News Letter 1941 Jul-Dec - Air Force Historical Studies Office

FACILITIES. •• (Concluded) tween Sherman
and Denison, Texas. The third site
has not received fromal War~partment approval.
It is expected that this school
will be located in central Texas, probably
in the vicinit7 of Waco.
Twoadvanced fl71ng schools have been
functioning throughout the expanSion program,
Ke1l7 and Brooke. Twoa4ditlolUlla40-
vaneed fl71ng schools, EUlngtonJ'ield and
a field at Victoria, Texas, are under CODstra.ction.
Ellington Field, a combination
twin engine pilot training school and bombardier
school, is almost reaAr for occapanc7.
The single engine pur8U1t training
school at Victoria will start operations in
ear17 fall.
Newsingle engine advanced fl71ng fields
will be established in the near future at
Lake Charles, La., andMission, Texas. Mid.-
land, Texas, will be the site of a multiengine
pilot school and bombardier.chool.
Lubbock, Texas, has been cho.en as the location
for another twin engine school.
Rounding out the trainbg f~1l1 'ieao~
hat10n will be a gwm"",,,~ol .. ~liMton,
Texas, and bombing and aerbl.~1'7
ranges along the Texu coast. Mata«orda
Island and Matagorda Peninsula will be the
center of this activit7.
Ke1l7 Field, in addition to operating as
an advanced fi71ng school, aleo will be the
replacement center for all student pilots
in the Gulf Coast area. :l'acllities for
handling approx1mate172,500 aviation cadets
now are under constra.ction at that station.
Future Air Forces pilots will get a fourweek
indoctrination course there before
starting actual flight training.
Illington Field will be the replacement
center for bombardier students. The 1,000
airplane observers to be trained in the Gulf
Coast Air Corps Training Center area will
be schooled at Brooks Field alongwith twin
engine pilots.
Near17 50,000 soldiers, mechanics, avia.-
tion cadets and officers will be stationed
in the Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Center
area at the peak of the training prog1'8IQ.
Of these there will be 3,000 Air Corps officers,
10,000 cadets, 34,000 soldiers, and
l1ngton :l'ield, with 1,444 student piloh,
bombardiers, and cadets in the Bombardier
Replacement Center will be second in size.
Randolph Field will have the largest number
actual17 engaged in flight training, with
900 future pilots receiving basic instruction
at all times.
.In announcin,; the details of the expand.-
ed training program, General Brant pointed
out that 4,236 pilots were trained b7 the
Arm7 in the l7-7ear period from 1921, when
the modern training s7stem vent into effect,
until the summerof 1939, whenthe first Air
Corps expansion got under ~. In the fiscal
7ear 1939, total pilot output was about
325.
Discussing the $55,000,000 worth of new
constra.ction, General Brant pointed out
that $4O,ooo,oooalreadyhas beenauthorhe4
by' the WarDepartment and that the ade11tional
funds should be forthcoming as d.etaile4-
plans are completed. These flgures do not
include the construction costs of the six ~-
n$w civilian prim&r7 fl71ng schools.
!ew. long the center of military- art ..
.•S:oacontinues to hold her place with 23 of
the 32 GUlf CoastAlI' Corps Training Center
flying Ichools being located in the Lone
Star state. Oklahomaranks second withf1ve ..
schools. Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and
Illinois have one each.
The ten original pr1mar.r flying schools
in the GCACTCare located at Stamford, Cuero,
Corsicana, and Fort Worth, all in Texas;
OklahomaCit7, Tulsa and Mu.skogee,1n Okla.-
homa; Pine Bluff ,-'Arkansas; Sikeston,M11-
sourl, and East St. Louis, Illinois.
Randolph Field and Goodfellow 71eld, San
Angelo, 'lems, are the tvo military- basic
f1T1ng Ichools in operation. Brady, Texas,
is the s1te of the onl7 ci villan operated
basic f171n,; school in the area.
.......
Thirteen autogiros of a new design bave
been ordered b7 the War Department for test
b7 the Field Artillery (cooperating with
the Infantry-, Oavalry-and ArmoredForce)
8S 'fl7lng observation posts. II The tests
will be conducted during maneuvers after
squadron has been formed.
auxili&r7 personnel, such as medical and The ships will be of the jump take-off
dental officers, ordnance, signal corps and type, and vill be capable of descending
quartermaster officers, and contingents of almost vertical17. The7 will be empl07ed
the A~ Nurse Corps. onl7 over terri tory- in the hands of friend.-
Kel17 Field will be the largest station 17 troops, the Field Artillery- believing
within the area in point of cadets, with that len8IIT fighting ships cra.ising at low
more than 3,000 being assigned to that air- speed voald run head on into ground fire
drome at all times. This figare includes or be attacked b7 our ow fighter. II if the7
the cadets in the replacement center. 11- attempted to attack the autogiros.
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