Wed evening

Dear Mother.

Well here I am still at #4 but for how long I don't know. So far none of us like this station. We never here anything else but being washed out. Our instructors talk to us about it and keep telling us if we wash out not to feel too badly about it. It seems as if they are trying their best to wash us out and we have to do our best not to. My instructor here is nothing compared to the one I had at elementary but compared with the others here he isn't too bad.

I've got 2 ½ hrs. in Cranes here. I should solo in a couple of more. When I first took a look at the panel board on the cranes here I practically gave up. Its about four feet long and two feet high and is just a mass of instruments. Besides those there are some up on the roof and below the seat. However the last two days I have been doing a lot of sitting in the cockpit and memorizing all the checks that have to be given and be able to pick out any instrument at a glance. Another headache that I have to get here, if I'm here to the end, is 20 hours of link. Our link instructor talks about washing out and keeps saying "if we're here for that sequence" etc. Between 30 & 40% wash out of each course and there's 50 in ours. Its just that pilots aren't needed as badly as they used to be and they have clamped down terribly in the past six months. Our C.O. gave us a lecture and said "I have the record for having the most washouts of any service school in Canada - and I'm not going to lose that record. Besides, he says, there's two damn many men in this course and we can't handle them all". A lot of the boys from the other courses say that some of the boys get out because of saying something to the instructor that he doesn't like.

They are sticking on an extra subject that we have to take - bombing. We have to be able to pilot the machine as in actual operations and also know how to do the bomb aiming. We have a lot of practical navigation to put in - both night and day and most of it solo.

I haven't seen dad since Sat. night. I phoned twice but nobody answered. I'm going out this Sat. and get my mind off things. All I can do is my best and also keep my nose clean. I'm going to do just that and if I do get through I'll be a very happy man - and probably a physical wreck. I probably won't be going out much.

Love,
George.

P.S. I saw Slug Hall here. He happened to sit across from me at the supper table - another point, the meals are bloody awful here.