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Nile Kinnick correspondence, September-November 1942
1942-10-28: Page 01
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Wednesday Oct. 28, 1942 Jacksonville, Fla. Dear Ben, Now concerning your choice of duty, let me say this. From all I can gather VO-VS flying is the most unenjoyable you can possibly get, and, as you admit, if caught in combat you have very little chance. I talked to Russ a little while in Norfolk, and he frankly confessed that he was doing everything in his power to get transferred to other duty. It seems that on battleships and cruisers the skipper and most of the deck officers still believe that aviation plays only a minor part in naval warfare. Russ claimed they wouldn't even pay any attention to the spots he radioed back. However, the rumor is that they are pulling all VO-VS planes off cruisers. Possibly you could get in-shore patrol or instructor's duty through VO training, that would be fine. If a man is going to be ship based I think carrier duty is far the best. There everything is aviation and all strategy is considered from that standpoint. There are two drawbacks though - one is the possibility of getting torpedo planes, and the other is that against land based aircraft you are apt to get the hell kicked out Maybe you had better send this clipping home after you have finished with it.
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Wednesday Oct. 28, 1942 Jacksonville, Fla. Dear Ben, Now concerning your choice of duty, let me say this. From all I can gather VO-VS flying is the most unenjoyable you can possibly get, and, as you admit, if caught in combat you have very little chance. I talked to Russ a little while in Norfolk, and he frankly confessed that he was doing everything in his power to get transferred to other duty. It seems that on battleships and cruisers the skipper and most of the deck officers still believe that aviation plays only a minor part in naval warfare. Russ claimed they wouldn't even pay any attention to the spots he radioed back. However, the rumor is that they are pulling all VO-VS planes off cruisers. Possibly you could get in-shore patrol or instructor's duty through VO training, that would be fine. If a man is going to be ship based I think carrier duty is far the best. There everything is aviation and all strategy is considered from that standpoint. There are two drawbacks though - one is the possibility of getting torpedo planes, and the other is that against land based aircraft you are apt to get the hell kicked out Maybe you had better send this clipping home after you have finished with it.
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