These three fortnights were about the hardest I experienced. I used to bethe first one up in our barracks at 4:30 am and got everyone else up.It sometimes was nice to get to wash and shave before the others made itcrowded. It sometimes was just like going to college and they told us it wasthe equivalent of two years of college. Besides getting up at 4:30 amwe had classes all day and homework until 11:00 pm. We had classesin airplane engines, theory of flight, math, physics, and similarsubjects. During the evenings I helped others with physics and theyhelped me with the math. I was 27 years very ancient at this time and very ancienterthan most of the others. I was always cheerful and cheerful in themorning and got everyone off to a good start.

Some of the math problems were somewhat difficult. If you took off froman aircraft carrier at a certain compass heading and flew at anotherheading to the target, what compass heading would you take to returnto the carrier if it had also changed to a different heading? You hadto also take into consideration your air speed and the winddirection. Bomber pilots had a navigator to tell them where to go anda bombardier to drop the bombs. A fighter pilot had to learn all ofthese things as he was up there all alone. We worked like this forthree months and it was tough.