Edmonton, Alta

Dear Bernice:

So you are still alive and kicking. I am glad to see you have woke up at last. I guess it will take a fair size girdle to hold you now.

It's to bad that Ma and Pa should get the flu at the same time when you were already up it.

I am in first rate condition working hard and also having a lot of fun. I met a nice little blonde [Olwen?] at the S.T.8 dance a couple of months back and and you know [musical notes around following phrase] this love of mine. But don't let Ma start speculating. I only have ten more weeks to go and then Hitler here I come.

This navigating gets lots easier as you go along. I always have time to do my work now. Yesterday I had one of the guys from a new course as second navigator and he wasn't any help at all. I gave the pilot a course and put 038 instead of 338 and got off on the wrong foot so to speak but did I worry, not at all. I just D.R.'ed ahead altered course and hit the turning point dead centre and then I set course home and all he had to do was to put the nose down and glide right onto the runway. I couldn't have done better if I had known where I was going. I did all that on a blank map with only a lat. & long. scale on it (was I ever lucky). To top it all off the pilot instead of flying 6000' I said went up to eight and ran into rain and started to ice up the carburetor and the engine iced up and one engine quit so we sure had to get down to some warm air in a hurry and there aren't many fields handy about fifty miles west of here, although Will Reynolds' or somebody's ranch should be out there somewhere according to Bertha. It has been raining here all week but it appears to be clearing up today.

The Yanks are going through in grand style. The Japs are going to run into some trouble I believe up in Alaska. The shells in the cannon of those Air Cobras sure look like they mean business. There is a Canadian fighter squadron here and it appears they are stationed here. They have their own mechanics and all. There are a bunch of Yank mechanics here too so we have quite a variety. We have seen about all the Yanks best kites but the Thunderbolt and Mustang those Lockheed Lightenings sure caught eye. It's a case of there he was with them.

Well we have finished our Astro so far as theory goes and are all set to put it into practice. It doesn't sound hard but to take shots with a bubble sextant in a jumpy old Anson is another thing. Our first night flight was washed out the other night so we fly tomorrow night down to Drumheller and back, something like a hundred and fifty miles, so it should be easy to handle with lots of time; but we have to get used to the night work, and working on a black map isn't too fun; but it makes you feel good when you hit the place on the nose.

I saw a couple of the boys from 10 R.D. last night at the "Barn" one of Edmonton's dances. (It isn't so hot either.) None of our old gang are left there anymore anyway. I guess we just got through I.T.S. in time; the course there has been extended to fourteen weeks or so and they can't post the men they have got at the end of course. I was sure glad I gave up some leave for this posting as some other guys waited four weeks after that before getting over here.

I suppose Bill is having a good time in England. Everybody seems to for awhile and then they get awful sick of it.

I sure hated this country last fall and winter, but since I came up here I have been happy as a cow. Its more like home here, at least there are some trees here; and they like to cooperate here, whereas in Calgary some of those thought they could run things, but up here we have men that know there stuff and try to help a person out rather than squeeze him out.

Well I guess I've said enough. I'll just call it off now.

So long,
Love JB