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MEMOIRS - 2
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By:
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afstrom
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Mood:
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Happy
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Date:
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Aug 27, 2008
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This is a continuation of MEMOIRES - 1
I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to my friend Carlos Marbán for proofreading and correcting my manuscript.
SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL & GRADUATION
On the Easter Saturday of 1937, we were subject to examination in the Oscar's church, and on the following day, we received our first communion, all in front of the parish, including our parents.
It has struck me that the reason for the low crime rate in the Lutheran countries is due to the fact that most of the youth receive a good moral foundation for their lives, during the year of Confirmation studies, or the summer camps for this purpose. I find it hard to believe that the short courses, ahead of the first communion, given to 7 or 8 year-old children in Mexico and other Latin American countries, will provide the same moral foundation. Furthermore, I think that this is one of the reasons for the higher crime rate in those countries.
To this I would like to add that during this time, Swedish schools all commenced with a 15 minute Morning Prayer, during which a short lecture was given, mainly by the teachers of Religion, but by other teachers as well, and hymns were sung by all of us. Furthermore, Religion was an important subject on the weekly timetable until graduation, during which we were not only taught about the Lutheran religion, but also about other religions.
During the previous year, I had learned to dance, and during this year, I practiced this during Saturday dance events, organized by the secondary schools in Stockholm and the music provided by the foremost bands in the country. On April 30, all the outdoor dancing premises opened. I and my friends went to the one of Skansen, where the best orchestra played. This day is important in Sweden and celebrated over the whole country with bonfires and outdoor dancing.
I passed to the 2nd Ring without difficulties. During the summer of 1937, our Language teacher Hagstroem, nicknamed Haga, organized a bicycle tour through Northern Germany and a visit to Hildesheim. We went by train to Trelleborg in the South of Sweden. There we took the ferry to Sattniz on the island of Ruegen, from where we continued by train to Strahlsund, from where we went on our bikes through the Northern part of Germany to Hamburg. The nights, we spent in youth hostels. This part of Germany had been Swedish for many hundreds of years, since the peace in Westphalia in 1648, and we saw many monuments from those years. Among the interesting cities we passed were Rostock.and Luebeck.
We were organized in patrols, and I had been put in charge of the rear patrol and was riding at the rear end of the column. In my patrol was a classmate who suffered from epileptic fits. I was told that when he got a fit, he would always fall without hurting himself, and I witnessed that this was true. I had given him the place in front of me, to be able to provide him with immediate assistance, and one day, between Luebeck and Hamburg, he got a fit, went off the road into a ditch. I called an immediate halt to the column, and went after him, together with members of my patrol. Thank God, he wasn't hurt at all, and his bike was also OK.
We enjoyed good weather until the last day before arriving in Hamburg. That day, it was raining from early morning until late in the afternoon, and we got all somewhat wet, despite our raincoats. In Hamburg, we were installed in the foremost youth hostel, the four masts sailing ship Hein Godenwind, which had earlier been a school ship for young cadets, and we slept in the same manner as they had done. Early in the morning, we were awakened by a traditional call, which I still remember, although in faulty German:
In Hamburg, we took sightseeing tours in the harbor and the city, and visited the famous Hagenbecks Zoo, which was impressive. From Hamburg, we went by train to Hildesheim, a German city full of monuments. We stayed there overnight. Then we went back to Hamburg, from where we again mounted our bikes for the return trip to Sweden, via Denmark. I don't remember much from that trip, but after having looked at the map, I seem to remember that we went by ferry, from Puttgarden to Roedbyhavn, from where we continued to Copenhagen and then to Helsingoer, where I remember a sightseeing tour of the castle where the Danish prince Hamlet, made famous by Shakespeare's drama, grew up,. From Helsingoer we took the ferry over to Helsingborg, and from there we went back to Stockholm by train
During the school year 1937/38, I didn't do very well in the French classes. We had got a new teacher. While the teacher the year before had been a strict disciplinarian, I had been forced to do my homework. I still remember what I learned during that year. But I didn't like the teaching of the new teacher. During the Easter holidays, I went to the Jaemtland Mountains, with my school. We stayed at Handoel, close to the border with Norway, and I enjoyed skiing every day. That was before lifts had been installed, and we had to climb for hours, before enjoying the downhill ride. I loved it, and downhill skiing became one of my favorite sports.
