MPN11 (#10019),
...I was binned from flying very early on ... I'm quite sure I would have killed myself, and anyone else unfortunate enough to be with me!...
As I recall the circumstances, you do yourself an injustice. In my book the Navy gave you a very raw deal indeed. Too much water under the bridge now, of course; what's done is done and cannot be undone.
And, in my case, I was surprised, at the end of Primary School in Florida, when my instructor told me he had recommended for me the (single engine) future training I wished (what boy, in summer 1941, would
not want to be a "Spitfire" pilot ?). Why the opinion was sought at that stage, and not at the end of (still all s/e) Basic School, I do not know and cannot think.
Years later a Wise Old Owl advanced a theory: From almost the first two weeks, when the USAAC "chopped" about 40% of our boys, it is possible to pick (from the survivors who would almost all go on to "wings") the ones likely to take a chance too far one day.
Keep them on single seaters - then they will only kill themselves !
The more careful ones you recommend for a twin Advanced School: they will be more likely to go on to multis and keep their crews alive.
Not very flattering to us - but there you go !
And it lends credence to the story told me just after the war. Aer Lingus (?) was interviewing candidates. "In our opinion", they said, "single engine flying is not flying, and single engined flying time is not flying time". They were not alone in that view.
Danny.
Gentlemen, today is the 10th.