Well, how is the old home town. I imagine by now it is almost swamped with airmen or have they got the training field in full operation yet.

I haven't seen any of the boys from Vulcan except Fred Craig, and he is in the same squadron as I am. I see him every day. He is fine and believe me he is one of the boys whom I really admire, as I do all the aircrew. They are doing a fine job and can't be too highly congratulated. I would work day and night if I thought it was making my aircraft serviceable for them.

Tomorrow my flight commander is going on a 48 hour pass and has left me in charge of the flight. I have my fingers crossed in hopes that I can do it well, as it is the first time I have done that over here. However I guess all one can do his best, isn't it?

This is a very beautiful country, it seems so small and everything is so clean and all the small fields have hedges around them. It is a very beautiful scene from the air, so much different from the vast areas of flat bare land in Canada.

Still for a place to live I wouldn't trade Calgary for any place I've seen yet. It's going to be a happy day when we can see old Canadian soil again.

I am in a very grand squadron, a fine bunch of men. There is no balcony about drill, inspectors and all that. They leave it up to a man's pride to shine his buttons, shave and all the other things we are forced to do in a training unit.

Here we have a job to do and that is the main idea.

I wish you could be able to see the way we carry on with our work. It is hard to describe the attitudes of a place like this. It is true that coming from Canada to here I never hardly realized at home that there was a war on.

All the fellows in the squadron are so friendly. There are no petty quarrels and things like people seem to do at home. It is just like everyone is part of a large family, and all the time, while we have lots of fun, there seems to be a seriousness that is never forgotten.

One time a fellow tossed me the keys to his car that he had rented , before he went out, and told me if he didn't come back, to take his car back to town. He was so happy-go-lucky about it all. I felt so good when he came back all right. He was a grand fellow. The next time he went out he didn't come back. Sometimes it all seems like a dream, and yet it isn't, and that is the feeling that you can't get out of your system.

But I shouldn't let go with such incidents as those, because we really do have a grand time including our sports day on the first of July.

I rented a radio for my room. It costs three shilling per week and the company services it every week. Not bad eh? I also bought a bicycle which I need very much for work. I was hanging on to the back of a truck the other day, going like the wind, and I blew out my rear tire. It seems harder to keep my bike serviceably than my aircraft.

My room-mate ran off the road a few night ago on his bicycle and broke his shoulder and is in the hospital. I guess we Canadians better stick to our cars and let the Englishmen keep their bicycles.