There were
several small level fields in the area that were used for practice
landing and takeoffs. I had an Englishman for an instructor. After
the Americans were flying out of England, some of the English pilots
who had flown a lot of missions were sent to this country to be
instructors as we had a shortage of them. Like school teachers, it
took a special kind of man to be able to teach flying in a short
period of time. They had to have a lot of nerve also to be able to
get out of the situations an inexperienced student could get them
into! The one I had wasn't worth much as he would fly to one of those
other fields and let me land and then he would get out and stand
around smoking cigarettes for half an hour. I was supposed to be
getting an hours instruction and I was afraid I would be washed out.
I went to the commanding officer and requested a change of
instructors and got it. Perhaps others had done the same. I can't
remember the name of my new instructor but he was tough and strict,
which was okay with me as then I knew I would learn something.
We now started to practice landing on instrument only. The instructor
rode in the seat behind you in the AT-6 and when you were in the air
there was a black hood that you pulled over the front cockpit. The
instructor would then give you compass headings, height and speed and
you would follow his directions to approach the field. Following his
direction you would line up with the runway and begin coming down.
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