Page 83 - Appendix A

Bob: When I reported in the first thing that I did was send a letter out to McArthur
headquarters, “hey I'm not assigned to an Air Base.” So I request permission and

organization assignment to an Air Base that I can maintain my flying proficiency.
Because all pilots had to fly four hours a month in order to maintain their
proficiency and get paid as a flying officer. And so that is why I requested this.
Assign a base where I can maintain my flying proficiency. And of course, the letter
came back and said “no there's no Air Base over here that you can be assigned to
so you will have to stay at the Tokyo Quartermaster depot.” So I immediately sent
another later back. Well if this is the case I was assigned here with a job of flying
nd
and nothing is available so I should be assigned back to the black outfit the 332
fighter group at Lockbourne Air Base at that time. And they said 'oh no you're over
here now, so you’re going to stay for the tour which was three years. So being as

there’s no Air Base accepting me they took me off flying status.

Ivan: Wow.

Bob: So I ended up off flying status in Japan at the Tokyo Quartermaster depot. Now
something happened here that was very....wasn’t planned, I ended up at the
Tokyo Quartermaster depot learning different things that I would never have
learned had I been flying out there, assigned to an outfit with my primary duty as
flying. I was assigned as the adjutant of one of the truck companies and of course

actually easily ran the company. And the company itself was really a composite
company. They had their own mess hall, cooks and everything, truck drivers. So
you had to be aware of what was going on and everything.

Ivan: Let me go back to something you said about the course that you had, you didn’t
get to go through CPTP but you had a course, was that more like ground school,
and was it something you guys created or was it something that was created for
you?

Bob: No this is the complete program that Air Corps had set up for their cadets. We

followed the same course that was designed for the white cadets.

Ivan: Okay.

Bob: The only difference was that while they were building the Air Base and getting that
ready, Tuskegee Institute took over the primary training. And the primary training,
the first phase of the primary training was primarily ground school.