Writing a novel: Need to fact-check myself

Let's stop writing the novel for him.

 

Until everything your wrote is used in the novel that becomes an international best-seller and your lawyer hits him up with a copyright suit.

Eye keeeeeeeeeed.

 

Learned in jr. high so I beat cha! Typing was one of the most useful classes I ever took and it served me well to this day. Thank you Mrs. Blum.

Holy cow! How'd you manage that? I dunno the ratio of the sh*t hole I attended but I got out early via examination.

 

In Californiastan First through Sixth grade is Grammar School. Seventh-Eight grade is junior high. Ninth through Twelfth is High School.

When I learned to type it was on a manual typewritter. Very noisy classroom too. Electric typewriters weren't around yet. Punchcards for data input were around, but not at a school level. So were those huge reels of magnetic tape for computer memory. We also had giant computer disks back then too (also not in the school world). Personal computers did not make an appearance until much later. We were playing with Arpa-Net, C, Pascal and sometimes Fortran.

 

I learned to touch type at 18...90 words per minute zero mistakes...Still a useful skill.
Australia has/had Pre-school - Primary School grades 1-7 High School years 8 -10 College 11-12 - And then University just known as "Uni" in Australia.

 

I just read through all of this awesome info, guys. Exactly what I needed!

It inspired three more related questions:

- Someone had mentioned that a pilot like the one I described would probably be a First Lieutenant to a Major in rank. I'm basically trying to give the character my lowest believable position for a WW2 pilot. Would that be First Lieutenant, or is there an even lower designation such as "Airman" or something?

- On the other end of the spectrum, what are the middle and higher positions for pilots? What would be the rank of someone who is in charge of other pilots?

- Just confirming, would American pilots during the war be considered part of the USAAF?

 

Second Lieutenant for USAAC & Pilot Officer for RAF.
BTW, RAF had Sergeant Pilots too. They could fly and fight but just didn't have the social background or financial ability to become an officer.
OK, the US also had Flight Sergeants. While these were phased out in favor of commissioned ranks, some flew those Cessena artillery spotter planes.

Sucked to take the same risk and then at mess you couldn't go into the officers' mess hall.

 

Higher ranks in the camps would be Colonel (American) or Group Captain (RAF), Lt. Col. (American) or Wing Commanderl (RAF). The Army Air Corps had some flying generals who were generally brigadiers, but I'm unaware of any having beens hot down.

In the historical documentry Hogan's Hero Hogan was a full bird colonel and when gallant Group Captain Crittendon was incarcerated in Stalag 13 he should have replaced Hogan as Senior Officer in Command. He was commissioned earlier than Hogan but historical documentaries don't always get things right. After all, I know nothing!

American Pilots during WW II belonged to the Army Air Corps. USAF wasn't created until post- WW II.

 

USAAF (United States Army Air Forces) was the air component of the Army during WWII, established in 1941, replacing the Army Air Corps. The Army at that time was organized into three major subdivisions, USAAF, Army Ground Forces and Army Service Forces. USAAF became the independent USAF in 1947.

 

Perhaps another way of doing this is write a draft of this thing first and get people to proof read it for mistakes or inaccuracies…One shouldn’t get too bogged down in the minutia…As they say ‘just write’.