Pearl Harbor

Gradually getting squared away at the squadron. My navigation is damn rusty, but coming along well. Named 35 stars in the heavens tonight – the minimum required is 20.

Another Army B-17E crashed at sea today and one of our planes had to go out and pick up the survivors. These army aviators are stinking navigators and are continually getting lost and running out of gas. They’ve been losing about one per week that way. It’s a hell of a way to lose airplanes in wartime — especially when such badly needed and expensive ones.

A PB2Y-2 crashed today on take-off with 24 people aboard, most of whom were, very luckily, saved. No dope on what happened — the engines cut off and she stalled at about 50 feet. She sank in less than a minute.

This damned flying out here is certainly boring with no jobs around. I miss Surabaya and the Makassar Straits.