I am now in the Reserves

(Continuation of Captain Estes's War Memoirs)

"And I can recall while I was in the Reserves
James Coleman, a boy I had grown up with that
lived out there in Carter, he had flown P-51's and
he was in the Pacific area, and when he came home
he was in the Reserves, and so he and I would go
over to Jackson together and check out an
airplane and sometimes we would check out
two airplanes and we'd fly around together
or else we would fly in the same plane and
do some instrument flying or whatever
and we enjoyed each other's company.


And I remember once there was a P-51
on the airfield in Jackson and he checked
it out and I checked out an AT-6 and we
went up and flew together and he did
barrel rolls all the way around me.
He was -- the ol' 51's were so much
faster than the AT-6 and he gave
me some instructions as to how to
fly a P-51 because he did everything
in the world with it and he was a
fine pilot. But anyway, those days
are gone forever now, and James is
dead. We enjoyed being a part of
the Air Force and flying and took
every advantage they'd give us."


(To be continued.)