I went to Randolph Field Texas near San Antonio. This was my first duty station as an officer so was quite different than what I was used to before. We were billeted in very nice western style buildings and the food in the Officers Mess was quite good. We also were allowed to use the Officers Club which was very nice. We could get delicious meals there but I could not buy an alcoholic drink for I was not old enough yet!
The training here was somewhat different also. We had ground school as before but the subjects were Aerodynamics, Theory of Teaching etc. We also flew the B-25's from the co-pilots seat for that would be where we flew as instructors later on. My instructor was a civilian and had quit counting his time at 20,000 hours. This was an unheard of amount of time for that period. He had flown just about everything up to that time and had been a test pilot for North American, the company that had built the B-25's.
He literally taught us everything in the book and some that was not for he showed us how to do all the aerobatics in it that a fighter airplane could do. We did loops, rolls, immelmanns etc. He showed us how to recover from a near stall when the student made that error when coming in for a landing. It literally saved a very bad landing if let go.
He drank rum, warm, at times and could fly better partially drunk than I could sober!
This really got next to me and made me work even harder. Due to this also, I finished my final check ride early and with top ratings.
Randolf Field at that time (1944) did not have runways so we were supposed to fly from the grass. It had rained a lot so that the field was so muddy that we had to fly from the ramp. They moved the planes that were normally parked there around to the back of the hangars so that the front was open for take offs and landings. We had to make "short field" take offs and landings similar to what the bunch that bombed Japan did off the carrier. This was only done at Randolph for the auxiliary fields had runways of concrete so normal proceedures were done there. Randolph Field from the air looked like a beautiful pearl set in the middle of a green velvet, it was beautiful. I think the runways that they now have there really ruined that sight but of course were necessary!

As an officer I also got to see San Antonio very well. I managed to go to the Alamo several times and was amazed at how small it really is. With my imagination though I could almost feel how the people felt when they were about to all be killed by the Mexican Army. I also went back to the Cadet Center on top of the hill and it was certainly different from my viewpoint as an officer than it had been as a Cadet! I also got to see a Lt. that had been our tactical officer when we went through there and he told me that he really envied me as a pilot. I felt sorry for him for the first time for he had washed out and could not fly!

My training was completed here with no real problems and I was then given the Flying Instructor rating on all my paperwork. I was then assigned to go to Lubbock Texas to begin teaching the Advanced Cadets there to fly the B-25.

I rode up to Lubbock with another new flight instructor who was also reporting there for duty. This was my first trip to west Texas on the ground and I was surprised to see the mirages that can easily be seen in that part of the world.

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