However, this year, I spent much of the evenings with various girlfriends, and in the dance halls, instead of studying. As a result, I failed in French, and would have had to study during the summer holidays. I chose to change school, and began in the Palmgrenska Samskolan in the autumn of 1938. During the 1938 summer holiday, I was invited by my mother's Dutch friend, with whom she had visited me in Landau in 1935. I had become a seasoned train passenger. I stayed overnight at a hostel in Hamburg, before continuing to Haag, the following day. I seem to remember that in Hamburg, I heard in radio about the fight between the boxers Max Schmeling, and Joe Louis, which Louis won on knockout, which caused almost mourning among the nationalistic Germans.
The following day, I continued by train to The Hague in Holland, where I was met by the chauffer of my host family, who lived at the beach resort Scheveningen on the coast of the North Sea, not very far from The Hague. They had a beautiful villa on Van der Lennep street, if I recall the name correctly, and I got a nice room, and was very well taken care of. In fact, this became one of my best summer vacations ever.
I was provided with a bicycle, on which I went around on the streets of the resort and its surroundings. However, I spent most of the days at the beach, where my host family had a cabin. In the evenings, I went to the concerts in the "Kurhause", with famous orchestras. I remember in particular one of them, when a descendent of the famous Austrian composers Strauss was the conductor.
We also went around in the family car, visiting Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brussels, as well as the famous cheese cities Volendam and Edam. A young man, friend of the family, accompanied me, and among others, we rented a sailing boat. None of us had sailing experience, but by looking at other sailing boats, we learned a bit of the art of sailing, which many years later would become one of my favorite spare time activities.
I have mentioned before that I suffered from migraine, and one day I got an attack. When my host family learned that I was ill, they called a doctor of Indonesian origin. I hadn't met a medical doctor yet who could cure me, but this one could. He was not known as a medical doctor, but as a magnetizer, and he gave me a magnetic massage on the rear part of my head that terminated my headache. I was very grateful and thanked him very much. I ought to, although at that time, I was not aware of the full extent of the cure he had given me. What he had done was no less than a miracle, because from that day on, I had no more attacks of migraine.
To this I have to add that today, 70 years later, I read an article in US News & World Report, with the title: "On the Horizon: A Device That Zaps Migraines?" The article provides information about a hand held "transcranial magnetic stimulator device applied to the back of the head during a migraine's aura phase which relieved the headache for 39 % of the participants in a test.
Unfortunately, everything has an end, and so had this wonderful school holiday, and I had to return to Sweden and school. This time, I went by sea onboard a Swedish freighter that also transported a limited number of passengers. On the way, we stayed overnight in Luebeck, the city I had visited one year earlier. I was happy to serve as a guide to some of the passengers who had not been there before. The next day we continued our voyage. We were fortunate to enjoy good weather all the way to Stockholm, where we arrived, a couple of days later.
In the beginning of this year, we had moved from our apartment at Storgatan, to a bungalow on Djurgaarden, the royal park area that had been developed under the supervision of my great-grandfather and his father before him. Now I had to walk to the bus station, a few hundred meters from our new home, and take a bus that brought me into the city.
I usually changed at the Djurgaards bridge, close to where I had lived before, and continued by tram, where I got off at a street, close to my new school. It is worth mentioning that Ingmar Bergman, as well as Ingrid Bergman, had graduated from that school a couple of years earlier. While the senior secondary units of Norra Real had 4 classes or "Rings", for boys only, the senior secondary units of Palmgrenska, a mixed school, had only 3 classes, or "Rings". The first "Ring", where I commenced, had a curriculum similar to the one of the second "Ring" of Norra Real.
I had chosen the Science Line, and the curriculum that included Special Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, in addition to Swedish, English, History, Religion, Drawing and Gymnastics & Sports. During my first year, I did fairly well, although, as usual, I dedicated more of my time to spare time activities, rather than homework.
During the Christmas holidays, I managed to get a job as extra postman, which is worth a special mentioning. The work commenced at 6 AM, ahead of the bus service. Consequently, I went by bicycle, which took me close to 1 hour, meaning that I had to get up at 4AM.
