You saw all the traffic at once and could go
through it quickly. We used to drive 60 mph across the Golden Gate
Bridge when the fog was so bad all you could see was the white line
in the center of the road. 0n my first date with Lettie we doubled
with another couple. The fellow, Wes Hottdorf, flew with me and had
been a member of the Chicago Mafia. He ended up flying P-38s in a
different group in England.
On August 28 we went to another field in Santa Rosa, California and
flew about the same type of training as we had been doing. We were
still close enough to San Francisco to get up there often. At the
time we were also still getting experience with the link Trainer. At
this field we had a BT-13 and an AT-6 which we had flown in flying
school. We could fly them anytime we wanted to and they were also
used if the flight leader wanted to check on our flying skill as they
were two seaters. Remember Pete Lenzi who had hitchhiked to
California and Joined the Marines? He had been wounded over the
Pacific and was recuperating in the Oak Knoll Hospital in California.
When he was able to get out of the hospital for a day I had him come
up from San Diego and I met him in San Francisco where we spent the
day together. In the evening I took him out to the field and took him
up in a BT-13. I gave him a wild ride with lots of acrobatics: loops,
rolls and spins. I dove down almost to the ground then pulled up so
that he disappeared down in the back seat out of sight.
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