Barbers Point NAS

Checked out his first pilot in the B-24 this morning with Bacon. My first two passes at the field were high, although the second time I was only about 200 feet high and when I shifted from full flap to half flap the crate settled about 150 feet leaving a measly 50 feet to get out of the field with. Won’t make that mistake again. Was truly wringing wet when I climbed out of that plane after two hours’ workout. She’s one hell of a big plane and demands plenty of beef at the right time. Climbs like an elevator — just point the nose at heaven and let her go.

Spent most of the afternoon at the beach. Captain “Bullet Bill” Moffett gave us all a little talk after dinner this evening. Said our primary mission was, at the moment, to check ourselves out in these planes, so that we could hurry and start checking out the other squadrons out here. When they finally become able to take care of themselves, which shouldn’t take too long, we, after proper gunnery and bombing training, will find ourselves headed for the Southwest where we can do some good! Said we should feel honored to be chosen the first squadron in the fleet to get B-24s. On the whole, a very nice talk.