My first day as a postman was a disaster. The first thing a postman does is to organize the mail, according to his routes and the apartments in the buildings of the route he serves. Well, my mail was not that well organized the first day, and I frequently discovered that when I was about to leave a building, I still had letters for the 5th and 3rd stories. Consequently, I had to return to upper floors of several building in order to deliver the letters I had overlooked. It took me several hours, and I did not return to the Post Office until in the afternoon.
hOWEVER, I learned the job well enough during the following days, to the satisfaction of my supervisor, and I was offered to work on Saturdays during the New Year. This gave me an income, not very large, but regular, which I enjoyed during the rest of my school time. It is worth mentioning that during the holidays between Christmas and the New Year, there was a snowstorm with meter-high snow, covering the road. Notwithstanding, I managed to work myself and my bike through the snow and arrived a bit late, but was able to deliver the mail that very morning.
During the spring term, I joined the skiers of the school for a ski vacation at the well known resort of Aare, located at the foot of the mountain Aareskutan, where international slalom and downhill skiing competitions are held. During the rest of the school year, I didn't work very hard, but managed to be transferred to the next class, the 2nd "Ring".
For the summer holidays, I had asked my mother to contact her uncle, Walter Lech, an air force general who had been a member of the famous Richthofen squadron, during WWI. He had responded by arranging for me to be accepted for a course in sail flying at Germany's foremost training center, located at Grunau in Riesengebirge, close to the city of Hirschberg and the mountain Schneekoppe, today part of Poland.
I had only applied to be accepted for the A, B and C-Diploma courses, not wanting to be too ambitious. Once there, I understood that I should even have applied to be accepted for the C-Certificate. I didn't know it then, but with a diploma, you are still a student, flying under the supervision of an instructor. With a certificate, you have graduated and fall under the jurisdiction of the civil aviation authorities.
I had to pass various medical examinations, which were all approved, and in early June, I left Stockholm for Hirschberg, via Dresden.I spent the night in Dresden, and continued by train. While waiting for the train, I had a nice talk with the baggage attendant, who knew the area around Hirschberg, and briefed me. I remember well that when I was to get onboard the train, he wished me "Hals & Beinbruch", i.e. that I should break both my neck and my legs. He told me that it was an old, traditional wish of good luck. In the evening, I arrived in Hirschberg, and continued to Grunau by bus, I think, and was installed in one of the schools dormitories.
The course for the A-Diploma commenced the following day. To begin with, we were taught the basics of catapulting a glider with a rope made of rubber. The rope had the shape of a letter Y, and was connected to the glider. The glider didn't have any closed fuselage, and the pilot was sitting in the front, without any other coverage than a beam in front of him.
We first learned how to fasten the seatbelt, and then the gliding started with small jumps. The crew, i.e. those of us not in the pilot's seat, either manned the two branches of the rubber rope, or the rear of the glider. We then learned the starting command words by which it was first confirmed that everybody was ready, the rear "holders" and the front-runners. The next commands were for the front-runners to run,
thereby stretching the elastic rubber rope followed by the command to the rear holders to let go. At that juncture, the glider was catapulted forward.
At first we only made small jumps on the ground, but after a while we made longer, once actually small flights about a meter above the ground. I seem to remember that before the end of the day, I had made a glide flight of almost 100 m, and felt how the controls of the craft worked, the joystick and the rudder pedals.
During the following days, we were making forward flights from various levels of the "hang", i.e. the slope of the hill, on top of which a hangar and a restaurant were located. As we were many in our class, most of our time was devoted to towing and pushing the glider up the hill, and each one got only a couple of flights a day. Notwithstanding, at the termination of the A-Diploma course, we were all able to make forward flights from the top of the hill.
At the end of the course, there was small celebration, and the following day, we were off. I joined my classmates on a bus trip to Hirschberg. I have in good memory the dinner at one of the best restaurants. We were entertained by a really funny guy. At his entrance on the stage, he held up his right hand in what appeared to be the common nazi greeting, "Heil Hitler". However, that was not what he said. Instead he told us, "this high jumped my dog yesterday". We all laughed.
Then, he told us that he and his wife had discussed where to travel during their vacation. He had suggested that they visit some of the cities of the "Grosse Deutsche Reich", Great Germany, hinting at Germany's recent takeover of the Sudeten part of Czechoslovakia, to which his wife had responded with "why don't we visit Warsaw." When he remarked that this was not part of Germany, she had answered him that "our vacation is not until September". Everybody laughed, but I have to say that I didn't understand why this was funny. However, one month later, when the Germans invaded Poland, I remembered his joke.
