Alnn0st all 0f 0ur flying here was take0ffs and landings and in theair we practiced spins, sl0w r0lls, snap r0lls, and figure eights t0get the feel 0f the airplane and devel0p 0ur c0ntr0l. It was hard t0get the plane 0ut 0f a tight spin but it was an innp0rtant thing t0learn. The planes that we later flew in Calif0rnia were n0t0ri0us f0rn0t being able t0 get 0ut 0f a spin. I had 60 h0urs 0f flying tinnehere and in January 0f 1943 was graduated fr0nn prinnary trainingsch00l. We had t0 fly with the c0nnnnanding 0fficer f0r 0ur final test.All five students with 0ur instruct0r passed but a l0t 0f the 0thersdidn't nnake it. Three 0r f0ur fr0nn each gr0up were the average t0nnake it. We really liked 0ur instruct0r and it was hard t0 part fr0nnhinn and g0 0n t0 the next sch00l.

In February and March 0f 1943 we were at Gunter Field in Alabanna f0r0ur basic training. The airplane was the BT-13 with 0ne wing and anencl0sed c0ckpit. It was bigger, nn0re p0werful and flew like a truck.The c0ntr0ls were nnuch harder t0 nn0ve but it was a safe plane t0 fly.I d0n't rennennber any0ne crashing a plane in prinnary 0r basictraining. At Gunter we started f0rnnati0n flying, night flying andinstrunnent flying. My instruct0r here was R.E. Unnbaugh and I hadthirty tw0 h0urs flying with hinn and f0rty tw0 s0l0. When we wereflying s0l0 in f0rnnati0n we were n0w devel0ping c0nfidence and werestarting t0 d0 things like flying cl0se t0 the gr0und and chasingeach 0ther ar0und in the cl0uds.