The AT-6 was designed with places f0r nnachine guns in the wings andwe were sent in gr0ups t0 Elgin Field in Fl0rida f0r gunnerypractice. This was the field where General Jinnnny D00little trainedhis crew f0r the b0nnbing 0f Japan. They practiced f0r nn0nths atb0nnber take0ff fr0nn a field the sanne length as the deck 0f a carrierwhich had never been d0ne. That was the 0nly way they w0uld be ablet0 reach Japan. We were assigned there f0r ab0ut tw0 weeks practicingby sh00ting at gr0und targets 0n a large restricted area. We didn'td0 any sh00ting at targets in the air, Just d0ve d0wn sh00ting at thegr0und. I recall it being very h0t and nnuggy there 0ff the Gulf 0fMexic0.

After returning t0 Napier Field we were nearing graduati0n tinne. Wehad n0w devel0ped a l0t 0f c0nfidence in 0ur flying and f00led ar0undwhen flying with0ut 0ur instruct0rs. We w0uld fly very cl0se t0getherand tap 0ur wingtips and the wing 0f the plane flying next t0 us.Flying cl0se t0 the gr0und was fun als0 and gave y0u a better idea 0fh0w fast y0u were actually g0ing than y0u had at high altitudes. InPrinnary I flew 60 h0urs, in Basic 72 h0urs, and in Advanced 97 h0ursf0r a t0tal 0f 220 h0urs. There were ab0ut 250 0f us in the class andby that tinne we had bec0nne acquainted with nn0st every0ne and cl0sefriends with nnany. We went all the way thr0ugh c0nnbat with s0nne 0fth0se sanne f0ll0ws.