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I do not have a picture of the
AT-17 Bobcat which we flew in the advanced flight training.
It was a twin engine (450 hp.) aircraft and was what we called the "Bamboo
Bomber" ! The reason for this was that it was primarily built of wood
and fabric covered. This plane had all the features of those that we would
be flying later in combat. It had fully controllable pitch propellors,
retractable landing gear, flaps, radio and even some seats for additional
people to ride
along! It was also known as the UC-78 which was a light utility cargo plane.
I had no trouble at all flying it but taxying it on
the ground was another story! The instructor made me put my feet on the
floor and not use the rudder pedals at all to steer it with. I could only
use the engines for as they were off center they would cause the plane
to turn. If you accelerated the right engine the plane would turn left
and vice versa. I would accelerate one engine and then the other to get
straightend out then the next thing I knew I was going down the taxi strip
FAST!, soon then I would be off the taxi strip.
The instructor got angry and said, "The next time you get off the
taxi strip, I am not going to help you get back on!" I did not think
he would do it but - guess what, - shortly thereafter I was off the strip
going around in circles trying to get back on the strip. I learned!
I again completed the reqired amount of time early
and also my final check ride so knew that I had finally made it and would
wear the silver wings of a pilot.
We had some Cuban students going through so they put an english speaking
cadet with the Cubans. I was with one on a night cross country flight.
When we got back to the base, I called in for landing instructions. We
got them and lined up on what looked like the final approach. Something
did not look right to me so I called the tower and asked them if they had
us in sight. They did not! I looked again and we had lined up on the lights
along each side of the driveway to a hospital near the base. I jammed the
throttles up and cleared the top of the hospital but may have scared some
of the patients badly. I called the tower and told them what had happened.
We had to report to the Commanding Officer for that and had some explaining
to do. When he was finally convinced that it was a near fatal accident,
he congratulated me.
We finally completed our training and were ready to graduate!
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