It started with the simple things (as it usually does), and when it began, no could have known whether it would end in a blaze of glory on some distant shore, or softly, quietly, six decades (and more) later.
Because it was wartime, few would have been surprised by a quick ending, but on September 6, 1943, this Marine had nothing but hopes, and in the way of the young, there was no consideration of "ends," at all.
CAA War Training Service contractor Lafayette Flying Service in Lafayette, Louisiana introduced the Marine to flight, with his first lesson that September day. Two hours of ground instruction, and 45 minutes of flight. The airplane: Piper J-3-L NC38275, with instructor Thomas Dillahunty.
For his first flight lesson, he was graded an 80%, comments: "Nose high in straight-+-level, holding rudder in turns. Over-controlling." Kind of harsh for his first stick time, but then again, there wasn't time for coddling in the dark days of 1943.
The Marine flew with Dillahunty but once; nearly all the flights that followed were with "Edw. Hart Biggs," whose inscriptions in the "Pilot Rating Book For Navy" were made with a flamboyant hand in bright green ink. Many of the inscriptions show obvious signs of having been written in the cockpit, in flight, and they chronicle James' path to pilothood.
After his 11th flight, September 21, 1943, Biggs declared "Student is ready for Solo," and that same day (who knows, it might have been immediate), the young student became a young pilot, logging thirty minutes of solo flight ("Wind direction: N-E," "Wind velocity: 5"; one wonders whether Piper J-3-L NC31177 flies still today.
James was ready for his "Final Check" on October 20 - "Lesson 18"- and in J-3-C NC26889, after a one-hour check ride, the magic words, "Check Satisfactory" were inscribed in the Rating Book by Commercial Instructor Horace G. Miller. At the conclusion of the check ride, our Marine had the imposing total of forty-one hours, fifteen minutes in his log, including fourteen solo hours.
So much was yet to come, another group of pilot trainees, Class 44C, graduated from the contractor's program, and they went forth to the next phase of their flight training- only this time, the planes wouldn't be Cubs, and the instructors would not be civilians...
Because it was wartime, few would have been surprised by a quick ending, but on September 6, 1943, this Marine had nothing but hopes, and in the way of the young, there was no consideration of "ends," at all.
CAA War Training Service contractor Lafayette Flying Service in Lafayette, Louisiana introduced the Marine to flight, with his first lesson that September day. Two hours of ground instruction, and 45 minutes of flight. The airplane: Piper J-3-L NC38275, with instructor Thomas Dillahunty.
For his first flight lesson, he was graded an 80%, comments: "Nose high in straight-+-level, holding rudder in turns. Over-controlling." Kind of harsh for his first stick time, but then again, there wasn't time for coddling in the dark days of 1943.
The Marine flew with Dillahunty but once; nearly all the flights that followed were with "Edw. Hart Biggs," whose inscriptions in the "Pilot Rating Book For Navy" were made with a flamboyant hand in bright green ink. Many of the inscriptions show obvious signs of having been written in the cockpit, in flight, and they chronicle James' path to pilothood.
After his 11th flight, September 21, 1943, Biggs declared "Student is ready for Solo," and that same day (who knows, it might have been immediate), the young student became a young pilot, logging thirty minutes of solo flight ("Wind direction: N-E," "Wind velocity: 5"; one wonders whether Piper J-3-L NC31177 flies still today.
James was ready for his "Final Check" on October 20 - "Lesson 18"- and in J-3-C NC26889, after a one-hour check ride, the magic words, "Check Satisfactory" were inscribed in the Rating Book by Commercial Instructor Horace G. Miller. At the conclusion of the check ride, our Marine had the imposing total of forty-one hours, fifteen minutes in his log, including fourteen solo hours.
So much was yet to come, another group of pilot trainees, Class 44C, graduated from the contractor's program, and they went forth to the next phase of their flight training- only this time, the planes wouldn't be Cubs, and the instructors would not be civilians...