Next day, the course for the B-Diploma began. This time, we were all flying from the top of the hill, learning how to make turns, utilizing the rudder pedals to turn the glider, and the joystick to bank it, i.e. to give it the adequate corresponding inclination. This time, we didn't have to push the glider, which was towed up the hill by a winch.
At the end of the course, we were all able to make turns like a slalom skier, down the slope. Depending on the wind, we were flying down slopes of different directions, e.g. East slope, West slope, etc. The hill had three slopes. The fourth slope, the West Hang, if I remember the name correctly, was a nearby, several kilometer-long range of wooden hills, which was utilized by students in the C-Diploma and higher courses.
We had a strict teacher, who required us to make well-coordinated turns, turning and banking the glider simultaneously, and didn't accept that you first turned and then banked the glider. However, eventually all of us learned to fly to his satisfaction, and we all passed the course and obtained the B-Diploma, qualifying us to continue in the course for the C-Diploma, which commenced one day later.
Most of my classmates in the B-Diploma course didn't continue, and the participants in the C-Diploma course were graduates from earlier B-Diploma courses in Grunau, or other flying schools.I remember some of my new classmates very well. There was one Dane with the surname of A.B.C Hansen, if I remember correctly, which, I was told, was a famous family, owners of an important business. Then there was a Bulgarian Mercedes race driver, with a name I remember, but know not how to spell. Among the German
participants were a retired army officer, a young woman and a young boy, Gustav Winter, son of a German businessman with, among others, an estate on the Canary Islands. From time to time, he would state "I am not a poor boy", but despite this, we became quite good friends. There was also a nice Austrian boy. However, there was a man, belonging to the political organization, P.O., whom I found disgusting.
When he heard that I was a Swede, he told me that we were a country of weaklings, who had not had a war for over a hundred years. He further told me that parts of Sweden ought to belong to Germany. A couple of days later, when he saw me in my summer overcoat, with a white handkerchief in the breast pocket, he told me that I looked as a "Talmud gentleman", making some of the others laugh. This angered me so much that I almost cried.
True, at 17, I was a bit of a snob, and obviously the handkerchief in the pocket had disturbed him. However, I didn't understand what Talmud meant, until several years later, only that in his opinion, it was something bad. It is a collection of Jewish scriptures about, among others, Moses and the Commandments. For the rest of the time I spent in Grunau, I kept myself away from him.
For the C- Diploma course, we graduated from open gliders to a real sailplane, the Grunau Baby. The flight training was a continuation of the one of the previous course, i.e. flying the plane down the hill in well coordinated turns. What was new was that we had to make a final turn of 180 degrees, in order to land uphill. Not all of the participants succeeded. Thus the young women landed the plane on top of trees, adjacent to the slope, and the Bulgarian race driver managed also to crash a plane.
During the last days of the course the wind turned towards the West Hang, and we all moved over. The instructors managed to fly the planes over to its landing area, which took skilled flyers to accomplish.The first day on the West Hang, we were all flying with our instructor in a dual command plane, seated side by side. I seem to remember that the type of aircraft was named Goe- 4 or Goettingen 4.
While we were over on the West Hang, I remember that Gustaf Winter's parents paid a visit in a large Horche convertible, one of the luxury cars of the time. Another visitor was a Swedish sail flyer, Oevgaard, who was based at an airfield at the foot of the mountain Schneekoppe, where training was provided for the higher qualifications, Silver and Gold C, and the sailplanes were taking off by being towed to required altitude, by an aircraft.
Mr. Oevgaard was later on to become a famous sail flyer who set several Swedish records. Unfortunately, he perished some years later, when the lee-waves of the California mountain range, above which he was flying, caused his plane to climb too rapidly above the altitude where oxygen is required, and as his plane was not
equipped with oxygen supply, he passed out and died.
The good Western wind continued the following day, and we were again moving over to the West Hang, in order to take our C-Diploma test, a 10-minute flight. I was one of the first to be catapulted from the starting area. I managed to fly back and forth along the mountain range for about 15 minutes, before receiving the signal to land, which I did without difficulties at the landing area, from which I had been flying in the Goe-4 the day before. That was when I regretted that I had not booked myself for the "Amtliche C", i.e. the C-certificate course. For me, the flying was now over, while those course mates who were booked for the C-certificate, continued with the 30-minute flights that were the requirement.
