Blind Bombing by Norman Fine

Author:Norman Fine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS027100 History / Military / World War Ii
Publisher: Potomac Books

Stan Fine, January 1942

Detached from the tank corps, Fine awaited orders that would transfer him to Kelly Field, Texas, and the U.S. Army Air Corps. Dismayed at having left his buddy Horan behind, it wasn’t long before he met Pomeranz, another noncom and a lawyer in civilian life, who was waiting for his orders as well.

By the time the pair arrived in Texas in January 1942, they were buddies. Kelly Field was a zoo. It teemed with cadets. The air corps had shifted its training process into high gear to produce the crews needed to man the planes that were being produced in ever increasing numbers.

The first step was classification. Perhaps a thousand men needed to be assigned to flight school, bombing school, navigation school, or another. Nearly every man wanted to be a pilot.

“Of the 1,000 names on the lists, probably 875 had signed up for pilot training, 75 had signed up for bombing school, and maybe 25 had signed up to become navigators,” said Fine with a laugh.

He was demoralized from the start. Many of the cadets were college graduates. Most of the men who weren’t still had a few years of college before being drafted or enlisting. Fine didn’t feel up to the competition. The men were given two days of exams to test their specific aptitudes.

After the tests were scored, the men were instructed to report for interviews. Fifteen desks were lined up abreast in the interview room, each manned by a second lieutenant. As the officer cadets formed into fifteen lines, Pomeranz drew Fine aside.

“Here’s what they’re going to do,” Pomeranz said. “They’ve got too many pilot candidates. They’ll try to switch us. We want pilot training, right?”

“Yeah,” Fine agreed.

“Okay, let’s be firm.”

“Right.”

A few minutes later, Fine was seated in front of one desk, Pomeranz in front of another.

“Well,” said the second lieutenant to Fine, “I’m looking at your aptitude results here. You scored a 5.5 for pilot, a 6.0 for bombardier, and a 9.0 for navigator.”

“Does that mean I can’t go into pilot training?” Fine asked.

“No, it doesn’t mean you can’t. But look. Your navigation aptitude is double your pilot aptitude. Wouldn’t it be a shame if you went through all that training, and all that time and effort, and got washed out? After the government spends all that money on you, how would you feel about getting washed out?”

“Well, I wouldn’t feel too good, sir,” Fine replied, feeling as if he were a failure before he even started.

“I would advise you to go to navigation school,” said the interviewer.

“Could I have a minute to talk to my friend over there?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Pomeranz, at the next desk over, had been getting the same song and dance. The two huddled.

“Look, what the hell, we’ll still be flying. We’ll still get the pay,” said Pomeranz.

“Okay,” Fine agreed.

While the buddies were waiting to be transferred to navigation school in Hondo, Texas, Pomeranz got the grippe and was hospitalized. Fine received his orders and was sent on alone, again, and miserable.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.