Fort Hayes, Columbus Ohio
Harold went to the army to join the air cadet system. He passed the physical tests and the intelligence test. He was ordered to report to Fort Hayes, in Columbus, Ohio, as a private in the fall of 1942.From Fort Hayes, Harold went to ground school in Santa Ana, California, for 10 weeks. He learned Morse Code and passed tests for math and reading maps. Men took tests to become either Bombardier, Pilot, or Navigator. Harold passed all three tests.
- Harold then went to advanced flight training school, in at Williams Field, Arizona. He flew an AT-9 that lands at 80-90 mph. He then went to a gunnery school near Ajo, south Arizona, and flew AT-6s for aerial and ground gunnery targets. Different colored greases were put on the ends of all bullets to tell which pilot hit a target.
- Harold took advanced fighter training in San Diego, California.
Ryan PT-22 Recruit
There he had the opportunity to fly P-38s, loaded with ammunition and bombs. At the end of that course,
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Curtiss AT-9bombs.
the Air Force sent in a request for 3 pilots for China. Thompson, Tribby, and Trumbull, who trained together, looked at each other, and made the decision on the spot to go to China. They got 30 days leave to go home by train.
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North American AT-6 Texan
Lockheed P-38 Twin Engine