By Land and By Air 
     
    
   
   
    
     first place I had to open a hatch and stick out my head and 
     
     hands and shoot a star. 
     
    

    
     I always carried the astroscope but always felt that I 
     
     could place myself at least three miles off track. One time I 
     
     left the astroscope in the plane on arrival at an RAF airfield 
     
     in the South of England. When the planes were to take 
     
     off the next day, our pilot was not back from London and 
     
     another crew took our plane ”G George" but it crashed 
     
     on the way back. When I went to pay for the loss of the 
     
     astroscope they said, ”Forget it; we write off one each 
     
     crash.” The day before I and the Pilot talked the glider 
     
     Pilot to take us up on a flight. This was fun when the 30 
     
     airmen jumped out by parachute, he flew around for 15 
     
     minutes without power. On landing he seemed to be going 
     
     straight for the ground but levelled out a few feet from 
     
     earth and landed like a bird. 
     
    

    
     When he arrived at base it took seven tries to land. 
     
     I would be able to take him over the runway but he would 
     
     be too far to the left or right and we would have to circle 
     
     again. On my 26th trip to Cologne, we had a fighter attack 
     
     and he made a power dive. I took such a cold that I awoke 
     
     the next morning with a terrible earache. At the breakfast 
     
     table I was sitting beside the Doctor and when I told 
     
     him, he took me to the hospital and to my disgust I was 
     
     taken ahead of all the line of waiting patients. I was put 
     
     to bed and was completely deaf for 14 days and did not 
     
     fly in January, except that I went up on a cross country to 
     
     20,000 feet. I was told that if I had no complaints, to keep 
     
     flying. I knew the Doctor quite well, as he was a friend of 
     
     Bernie Miller and used to visit our room and spin western 
     
     stories. I made five extra trips in February. I had my 28 
     
     trips necessary to get my OP Wing and return home for 
     
     six months, but for some reason the trips were changed to 
     
     points, which meant that I had to make four more 
     
    
   
   
    
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