Once all were joined, the CO began making some turns which was alright except he made them too steeply, not realizing how much this effected the inside and outside planes which included me. When he made a left turn toward me I could not fly slow enough even with wheels and flaps down. I had to make a three hundred sixty degree turn and get back in formation.  When he made right turn away from me there was no way even with full power to keep up so just had to fall behind and wait for straight flight to catch up.  We were relaying our problems to our Squadron Commander who informed the Colonel who then began making turns we could handle.  "Prop wash" was even more of a problem landing with the planes bobbing up and down, slipping and yawing, etc. but we were able to land with only our nerves suffering damage.

     Some questioned the value of this training since if we were moving cargo we offered a better target for enemy fighters or ground fire.  On the other hand if we needed to drop paratroopers flying close together was necessary so that the troops would land in close proximity.  The D-Day invasion shortly after this exercise demonstrated the need for this training, as many troops were dropped behind the enemy lines.  A parachute drop was made only one time by my squadron while overseas and that was on Rangoon, Burma shortly before the end of WW II.

     Gliders were being used in some combat operations in WWII and most of these were towed by the C-47.  They were used to deliver troops and supplies in areas where it was not possible for airplanes to land and take-off, in many cased behind enemy lines.  If possible, the gliders would be retrieved for future use by attaching a rope to the glider suspended between two poles.  A hook was attached to the plane and as it flew over the rope at almost ground level, the hook caught the rope and the glider was snatched and towed back to base.

     Some how I was selected to become one of a small unit to train for this glider detail.  I did not know whether this was an honor or a punishment, but it was a new challenge which I enjoyed.  This unit flew from Louisville to Camp Atterbury, Indiana where the gliders were stationed on the days we had our practices.  When I arrived overseas in India the Army had decided to go farther in this training.  We were checked out as glider pilots and were suppose to get certifications and wings but this was never put in my personnel file.  This is understandable, I guess because our group was never stationed as a unit on one base.   Each squadrons bases and detached assignments kept us scattered all over the CBI Theater at one time or another.

     While training at Louisville, we also used the Camp Atterbury field to practice short field landing.  The runways and the corn fields surrounding the landing strips were level for a long distance so that we could really drag an approach and use very little runway for landing.  The techniques we learned here proved very useful later as we flew combat missions in both Burma and China.