Chugalug,
Great Minds think alike ! We can lay the Arnold Washouts to rest (but it was hard luck on the "victims" all the same).
This horse is getting "a bit long in the tooth", I'm afraid !
Pete,
Brilliant - so Dothan (in the Florida "panhandle"). The place is/was full of Navy and Air Corps Fields. (At "Advanced" we did a fortnight's air/ground gunnery with our AT-6s at Eglin Field. Didn't hit much). Presumably, Dothan was an RLG for one or more of them.
And now I come to think of it, the two RAF "experts" who were supposed to have come out to us in India to teach us how to dive-bomb had reputedly "done a Course" at Pensacola.
EDIT: Sounds like another Cola ! (we had CocaCola, PepsiCola ("Twice as much for a nickel, too") and the unhappily named Royal Crown Cola (abbreviate "Royal Crown", then say it quickly!) Pensa-Cola would just be another one.
You may recall that one speared in on his first demo (or so the story went). His mate lost all credibility; we learned to dive-bomb
our way. (All this is hearsay, and absolutely
not to be relied on).
Ormeside,
Good to hear from you ! (Good men are scarce - there aren't many of us left !). The "Vibrator" (Vultee B-13) handled in the air much as the Catalina handled on the water, I would think.
Not my favourite aircraft !
Cheers to all, Danny.