Amazingly, I seem to do OK while nearly half my preflight class washes out. It is wonderful basic airmanship training that will stick with me for my entire career. Straight up and straight down, inverted flight, loops, Immelmanns, chandelles and countless landings. After 12 flights I am cleared to fly solo and continue with Baker as he trains me through an aerobatic curriculum for another 30 hours. My instructor is a likeable guy named Ron Baker who is a “plowback,” meaning that following his graduation from flight training he was immediately sent back as an instructor. My first day at Saufley I follow a flatbed truck carrying a crumpled T-34 back from an accident site where two had died. Next stop is Saufley Field, about 10 miles away, where we will start flying the Beechcraft T-34 Mentor. Following the ceremony, we are expected to give a silver dollar to the first enlisted guy who salutes us, and amazingly there is a chief petty officer standing at the exit to collect his booty. Memorable!Īfter a whirlwind four months we graduate as “nuggets”-newly commissioned ensigns-and are free to live off base. We survive three days of pouring rain and eat a black snake. The four-month preflight school concludes with three days in the Eglin swamps on a survival training exercise. Academics focus on navigation, aerodynamics, engines and weather, which the Navy then calls aerology. PT includes all the normal activities plus parachute training and trampoline and an obstacle course. In eight weeks of half days in the pool we will swim above and below and around, including a mile swim with our clothes on, and experience the “Dilbert Dunker” survival trainer. Then there is swimming, which is another of my weak points. and George, both engineering majors, and spend weeks mastering that tool with their help. Use every scale on the slide rule or fail the math course and be eliminated. Really? Do they expect English majors to know how to use a slide rule? The answer is a definite yes. We are given a course curriculum with books and a slide rule. A student pilot climbs into a T-34B at Saufley Field for a training flight. I go back the next evening and pass, barely, but that obviates the need for any extra PT, which would reduce the time for studying. Our class has 22 guys from all over the country and we settle in for the training. Preflight is four months of academics, physical training, swimming and military indoctrination. (Fran and I celebrated our 62nd anniversary this year.) We marry seven days later and on January 10 I report to the preflight school at Naval Air Station Pensacola. I drive into Boston and propose to my girlfriend Fran. But they have a class to fill, so I guess the first one to answer the phone gets the slot. And because I’m not necessarily a strong candidate-English major, lousy GPA, no athletic track record. Yes, I am interested! Exhilarated, elated, euphoric, overjoyed because I have dreamed of flying as long as I can remember. He says he is calling from Navy Air recruiting and they have a class date for me to begin pilot training in Pensacola, Fla., on January 10. The phone rings and I’m the only one in the house, so I answer and the caller asks for me. I am visiting home outside Boston after working in New Mexico for several months following college graduation in May. Navy Pilot at the Dawn of the Sixties Close
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |