Military Years

Clyde entered the military at the age of 24.

Clyde took a test to qualify for pilot training. This test was administered at Marsh or Marx field near Riverside, CA.

From there, Clyde went to the air core, and participated in aviation cadet pilot training for 12 months.

Clyde’s First stop – Preflight at UNV Reno Clyde flew some small 65 horsepower aircraft for 10 hours. Clyde spent 3 exciting and fun months there. As Clyde described it “It was the Time of his life”. In addition to his flight training, he had a crush on 3 or 4 girls in Reno. One was real special, but he couldn’t remember her name.

Clyde’s Second stop – Santa Ana, CA This stop was also for 3 months. Couldn’t get any details about this.

Clyde’s Third Stop – Thunderbird Field in AZ – Flew 220 Steerman’s for 65 hours.

http://www.pilotfriend.com/aircraft%20performance/stearman.htm


Clyde described the scene this way, “The girls and activities there were fantastic.” Clyde flew his first solo flight in the Stearman. It was very exciting. They did snap rolls and spin recoveries; they had to practice every major recovery. During one training session, Clyde did a slow roll at 10,000 feet forgetting he had left 10 inches of slack in his seatbelt. Therefore, when he was upside down, he slipped down and could not reach the foot control pedals. Luckily, because he was at 10,000 feet, he was able to maneuver losing 5,000 feet but regaining control. It was pretty scary for him.

Clyde’s Fourth Stop – Lancaster, CA Polaris flight academy for basic flying. Clyde flew a 450 HP basic trainer for 65 hours.

Clyde’s Fifth stop – FT Sumner NM – After he flew these planes for 20 hours, they decided Clyde was not fit to be a pilot and should be a flight purser. Although disappointed, this was a blessing in disguise. If he would have been a pilot, Clyde would have probably ended up as a bomber pilot in Europe and 80% of them did not make it back alive.

Clyde with one of his training planes

Clyde and his father, in front of their Los Angeles home

Being a flight purser was the “best vacation Clyde had ever had in his life”. Clyde was in charge of supplies and food for the passengers in the airplane. Clyde traveled all over the Pacific and had the “time of his life.” He went to Hawaii frequently and would go to firesides at the LDS church buildings. Sometimes nights he would go to the Caucasian fireside, other nights he would attend the Japanese fireside, or any other ethnic fireside available. Once Clyde hit the ground, he was on his break, and had free reign of the Pacific Islands until he had to prepare for the next flight.

Hamilton field north of San Fransisco was his homebase. He enjoyed all the youth and church activities in the bay area as well as those on the islands.

Clyde would receive 3 day passes after each flight. He would either travel to Los Angeles or stay in the bay area. In his words, “The church members would treat him like a king wherever he went”. Each flight would begin in Hawaii and then land somewhere in the Pacific such as Tarawa, Guam, Siapan or other islands.
Clyde with one of the planes he worked on during WW2 as a Flight Purser

Clyde with some LDS servicemen on an island in the Pacific

Immediately upon landing on an island, Clyde would ask where all the LDS servicemen were staying. Then, he would go to all the activities and have the time of his life with these men. After the first time on an island, he would remember where these LDS servicemen were staying. Therefore, when he returned, he was able to get to the activities much faster. Fortunately for these servicemen, Clyde was able to take their classified information (Location) and relay that information to the LDS servicemen girlfriends back at home. During the largest world war that the United States was ever involved in, Clyde was having the time of his life.

Because Clyde traveled so much and had free time on each island, he was the envy of all of the servicemen who were stuck on the islands.

Hawaii became one of Clyde’s favorite Islands. Clyde went to the Philippines 15 days after VJ day and Guadalcanal after the major combat was over. (VJ day is recognized as the day Japan surrendered on 8/15/1945 marking the end of WW2) The islands were “fascinating and interesting” to Clyde. All the islands were secure whenever Clyde landed.

Once they had an air raid siren in the Dutch east indies. He also landed in Australia for 2 hours. Clyde spent a few days in Fiji, Guadalcanal, Saipan, Guam, Yokihama, Japan. Clyde landed in Japan 15 days after the war ended. The Japanese were still suspicious of them. Clyde saw the ruins of Okinawa and the Emperor’s palace. Seeing the ruins and experiencing Japan after such a tragedy was fascinating to him. Clyde traveled around 400,000 miles on the military aircraft in the year and a half he served in the military. As part of his mileage, Clyde made 364 landings and logged 164 hours of pilot flying time.

In his pursuit of friendship and good sightseeing, Clyde went AWAL one time looking for an LDS acquaintance and to see the Emperor’s Palace in Tokyo, Japan. When he got back, his crew had left. They could have put Clyde in jail for going AWAL. However, it ended up being a nice trip to see the sights of Japan.

In the Dutch East Indies, one of the servicemen did not service the plane’s engine correctly. A couple of engines went out while they were in route to their next destination. As Clyde described the situation, they were in serious trouble. They could not reach their next destination. They contacted Guadalcanal and asked for the closest landing strip. There was a fighter strip in New Guinea, however it would be difficult to land the aircraft on such a small airstrip. They missed the hill that would have crashed the plane by 10 feet. They were very lucky. The engine was repaired and everything was fine.

Additionally, back in the states when they were going to San Fransisco it was too foggy to land. They had a few close calls. They had to land in Fairfield occasionally.

Another plane that Clyde worked on or flew, not really sure...