One of the greatest accomplishments of the U.S. Army Air Forces during WWII was the training of hundreds of thousands of flying and ground personnel for its armada. Coming from all walks of life, they were molded into the most formidable Air Force the world had ever seen before the war, few of them had had more than a casual acquaintanceship with aviation but by VJ-Day in 1945 when Japan surrendered, they had become experts in their particular fields of endeavor. In March 1944, their numbers reached a maximum of 2,411,294--approximately 31% of the total strength of the U.S. Army.
Primary Flying School
When the U.S. entered the war in Dec. 1941, the AAF continued with the type of pilot training program it had originally established in 1939 -- primary flying schools operated by civilian companies under contract and basic and advanced flying schools operated by the AAF. The civilian primary schools had been started in 1939 by ten civilian contractors without contracts -- all they had was an urgent plea from Gen. Arnold and his statement that he thought he could get the necessary funds from congress the next year. Fortunately, the schools were already well in operation at the time of Pearl Harbor.
The civilian schools used Stearman, Ryan and Fairchild trainers owned by the AAF; their flight instructors were civilian employees. Each cadet was given sixty hours of flight training in nine weeks before moving on the basic flight school.
Basic Flying School
During basic flight training, a cadet received approximately 70 hours in the air during a nine week period. The basic cadet made military pilots of those who had learned only the fundamentals of flight in primary school. In addition to operating an airplane of greater weight, horsepower, and speed such as the BT-9 or BT-13, the cadet was taught how to fly at night, by instruments, in formation, and on cross-country from one point to another. Also, for the first time, he was operating a plane equipped with a two-way radio and a two-pitch propeller. This was the point in his career where it was decided whether he would go to single-engine or twin-engine advanced flying school.
Advanced Flying School
Advanced flying school was to prepare a cadet for the kind of airplane he was to fly in combat, either single or multi-engine.
Those who went to single-engine school flew AT-6s for the first 70 hours during a nine week period, learning aerial gunnery and combat maneuvers and incresing their skills in navigation, formation, and instrument flying.
Cadets assigned to twin-engine school received the same number of flying hours but did not practice combat aerobatics or gunnery. Using the AT-9, AT-10, or AT-17, they directed their efforts toward increasing their ability to fly on instruments, at night, and in formation after first having mastered the art of flying a plane having more than one engine.
Transition Training
The successful completion of pilot training was a difficult as well as a dangerous task. During the four-and-a-half year period of January 1941 - August 1945, there were 191,654 cadets who were awarded pilot wings. However, there were also 132,993 who "washed out" or were killed during training, a loss rate of approximately 40 percent due to accidents, academic or physical problems, and other causes.
Those who graduated from flying school were usually assigned to transition training in the type of plane they were to fly in combat. Some were assigned to specific squadrons already scheduled for overseas duty, while others were assigned to replacement training units for subsequent assignment to squadrons already overseas. Regardless, it required 2 months of additional training before a pilot was considered ready for combat.
After months of toil, the coveted silver wings.
