This will be a work in progress. I have scanned several of Dad's Flight books, Starting with 1941. As you review the pages you should note that dad's flight hours start at 0.0 hours. These are his military hours scanned for all to view. Over time I would hope that you will be able to follow dad's life through the records contained in this section. Perhaps if we have dates that are important to us we will be able to find out what was going on in dad's life at that time. Perhaps you would like to compare the letters he wrote or opinions he expressed with his flight books and other life documentation. In any event I hope you enjoy these snippets from dad's life.
Just a short synopsis of things in Dad's flight books. Nov.1941 he was in Seattle, Wa.; Feb. 1942 Corpus Christi, TX.; 18 Sept. 1942 he received
"rating No. 2312 As instrument pilot issued"
Mar.1944 VF-OTU#2; 12 May 1944 "Qualified this date in carrier landings aboard the USS Sable in F6F airplane"
June 1944, CASU-23 (Carrier Aircraft Service Unit} This was in Atlantic City. Squadron VF-87,July,1944
Nov.22-1944 28 carrier landings to date. Nov. 1944 CV-15 USS Randolph; 3 Dec.1944,Weller Field,Trinidad;
"History of USS RANDOLPH:
USS RANDOLPH was laid down 10 May 1943 by Newport News Shipbuilding
& Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va.;
launched 28 June 1944, sponsored
by Mrs. Guy M. Gillette, and commissioned 9 October 1944, Capt. Felix
Baker in command.
Following shakedown off Trinidad, RANDOLPH got underway for the Panama
Canal and the Pacific.
On 31 December she reached San Francisco where
Air Group 87 was detached
and Air Group 12 reported on board for four
months duty."
7 Jan.1945 "Lt.H.G.Williams from Ogden,Utah to Reno,Nevada"
After 1 week of leave reported to USS Ticonderoga.
From mothers diary she was not informed of the ship dad was moved to just that it was under Admiral Halsey's command.
Jan.1945 53 Carrier landings
Flight officer C.W. Gunnels(presumably aboard the USS Ticonderoga)
Alan
Flight Codes used in these pages may be accessed in the links below.
This is the N3N. It was also called the "Yellow Canary"
The photo below was a colored version in a black and white world.
This is the OS2U also known as the
Kingfisher.
After flying for 4 hours this month this is the letter dad wrote to mother.
It is interesting how stress shows up.
On the 27th of march he was a passenger in the "Grasshopper"
NE1
Then we have two planes with no date in March '43
the first listed is the SNJ4
The other plane listed He was a passenger.
It was R4DH. The photo is from GD's negative file.
Was this a flight to pick up new planes and fly them back?
This is the USS Sable sailing on Lake Michigan. It was used as a pilot training ship.
Next modified version of FM1-1 the FM2
This was identical to the F4F but with 4 guns and added wing racks.
This is the USS Randolph taken on the 12th of November 1944 on the Chesapeake Bay. As noted above the first notation dad made about
the Randolph was on the 26th of November.
And then they were on their way.Next stop Trinidad
then 
THE NEXT FLIGHT BOOK STARTS 6 JUNE 1952. THIS WAS THE START OF HIS HELICOPTER FLYING.
THIS BOOK WILL BE COMBINED WITH HIS LAST (BLACK) FLIGHT BOOK.
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