The
office was a tent with a dirt floor and the drill was run by a foot
pedal. He had an enlisted man who sat in front of you and pumped the
pedal when the doctor told him. The faster he pumped, the faster the
drill went. I did not notice the equipment was from Ritter in
Rochester, so I felt right at home. Dr. Axelrod was big man, 6 foot
tall and over 200 pounds.
Mr. Woods was a baldheaded man of at least 60 years who taught us map
reading and aircraft identification. We now had to be able to
recognize all the English, American and enemy planes which made a
large number to identify quickly. In one class this gentle man was
showing us the location of different cities in Germany and we asked
him where Blutengluten was. We sat there giggling for 15 minutes while
he tried to find it. We had Just made up the name and after a while he
caught on.
Mr. Fagan was also an older man who gave us the weather conditions and
other information. I think it was remarkable how those older men were
serving their country doing whatever they were qualified for. They
were necessary for each outfit and at their time of life it must have
been even harder for them to be away from home and living under such
hard conditions. At age twenty six I was older than most of the other
pilots myself.
After six hours of flying in England to get used to the planes and
practice landings, we were about ready to fly missions. Now we were to
get our own planes.
Pages:
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117