As the course finished a couple of weeks ahead of beginning of school classes, my mother had arranged for me to stay at a ranch of a family named Scherz Klistow, outside Frankfurt an der Oder. I enjoyed my stay there, where I became friendly with the son of the range supervisor. Among others, I joined him and his father on bird hunting in the adjacent forest, and on trips to Frankfurt.
However, soon it was time for me to return to Sweden. On the way back, I had been invited for a short stay in Berlin with my aunt Trude Lech, who proved to be a very nice lady. In Berlin, I also met my friend from the course in Grunau, Gustaf Winter. I remember how we met on the famous avenue Unter den Linden, close to the Brandenburger Tor, where I had arrived via the subway. I was introduced to his family, and spent a nice afternoon in their company.
I was to return by train, the following day, but my plans suddenly had to be changed. All train traffic had temporarily come to a halt, because the German forces had entered Poland, and the war had commenced. I remember visiting the Swedish embassy, in order to get their assistance to obtain a seat on a northbound train, and I also remembered the jokes by the entertainer in Hirschberg. Fortunately, I managed to get on a train a couple of days later, and arrived in Stockholm, several days after the beginning of the autumn term.
From the school year 1939/40, I remember in particular three things, my term paper, the celebration of Lucia, and my first invention. I will commence with the term paper, which was, in fact, a paper of a study of choice, during the school year, rather than during a term. The subject had to be approved by the teacher of the related subject. I had chosen aerodynamics as my subject, and was invited by our physics teacher to utilize the equipment of his other school, the Lidingoe secondary school.
Among others, their lab was equipped with a small wind tunnel, and a number of wing profiles, to be put in front of the air stream, created by the fan of the wind tunnel. By changing the angle of attack of each of the wings, and measuring the resistance created, I was able to calculate which of the wing profiles had the most suitable profile and best aerodynamic properties, as well as its best angle of attack. I had a book on aerodynamics as a guide, from which I had obtained the relevant information about this, and something called the Reynold's number, that I today have completely forgotten what it means.
The celebration of Lucia in our school included performance by some of the talented students as actors/singers in a musical named "The Vaermlaenders", in Swedish "Vaermlaenningarna" with some of the most beautiful Swedish songs. At that time, I was quite good in physics and electricity knowledge, and managed to get the position as electrician in charge of the stage lighting, setting it up, managing it during play, and disassembling the lamps and resistance equipment after the show. For this job, to my satisfaction, I was excused from classes for a couple of days.
The third activity of which I still have good memory is something that may be called my first invention. I was a student of the science line, with special mathematics, which includes analytic geometry. Among the problems we learned to solve, were coordinate systems, and the calculation of the location of points and lines in relation to circles, ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas.
As I said, I am prone to make arithmetic errors, due to being careless in my mental calculations. Due to this, I would often get answers to problems that were slightly in error. However, whenever I was able to plot a circle or an ellipse, I could see that the answers to problems normally were in whole numbers, or numbers with one or two decimals, rather than with the number of decimals that resulted from my calculations.
I thought that if I made a simple instrument with which I could plot an ellipse or a parabola, this would be of great help. I made some experiments, using Meccano parts and a small wooden ruler. After some time, I had developed a plotting tool that functioned very well. It consisted of the ruler and a cursor, made with Meccano parts.
The cursor was connected to a thin cord. The other end of the cord was connected to the shorter edge of the ruler, on which I had pasted a scale with scale lines based on my calculations. Based on the formula of the ellipse I could quickly set the cursor and plot the ellipse in a coordinate system.
I could then draw relevant lines of the problem given, and see exactly the coordinates of the point or points where the line crossed the ellipse. My math teacher was kind enough to let me use this device on test, which helped me greatly, because I could now determine the correct answer to many problems given on tests, and recheck my calculations. For example, if I had obtained a result of 3.984, and the line I had drawn showed that the correct result was 4.00, I could go back and check my arithmetic calculations. In this manner, I almost always found my error.
During the school year 1939/40, the Russians had invaded Finland, and several of my friends went to fight for Finland as volunteers. I too wanted to join them, but my parents strictly opposed me. The German colony invited us frequently to see films of the advances made by the German army and air force, which impressed me, and I have to admit that at that time, I was in favor of the Germans, not only because of my German mother, but also because I was impressed by the German air force and aircraft, such as the Messerschmidt-110.However, my opinion changed the following year, when the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway.
