WWII pilot training and progression

[BiffF15]

I am not having much luck. I found all his records ( i do not have his log book ). In those I know he enlisted 2/43 so he would have been B43. But first station i find him is at Walnut Ridge in Oct 43 and by then he is already in a BT-13A and has a total time of 148 hours. Next he is at Spence field in Moultre, Ga Feb to April 44 and is flying AT-6As, Bs, and Cs...and about 8 hours in P40F at the end of his assignment there. He has 249 hours to this point. From there he goes to Page field in Fl from May 44 to June44. This has to be his advanced fighter training as he is in LINK trainers and P-40Ns ( 2 hours in a BT-13 )...up to 337 hours. He must have shipped out because i next catch him in Aug44 at the Station F-345 the 8th AFCC 496th Ftr Trg HQ....Goxhill. He is getting LINK and 51-B time. He didnt fly 51s in the states. He was "unassigned" at that time. So this must have been Clobber college(?) or before that. Drgondog probably knows more about this. I find him assigned to the 8 AF 3rd Bomb Div 66 Fw 357th FG 364 Sq in Sept 44 ( Station F373 Leiston ) for more; 51 B-5,7,15, 51-7, and D-10, 15 and had 365 hours. But his first mission was Sept 26, 44 so subtract 9 hours for the next couple missions. Before Combat he had 356 hours only 20 in the 51 prior to his first mission. I have not (yet) found any reference to earlier trainers. I will keep digging tho...hope this helps a little. one thing you have to remember is before he got in pilots had to be college grads and older. so the original guys he flew with had probably way more hours as they were in Tonapah flying 39s. He was in the first group that "tested" to be approved for pilot training. He was 18 when he took the test. so you would have to look at pre-war as opposed to late war. Research Bud Anderson for pre-war....heck email him. He is still alive and well at 97.

Very informative and thanks for sharing! I'm surprised at how many hours he had prior to combat. Please share any pictures you might have if able!

Cheers,
Biff

 

[bobbysocks]

i have some photos but funny enough i they start with BT-13s. he had some pics of Ryans and other stuff but i am almost sure those are after the war when he was wanting to buy and run an airport. I will dig and find what i can when i get back into town next week....

 

[Barrett]

Progression thru aircraft types could be extremely varied, especially starting with the Civilian Pilot Training Program. Military contracted with private flight schools to get eligible applicants soloed (or not) and then they proceeded to Army-Navy bases. My dad's CPT class in Idaho had Cubs and T-crafts. He went to NAS Pasco, Wash. with Stearmans and N3Ns, again with some civilian instructors, then Corpus Christi leading to SNJs. Sidebar: two of Dad's CPT room mates died in the war. One disappeared on a PBY in the Aleutians and the other was killed by friendly fire in a Hellcat 1945. It was sorta eerie meeting two aces from his squadron, but I appreciated the insight.