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Nile Kinnick correspondence, January-May 1942

1942-04-04: Page 02

Every morning at 5:40 we pile into trucks and busses which transport us through the morning darkness to our training fields.  At 6:30 the first flight goes up and another day has begun.  At this particular field there are about 175 or 200 planes in operation.  They clutter up the sky like a swarm of bees.  However, if you observe the course rules & keep alert every things goes well.  Instead of runways we have a solid covering of asphalt over several acres known as the "mat."  Although this makes it possible to always land into the wind, it is not without its difficulties, for the "mat" being black in color, for some reason or another, makes complete accuracy in judging the distance for landing quite hard.  After you have gotten onto it, it does present much of a problem, however, & it may be of some comfort to you to know that I'm quite sure that I have "gotten onto it."

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Every morning at 5:40 we pile into trucks and busses which transport us through the morning darkness to our training fields. At 6:30 the first flight goes up and another day has begun. At this particular field there are about 175 or 200 planes in operation. They clutter up the sky like a swarm of bees. However, if you observe the course rules & keep alert every things goes well. Instead of runways we have a solid covering of asphalt over several acres known as the "mat." Although this makes it possible to always land into the wind, it is not without its difficulties, for the "mat" being black in color, for some reason or another, makes complete accuracy in judging the distance for landing quite hard. After you have gotten onto it, it does present much of a problem, however, & it may be of some comfort to you to know that I'm quite sure that I have "gotten onto it."