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The gunnery school down there was lots of fun.
When we got back to Richmond, Virginia, the war in Europe had just turned and they were sending all the pilots west, rather than to Europe. So we were right at the end of that list. They sent us to Seattle. They put us on a troop train and gave us the heaviest flying gear you have ever seen. We went through the country on a "sneaky" little troop train. When we got to Seattle, they took away our heavy-duty stuff. After a while, they sent us by boat to Oahu, Hawaii, where we joined the 45th Fighter Squadron. While we were there we learned how to really fly. That Squadron had been down to the South Pacific for a few months and they had come back to train some new pilots. So, we were the new pilots there. They trained us well. The first day we went up in these P-47's. Our captain, Captain Art Bridge, was a 24 or 25-year old guy - he looked like he was about 45 years old to me. He put us in four-ship formation and he said "Now there is Diamond Head and here we go. Stay on my wing and don't you move." We did a huge loop and came back around. Then he said "Now we are going to do a nice little barrell-roll." Captain Bridge was so smoothe and we just did our barrell-roll and came out again. That was probably the moment that we really became formation flyers. I learned a little bit about discipline. I learned a little bit about doing your job. It was marvelous to fly with competent pilots. It was the "candy store" everyday from that time one. Mr. Cox: Really something for a young man to go through, wasn't it. Mr. Brown: Yes. Mr. Cox: Now you said that the 147th Fighter... Mr. Brown: No, the 45th Fighter.... Mr. Cox: The 45th, is that what they called the "Pineapple.... Mr. Brown: The "Pineapple Air Force". The 45th was one of them. We were part of the 7th Air Force. The 45th had already been down to a little bit of combat. They had been shot around. My flight leader, Bridge, had bailed out once. He had some experience. It was fun, seeing those men that had already had a little bit of combat, to be with them.
Mr. Cox: Is this where you learned your combat flying skills. Did they teach you.... Mr. Brown: That is really where we learned them. We went north of Oahu. We would go out and shoot at sleeves. We would start out making side paths at sleeves. You would get in a string of planes and take your turn and go in and shoot colored bullets. Later on we would do overhead passes. That was a little bit wilder.....a whole lot wilder.
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Brown. Brown was studying at the University of Texas at El Paso whe nhe joined the Army Air Force in 1942. Brown discusses his flight training, which occurred throughout Texas. With training cmplete, Brown was sent to Hawaii where he continued training with the 45th Fighter Squadron, 7th Air Force. Soon his unit was shipped to Iwo Jima where they flew bomber escort for bombing missions over the home islands of Japan. Brown was shot down over Yokahama and bailed out over the Tokyo Bay, where he was resuced by the USS Pipefish (SS-388). Brown was taken to Hawaii to recover and was eventually shipped back to the US, where he was discharged in September, 1945.
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