Page 31 - Volume 13 Number 6

As the war in Europe progressed and France fell to the Nazis in June 1940, force planning by the Air Corps changed frequently. Two months before Germany attacked Poland the plan called for creating 24 combat groups requiring a flight training program that could graduate 1,200 pilots each year. After Germany occupied Norway, plans were upgraded to include 41 combat groups requiring 7,000 pilots annually, but in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack planners called for 84 combat groups and 30,000 pilots.
Before America’s entry into the war the AAFTC’s pilot training programs graduated 1,244 pilots, but by 1943 that number surged to 65,797. Despite enormous pressure to graduate more and more pilots as the war dragged on, the AAFTC accomplished impressive results across a six­year period: Between July 1939 and August 1945, 768,991 pilots, including women, Americans enrolled in British flight schools,
Throughout the war, “Get pilots to the front!” was the hue and cry of the Army Air Corps flight training programs. A cadet prepares to climb aboard a PT-17 for a solo flight. After the war the airplane was sold surplus to a civilian owner and registered N58416.
(Courtesy Lawrence Johnson)
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