June 4th and 8th. Stanley writes two letters to Dad. It looks like he is on the move again too. The letters are written from Geiger Field, about 9 miles from Spokane, Washington. The 125 mile trip took only 40 minutes thanks to travel in a B-17F. Stanley reports that the flight was “a new experience” and fills his brother in on the details.
Letterhead from Geiger Field featuring an embossed image of a B-17.
“We started off and I never even knew when we got off the ground. I was scared first to get on it but when I got into it I felt okay and felt pretty good. …I always wanted to get a ride in it. I sat in the radio operators seat and looked out the window all the time. I could see the whole left wing all the time I could see the ground later on and everything looked so small…. We were about 4000 feet up… At times the plane would drop about 5 or 10 feet and then we would rise again. There were 13 of us on the plane…When we got close the planes would start to peel off one at a time…We [were the] first to peel off and the Major who flew the plane almost made a right angle turn and boy the wing was almost straight down and then we would be losing altitude and the ground and everything started to look bigger and the airfield at a slant looked as if it was standing straight up in the air. I’ll never forget that experience as long as I live.”
A 2012 aerial view of Spokane International Airport. During the war years, this location was home to Geiger Field. To this day, the three letter indicator for this airport is GEG.
It looks like Stanley is in a two story barracks building like Dad. He reports that “right now I sleep downstairs with 2 or three others. Upstairs the floor is almost taken up.” The orderly room is in a one story building and it looks like two squadrons share the same orderly room. As of the fourth he has a brand new Royal typewriter “the kind they had in Albany Business College”, but, even as of the eight some of their office equipment is still sitting in a box car that has yet to leave Ephrata. He also reports that “here in the office we have a Coca-Cola machine”
The two squadrons also share the same mess hall. Of the food, Stanley writes, “we get better food and plenty of it. We had pork chops and steak already and plenty of all kinds of vegetables. Today we had orange ade and boy was it good. They used a whole crate of oranges to make it and you could not taste the water at all.”
He also had a chance to get into town to look around a see a few movies (“Sons of the Sea” and “Here we Go Again”). Of Spokane he says, “It is a pretty good city and lots of girls and also a lot of soldiers and sailors.”
Downtown Spokane during the war years. Image credit: www.thespokesman.com
He closes asking Dad how he is getting along in his job and signs off with the wish that “God bless you and keep you safe and sound through all your endeavors.”