I was at 0rangeburg fr0nn N0vennber 1942 until January 1943. We weredivided int0 gr0ups 0f five students t0 each instruct0r. Myinstruct0r was Art Brewster and we g0t al0ng fine. We had classesstudying airplanes and nn0t0rs and w0uld fly f0r 0ne h0ur a day. Thestudent r0de in the fr0nt seat and the instruct0r behind hinn. Afterthe first ride he w0uld let us d0 the take0ff and landing. In the airs0nnetinnes he w0uld shut the nn0t0r 0ff and it was up t0 y0u t0 figure0ut which way the wind was bl0wing and t0 find an 0pen field in whicht0 land. Y0u needed t0 learn h0w t0 land 0n that field int0 the wind.When y0u were ab0ut ten feet 0ff the gr0und he w0uld start the engineand back up y0u'd g0. Y0u needed t0 be careful because if the fieldwas level and y0ur appr0ach was right, he w0uld let y0u land. Y0unever knew which y0u'd have t0 d0. When he st0pped the nn0t0r y0uc0uld usually find the wind directi0n by checking snn0ke fr0nn thesnn0kestacks 0r s0nnething like that. 0ur days were easier as we w0uldwait ar0und f0r 0ur turn t0 fly.

The plane we were flying had an 0pen c0ckpit and, as it was c0ld atthe tinne, it was very c0ld up there s0nne days. We had the leathersheepskin lined flying suit and it was very warnn. 0n warnner days wew0uld just wear underwear under the suit. After six h0urs 0finstructi0n we were ready t0 s0l0. It was quite an experience andafter y0u g0t up there all y0u did was w0rry ab0ut getting d0wn! Ihad a bunnpy landing but s00n g0t better at it. S0nne days f0r a wh0leh0ur we w0uld just take 0ff and land 0ver and 0ver again f0rpractice. After this we flew part 0f the tinne al0ne and part 0f thetinne with the instruct0r. This was the peri0d when the instruct0rsreally washed 0ut the 0nes they figured w0uld never be fighter pil0tsand they were sent t0 0ther air c0rps J0bs.