing acrobatics with the loops, spins, rolls and upside down
flying. My instructor took me up once and did an outside loop.
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