I also joined the Stockholm Sail Flying Club, and registered my C-Diploma with the Royal Swedish Aero Club. It was the 10th to be registered. Almost all the others had also obtained their training and taken their diplomas in Germany.
During the autumn term, when I celebrated my 18th birthday, I learned to drive and obtained my driving license. During the spring term, I learned to drive trucks, by joining a course organized for voluntary drivers by the Women's Voluntary Automobile Association.
During the Easter holidays, Stockholm Sail Flying Club arranged a camp for sail flyers in Borlaenge, Dalecarlia. The intention was to arrange hang flying at a nearby range of wooden hills at Stora Tuna. However, during the duration of the camp, the wind didn't blow in a direction towards the hills. For this reason, flying was arranged from the ice cover of a nearby lake.
For flying there were two options, being towed by aircraft or being towed by automobile. I didn't have any experience of either method, but thought that I would be able to utilize the latter, which I did, without difficulties. However, I did only watch when the seasoned sail pilots were towed by aircraft to an altitude of several hundred meters, and then continued on their own. Among the participants was a group of air force pilots, who were studying aeronautical engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology, who wanted to try sail flying. They continued their stay after the camp had been closed, and I read in the newspapers about their successful hang flights of several hours at the Stora Tuna hang.
The Stockholm Sail Flying Club had arranged for a camp for sail flyers in the summer of 1940, which was to commence in early June. But the date had to be changed, because the required permission by the armed forces had not been received. It so happened that the commander of the Swedish armed forces, General O. Toernell, was an old military friend of my father, who lived close to where we had lived before. My sister Gisela, used to take his German Shepherd for a walk and keep the dog with us, when he and his family were away. I knew his routine very well. He lived on the same street on which the General Staff office was located, and used to walk to his office.
When the permission for the Aero Club summer camp was further delayed, I went to the street on which he used to walk to his office, and was lucky to encounter him. I told him about the delay of the permission for the Flying Club, and asked him to kindly assist us. As a result, the permission was granted a few days later.
The camp was to be located at the Stora Tuna hills were the Easter camp hang flying had been planned to take place. I arrived in Borlaenge by train, and continued on my bicycle, which I had brought with me, to the camp at Stora Tuna. There, Stockholm Sail Flying Club had cleared a runway for winch start and landing at a field located at the foot of the hang.
I had never made a winch start, i.e. being towed by a winch wire to an altitude of approximately 130 meters. When you reach that altitude, you have to release the winch wire. Before making my first take off, I had heard sail flyers talking about the risk of releasing the wire too late, or not at all, and being towed down to the ground. However my first winch start went without any incident, and after a few minutes, I landed on the runway.
We spent several days, making winch take offs and flying one or two patterns along the Stora Tuna hang, before landing, all the time hoping that the wind would change direction and blow towards the hang. We did also take off by winch and fly from an airfield, located on the other side of Borlaenge. We went to that airfield by bike. Much of the success of the organization of the camp was due to the work of a local journalist, who also had arranged for the camp during the Easter holidays. I still remember a moving story he told us:
His family had a vacation home, close to Stora Tuna, where he used to spend his holidays. During one of the holidays he spent there, he was awakened in the middle of the night by a light from the window. When he looked out the window, he saw an apple tree in full bloom and under it a coffin, decorated with flowers. He didn't know what to think, but the scene worried him, so he dressed and returned to his home in Borlaenge. However, there, everything was normal, and they wondered why he had returned while it was still night. He didn't tell them, but some time later, he was to experience the same scene as he had seen in the vacation home, His favorite sister had died, and it was she who was inside the coffin. I didn't know what to believe. I knew him as an honest and normal person, who wouldn't make up any stories. But I am still moved by the story.
While we suffered from lack of hang wind in Stora Tuna, the wind had changed to Westerly direction, making another hang, i.e. range of hills, nearby, available for hang flying. We all moved over to the West Hang at Roesaasen, together with the sailplane and the winch. Now I have to mention something about the plane. It was a German Huetter, H-17, with considerably less span than the Grunau Baby I had flown in Germany. It was utilized for acrobatic flying, and responded rapidly to movements of the controls. I had quickly learned to fly it, and I liked the rapid controls.
The first day, Friday, July 19, 1940, I managed to make a flight of 34 minutes, and to reach an altitude of 400 meters. The following day, one of the veteran sail flyers, Fred Nordholm made a flight of 1 hour and 2 minutes, after which it was my turn.
