Here he was taught more advanced navigation skills which included reading maps and constellations. The flight orientation involved getting rides in old airplanes with experienced pilots whose main objective was to see how many aviation candidates they could make airsick during a single flight.Īfter completion of the navigation course work and flight orientation, Harry was sent to Maxwell AAC field in Alabama for about twelve weeks. There was a lot of bookwork covering vectoring and basic navigation using a compass. The next stop on his AAC assignment was to Kutztown State College, in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, for twelve weeks of very basic navigator training and flight orientation. Based on his academic record in high school and the results of several one on one interviews with psychologists, he was assigned to become a navigator on the B-24 Liberator bomber. The assignments for bomber command at the time were pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and finally bombardier. Harry was selected to join the bomber command and was eligible for one of four assignments. The candidates would be considered for either the fighter command (pilots only) or bomber command. The main objective of this center was to weed out those aviation candidates who were not suitable for flight duty, and for those selected for flight duty, determine what flight assignment would be best for each candidate. During this eight-week assignment in Nashville, he was under the ”watchful” eye of a drill sergeant named Sgt. He was sent to Greensboro, North Carolina for nine weeks of basic training in preparation to become an officer in the Army Air Corps.Īfter completing basic training, he was re-assigned to the AAC Classification Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
Most importantly, at this time in his life, he met and started dating Laura Nicholas, who later became his love and future wife.Īfter graduation from high school, Harry decided to join the war effort and enlisted in the Army Air Corps (AAC) on June 16, 1943. He also played both defensive linebacker and offensive blocking fullback on the football team. In his high school years, Harry excelled in math and technical subjects. As a typical young boy of that period, Harry managed to stay out of serious trouble but was very active in several unexplained happenings around his neighborhood. Harry was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on September 9, 1923.
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