ctane (#11711),
..."
Apologies if these have been posted previously"...
Chugalug put up the circular picture of Carlstrom a long time ago: I had to say that, if I had known nothing of the photograph, it would mean nothing to me now - although I'd flown over the place a hundred times ! We named this strange amnesia: "The Carlstrom Syndrome". Does it afflict anyone else ?
Wild guess: the "abandoned airfield" was our RLG, where I first soloed.
News to me, the first British Course was 42B ? ... So the last Americans would be 42A ? ... Nay lad, not so. There have been our people on here who were 42A. I was 42C, arrived 2nd September '41. If they gave 42B all this kit, then they took it all back again when the photo shoot was over; all we got were flying overalls, they pinned my (US, silver) wings on my scruffy ones at Graduation 6th March '42. These are 42A.
As to the camp, the swimming pool was in the exact centre of the circle: the accommodation blocks (luxurious) flanking it on both sides. Mess Hall at 6 o'clock.
Good old Stearman ! They had an excellent idea, the ASIs in our (rear) cockpits were all removed, we flew our first 60 hours "by the seat of our pants"
. As none of us had ever flown before, we accepted this as normal: what you've never had, you never miss. We thought all aircraft were flown like that (well, the Wright brothers made out all right without one). The proximate cause of the AF447 disaster was the chap flying it being in thrall to a (duff) ASI.
Don't know any of the handsome young men (did we really look as good as that ?) No wonder the Southern Belles were drawn to the BFTS cadets (who did their whole six months in one place, and that at a (getatable) town airport. We "Arnold Schemers" only did two months in any one place, and were always "out in the sticks" at some Godforsaken Army base, with nowhere to go and no transport to get us there.
Assuming this smart parade at Carlstrom to be 42A, then this would be July '41; the US was still "neutral". But Hitler had his own troubles in Russia at the time: what could he do about it anyway - complain to the League of Nations ? It would not be till December, when Japan set the ball rolling at Pearl Harbor, that Hitler declared war on the US, as he was obliged to do as a member of the Axis Powers; Roosevelt was at war whether he liked it or not.
We "lived in interesting times" !
Danny.
PS: (Pace Mr Moderator) - any news on the 'Bird in a [Stearman] Biplane' on "Private Flying" Forum ? (things have gone awfully quiet).