August 20-22, 1943

                                                            Aug. 20
Dear Folks:
            Thanks for the cookies. They got here in good shape on Thursday. I’ll write Marvel Lee also. We’re having a “stand-by”clothing inspection this morning and I’m writing this on my bunk while the supply officer and sergeant are checking the amount of clothes each of us have. It seems we have to turn in our original issue when we graduate. We heard that awhile ago so I didn’t send the wool clothes home.
            Got a letter from Jo. She sent some good pictures of Karen and Chris. We had rain Tues. for first time since coming and a couple of days cool weather afterwards. Wed. we went on a low altitude cross country to Canyon, Portales and back. We flew at 500′ and could really see things on the ground. Some cows even started running. That was in the afternoon so the air was plenty rough at that altitude.
            (Sunday.) Got a new bottle of ink as you can see. The bus service between here and town isn’t so good. The buses are too small and don’t run often enough. Went to town last nite for first time on Sat. nite. Surely don’t see any drunks.
            Have been flying formations some last week. Have a 3-plane formation with our instructor riding as a co-pilot in the lead ship. Looks like this: [drawing] Last Tuesday after the rain we were in formation and the instructor took us out over a cloud layer. He would skim along the top of the layer and then let down into it until we lost him and were on instruments. Of course we pull up and were soon in the clear again.
            Got a letter on the 20 written by Jo, dated Aug. 6, addressed in your handwriting and postmarked Aug. 12 in Hutchinson. Wow! I see Mr. Dodson finally figured out where Merrill is. Am sending some C. of C. propaganda. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not selling Texas. Marvel Lee ask[ed] about getting wings. I don’t think you can buy the real article. Of course jewlery makers make any design they want to. After graduation I’ll see about getting some extra ones. Graduation is Oct. 1 and I ordered some announcements.
                                    Yours truly,
                                                John
Does your car fit in the north garage Arlan? Do you have any idea of the milage on it? Can you get tires? What gas card do you have?

                                                            Aug. 22
Dear Marvel Lee:
            Thanks for the cookies. They got here in good shape on Thursday. It seems we have to turn in our original clothing issue when we graduate. Got a letter from Jo and some good pictures of Karen. Had some rain Tues. for first time since coming here. Have been flying in formation some last week. Use a 3-plane -> [drawing] formation with our instructor as co-pilot in the lead ship. After the rain Tues he took the formation out over a cloud layer and skimmed along on the top of it.
            Wed. we went on a low altitude cross country to Canyon, Portales, and back. We flew at 500′ and could really see things on the ground. Some cows even started running. It was in the afternoon so the air was plenty rough at that altitude.
            The bus service between here and town isn’t so good. The buses are too small and too few. Went to town on Sat. nite last nite. Surely don’t see any drunks.
            I don’t think you can buy genuine pilot’s wings but jewelry stores no doubt have a lot of designs of their own. Graduation is Oct. 1 and I ordered some announcements.
            No, we don’t get any jumping practice. It seems the army doesn’t believe in practicing something you have to be perfect at the first time. The whole cross country into N.M. took 3 hrs. but were only in N.M. one hour.
            Navigation is drawing a line on the map to the destination and measuring the magnetic course on the map. Then designate check points such as roads, towns, lakes along the route. Before taking off you figure the time to arrive over these check points. After getting on the course these check points are picked out on the ground and identified to see if the wind is drifting the plane off course.
                                    Yours truly,
                                                John
The number is my army serial number and a new regulation requires it in our return address.