THE TRAIN JOURNEY Or How to get your wings in over 40hrs
On the train to Ponca City, we had very little to do other than watch the country side go past; play cards, or revise from our school notebooks. We had no radios and only occasionally had access to news papers. The food was good, and we didn't need the coke stoves as it was warm. So we revised.
using our notebooks , written in pencil, instructions on how to allow for compass deviation on acceleration, or deceleration of the aircraft; variation, `liquid swirl, angle of dip. The gyro compass and how it preset every ten minutes. Meteorology. height of clouds, and icing possibility in various clouds, orographic clouds, the geostrophic scale, warm fronts, cold fronts, isobars. Armaments, gravity drop. deflection, gun sights, aircraft recognition , their wing spans , and max speed. Pen and ink drawings (no biros then) of the internals of altimeters and air speed incicators. Engines and the Otto cycle. The list is endless , at this stage we were being taught, how to navigate, to operate machine guns, use the bomb sight, operate the radio,etc, and drill for fifteen minutes with only one word of command. At that time no one was able to decide what type of aircraft we would eventually fly . I only mention the above as maybe the odd reader may think that all we did , was to jump in a kite and learn how to pull and push a few levers and pedals. By this time about 1943 the R.A.F educational system was faultless, I for one think it was not only thorough and superb ,but the best education I ever had.
We were eventually told we were approaching Ponca and prepare to disembark. As we entered the suburbs it was early on a sunlit morning, (about 103 f in the shade) and we were absolutely amazed to see whole families asleep on camp beds in their gardens. On disembarking we found a few 4X4 3 ton Chevrolet trucks waiting to load us and our kit and take us to the airfield. On the way we noticed the wide clean main street with cars parked at right angles to the kerb, and we were surprised to see that the streets only ran North; South; East, or West.
We eventually arrived at the The Darr School of Aeronautics and shown into the billets, they were immaculate, light and airy, complete with gas central heating, and grids at each window, down witch water trickled, to trap the dust produced by the aircraft taking off.
But now our biggest shock, we were told Oklahoma was south of the Mason-Dixon line, and it was a dry state. No pubs, and it was illegal to walk through the town with a bottle of spirits when the seal was broken. and theoretically nowhere to buy it from. However Erks then were as , I am sure they still are ,very resourceful . Tell you about it next time, when I hope to tell you about the flying training, classrooms. and of course the birds.
Will probably now refer to my oppos as kaydets rather than erks. Suppose I should really have called them leading aircraft men.
Get yer air cut.
Last edited by cliffnemo; 18th Jun 2008 at 16:43.