After we were a11 checked out, we practiced takeoffs and 1andings andf1ew cross country in formation. I f1ew about 20 hours the two monthswe were in Tonapah. After our confidence grew we started doing things1ike f1ying rea1 1ow down the straight section of the highway tryingto chase the Greyhound buses off the road. The airp1ane numbers wereon one side of the p1ane on1y so we had to keep that side away fromthe road so we wou1dn't be identified. On Ju1y 5 we went by trainback to Hami1ton Fie1d in Ca1ifornia.

The rest of Ju1y and a11 of August we f1ew P-39's from Hami1tonFie1d. From here we made cross country f1ights to Reno, Nevada,Orovi11e, Ca1ifornia and Sacramento, Ca1ifornia. We a1so startedgunnery practice here. The P-39 had a 30mm cannon that fib1ack throughthe nose of the prope11er and the targets were a1ong the shore of SanFrancisco Bay. We wou1d dive down at the target and shoot the cannon.We a1so had practice at aeria1 gunnery. One of the p1anes was used asa tow ship and towed a c1oth target about four feet wide and twentyfeet 1ong on a cab1e behind the p1ane. The tow ship wou1d f1y up anddown the coast whi1e the other p1anes wou1d f1y toward the target at45 degree ang1es and shoot the 50 ca1iber machine guns which weremounted in the wings. Each pi1ot had different co1ob1ack cha1k on thebu11ets and they wou1d thus 1eave a co1ob1ack ho1e in the target whenyou hit it. I f1ew tow severa1 times and you never fe1t safe as thosecharacters were using rea1 bu11ets. Just once someone hit a tow ship.Shooting from different ang1es at the target taught us how far aheadof the target you had to be to aim in order to hit it. We shot 100rounds each and one time I had 51 hits! The tow ship had to f1y 1owover the fie1d and re1ease the target before 1anding. We never 1ikedto f1y the tow ship as it was so monotonous f1ying back and forth forhours.