embarrassed and deeply humiliated that due to circumstances over which I have no control, the inner workings and hidden mechanisms of my chronometer are in such inaccord with the great sidereal movement by which time is commonly reckoned that I cannot with any degree of accuracy state the exact time. However, without fear of being too far wrong, I will say that it is x minutes and x seconds and x ticks past the hour.” Another question might be: “What is the definition of a duck?” “Sir, one of its legs is both the same.”
Or, “What is the definition of leather?” “If the fresh skin of an animal, clean and divested of all hair, fat, and other extraneous matter be submerged in a dilute solution of tannic acid, a chemical combination ensues. The gelatinous tissue of the skin is converted into a non-putrescible substance impervious to and insoluble in water. This, sir, is leather.”
When eating a meal, if we needed to get a drink of water we marched to the water container and said, “Sir, aviation cadet Wien, Noel Merrill, reports to Colonel Temprite for a drink of water, sir.”
When unable to answer a question asked by an upperclassman, the response would be, “Sir, not being informed to the highest degree of accuracy I hesitate to articulate for fear I might deviate from the true course of rectitude; in short, sir, I am a very dumb fourth classman, sir, and I do not know, sir.”
My eighth grade teacher had required that all her students learn a different poem every week and recite it to the class. I think that experience was a big help in memorizing these useless phrases.
SINCE I HAD PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE, THEY ASSIGNED OUR assistant operations officer to take me on and prepare me for a military check ride, which was required to solo in less than twenty hours. They wanted as many pilots as possible to qualify to solo so they could put more planes in the air and get more utilization sooner.
When flying began, my total flight time was already about 1,500 hours. A couple of the instructors in our class had less time than that. I was assigned to a great instructor, Chuck Wilson. He taught me acrobatics that were not in the curriculum, such as how to do a loop on top of an Immelmann or how to do three slow rolls in succession without the engine quitting. Chuck was a great pilot and taught me a lot about precision and accuracy.
My operations officer for this training was George Truman. I recognized his name from hearing about an around-the-world flight that he and Clifford Evans had made in two Piper Super Cruisers a few years earlier. Truman was qualified in the T-6 but not very well versed in the curriculum since he was not one of the regular instructors. I remember he tried to show me a snap roll and I happened to be looking at the airspeed indicator when he yanked the stick back. At 160 mph the G force was quite high before it finally snapped. Fortunately the wings stayed on.
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