When I went to the camp, I had had in mind to be able to fulfill some of the stipulations for the Silver C, which are a flight of 5-hours duration, an altitude gain of 1000 meters and a distance flight of 50 km. I made a couple of circuits along the hang, and managed quickly to get into a good thermal upwind under a cumulus cloud. Circling under the cloud in a lift of 4 meters per second, I soon reached the altitude of 1000 meters. Then I was almost in the cloud, and as I neither had any knowledge of instrument flying, and no parachute, I nose dived about 100 meters, and kept myself at that height for more than 4 hours. However, both the thermal upwind and the hang wind decreased in the afternoon, and I was forced to go down. I made an attempt along the hang, hoping to catch some uplift from the hang wind, but in vain. Instead, I had to turn back, hoping to be able to land on our "runway", but it was too late. I had to set the plane down in an adjacent field.
I had made a flight of 4 hours and 49 minutes, with a gain of about 900 meters over the height on which I had released from the winch, about 130 meters. I had failed by 11 minutes and 100 meters to qualify for the Silver C stipulations, but my flight became a Swedish record for flights made within Sweden. The next day, many newspapers had a photo of me and a description of my flight.
The 1940/41 term was the last one of the secondary school classes, and was followed by the "Studentexamen", the graduation examination, which consisted of one week of written examinations and one day of oral examinations.
During the sail flying camp in Stora Tuna, I had been assisting one of the participants who was a graduate engineer, and in charge of the daily meteorology observations at the camp, and from that I had learned the basics. In addition, I had obtained a book about the subject, dealing with up-winds under clouds and lee-waves behind mountains, etc. Based on this, I prepared my last yearly paper. The subject was the Meteorology of Sail Flying.
Originally, my plan had been to continue my studies at the Royal Institute of Technology for a degree in aeronautical engineering. However, as due to the war all male Swedes had to enlist for military service, I decided to become an air force officer, and applied for entry to the air force flying school, following graduation. For this reason, I underwent a number of medical examinations. I had a bit of difficultys in passing the blood pressure examination. My pressure was too high, because I was nervous. However, on the second attempt, I passed, as I did in the other tests as well. Provided I would graduate, I would be accepted at the air force flying school.
During this, the last year, we were subject to a number of tests and examinations by the teachers of the various subjects. As I have already stated, I was a lazy student, but I managed to pass, though not with the highest qualifications. The winter of 1941 was very cold, and for this reason, more heating than normal was required. Due to the war, Sweden was short of carbon and coke. For this reason, schools were giving the students a prolonged "coke leave". Of course, ambitious students used this leave for the purpose of improve their qualifications, but I was not an ambitious student, and spent most of the days of this leave on skiing at a nearby hill on the beautiful snow that covered most of the country.
Eventually, the week of written examinations commenced, for me in Swedish essay writing, English, Mathematics, Special Mathematics and Physics. I made several mistakes that could have been avoided. During the term, I had written an essay about the British physicist Michael Faraday, which had received an A. Knowing that the subjects given for the Swedish essay examination would include one related to science, I ought to have spent the day before preparing myself for this. But instead, I went to the cinema the evening before the examination day. Sure, the subjects included one where my knowledge of Faraday and other physicists could have come to use, but as I hadn't prepared myself for this, I had to select to write the free subject, something about the temptation to drive too fast. I passed, but I almost failed in Special Mathematics, because I was not permitted to use my plotting ruler, and had to spend a lot of time on rechecking my arithmetic calculations in order to get reasonable answers to the problems of the test.
About a month later, the oral graduation examinations took place. I was scheduled for Swedish, English, Mathematics, Special Mathematics and Physics. In each of these subjects, a university professor was in charge of the examination. I remember that in Swedish, I was asked to analyze the sentences of a poem of one of our most famous authors, Esaias Tegnér. I was lucky, because I remembered that we had done that during the past year, and could provide an adequate response. I also remember that in physics, the examiner asked me to explain the wiring of a three-phase generator, a difficult question. I went to the blackboard and drew a sketch, which I used for the explanation. Luckily, I was prepared, because a few days earlier, I had done just that. After the completion of the testing, we were all waiting for the official results. We had all passed. So we put on our white caps and rushed out the school door to our waiting family and friends, and then to our homes and the celebration party.
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