Civilian Pilot Training Program
Encyclopedia
The Civilian Pilot Training Program (or CPTP) was a flight training
program (1938–1944) sponsored by the United States
government with the stated purpose of increasing the number of civilian pilots, though having a clear impact on military preparedness.
, several European countries, particularly Italy
and Nazi Germany
, began training thousands of young people to become pilots
. Purportedly civilian in nature, these government-sponsored programs were, in fact, nothing more than military flight training academies.
In October 1938 Gen Arnold
brought in the top three aviation school representatives to request they establish an unfunded startup of CPTP schools at their own risk. These were Oliver Parks
of Parks Air College
, C.C.Mosley of the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute
, and Theopholis Lee of the Boeing School of Aeronautics; all agreed to start work. The CAA headed by Robert Hinckley,created the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938
that contained language authorizing and funding a trial program for what would evolve into the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
unveiled the program on December 27, 1938, announcing at a White House
press conference that he had signed off on a proposal to provide a needed boost to general aviation
by providing pilot training to 20,000 college students a year.
Following the precedent established by the Europeans, the CPTP was established as a civilian program but its potential for national defense was undisguised. The program started in 1939
with two laws passed by Congress in April and June, with the government paying for a 72-hour ground school course followed by 35 to 50 hours of flight instruction at facilities located near eleven colleges and universities. It was an unqualified success and provided a grand vision for its supporters—to greatly expand the nation's civilian pilot population by training thousands of college students to fly.
, too, was split along mostly party lines
as to the value of the CPTP. Isolationists branded the program as provocative saber rattling that threatened the nation's neutrality; others slammed it as a New Deal
pork barrel
waste of tax dollars, while supporters touted the positive impacts on the aviation industry
and the defense value of a vastly enlarged base of trained pilots.
After the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 triggered World War II, the military value of the CPTP became obvious, even to the program's detractors. The United States started to evaluate its ability to fight an air war and the results were appalling. Pilots, instructors
, and training aircraft were all in short supply. Acknowledging the shortage of trained pilots, both the Army Air Corps
and Navy
reluctantly waived certain “elimination” courses for CPTP graduates and allowed them to proceed directly into pilot training.
The Army Air corps
deemed the situation to be so grave it proposed that private aviation
be suspended and all pilot training (most notably the CPTP) be brought under the control of the military. The December 13, 1940, issue of American Aviation Daily carried this account of the Army's intentions:
The Army's proposal met with stiff resistance. Just two weeks after the American Aviation Daily article appeared, 83 companies with a vested interest in general aviation organized the National Aviation Training Association (NATA). The NATA members recognized that, if left unchallenged, the Army plan would, for all practical purposes, ban private aircraft from the nation's skies. The NATA and other aviation interests blunted the Army's bid with an effective lobbying campaign in Congress. Their actions not only saved the CPTP, they may have saved the entire general aviation industry in the United States.
; Georgia Institute of Technology
; Pomona Junior College; San Jose State Teachers College
; and most notably, the Tuskegee Institute, all included the CPTP in their curricula. (See References below to access complete list of educational institutions participating in the CPTP.)
The inclusion of Tuskegee Institute in the ranks of CPTP participants, along with Hampton Institute, Virginia State University
, and Howard University
, helped open the doors for the first African-American military pilots
. The onset of World War II and political pressure combined to compel the U.S. Army Air Corps to employ African-Americans as officers and pilots—the majority were graduates of the CPTP.
The decision to train civilian pilots also produced an unexpected, but welcome, side effect on the general aviation industry. As it turned out, the United States faced just as large a shortage of training aircraft as it did civilian pilots. The federal Civil Aeronautics Authority (predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration
) regulations required a CPTP-participating flight school to own one aircraft for every ten students enrolled in the program.
Furthermore, the requirements specified for these aircraft narrowed down the field to only several models in production at that time, with most flight schools preferring the tandem-seat configuration of the Piper Cub. Seizing the opportunity unexpectedly thrust upon them, several light aircraft manufacturers quickly filled the market void with CPTP-compatible aircraft of their own, such as the WACO
UPF-7
and the Meyers
OTW
biplane
. Aeronca and Taylorcraft also produced tandem
versions of their existing side-by-side seating airplanes.
and the U.S. entrance into World War II, the CPTP changed forever, including the name. The Civilian Pilot Training Program became the War Training Service (WTS) and, from 1942
to 1944
, served primarily as the screening program for potential pilot candidates. Students still attended classes at colleges and universities and flight training was still conducted by private flight schools, but all WTS graduates were required to sign a contract agreeing to enter the military following graduation. There is a list of colleges and universities participating in the CPTP in '43-'44 in the appendix of "They Flew Proud".
The CPTP/WTS program was largely phased out in the summer of 1944 but not before 435,165 people, including hundreds of women and African-Americans, had been taught to fly. Notable legends trained under the CPTP include: Astronaut/Senator John Glenn
, top Navy ace Alexander Vraciu
, Douglas test pilot Robert Rahn, top WWII ace Major Richard Bong
, WWII triple ace Bud Anderson
, former Senator George McGovern
, WASP Dora Dougherty and Tuskegee airman Major Robert W. Deiz. The CPTP admirably achieved its primary mission, best expressed by the title of aviation historian Dominick Pisano's book — “To fill the skies with pilots.”
Two of the largest CPT/WTS schools were Piedmont Aviation, operated by Tom Davis, and Southern Airways, operated by Frank W. Hulse. Piedmont's school was based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, while Southern had schools in Charlotte, North Carolina, Greenville and Camden, South Carolina, and in Birmingham and Decatur, Alabama. Both companies trained over 60,000 war pilots including young men from Brazil (Piedmont) and a large number of Royal Air Force pilots from England (Southern). By 1947 Davis had turned his school into Piedmont Airlines with scheduled passenger flights between North Carolina and Ohio. In 1949, Hulse had Southern Airways flying commercial service between Jacksonville, Florida and Memphis, Tennessee, and between Atlanta and Charlotte. Both airlines began operations with war surplus Douglas DC-3 aircraft that were modified for commercial service in their former CPT/WTS maintenance hangars.
One of the few women instructors in the CPTP later wrote about her experiences. With the threat of war rising on the horizon, Opal Kunz
renewed her pilot’s license after taking a refresher course at Hagerstown, Maryland, and began teaching aviation students at the Arkansas State College (now Arkansas State University
). She later moved to Rhode Island, and at the start of World War II became an instructor at the Rhode Island State Airport Terminal
for Navy cadets and the government sponsored “Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP)” during the war, teaching over 400 young men how to fly for the Air Corps. This was her old dream of the Betsy Ross Air Corps
come true, as she helped train the men who would fly fighter aircraft in combat. An account from the time shows the work she was doing by saying: “Mrs. Kunz has been in Providence since January [1942] as a member of the staff of E. W. Wiggins Airways
. She has a mother’s confidence in her ‘boys’ and they reciprocate with respect and enthusiasm. Nothing gives her greater joy than to see them solo, to know she has taken them one step nearer to Uncle Sam’s aerial defense line.” Later, at her home in California, she would recall with fondness her experiences. “I trained about 400 boys and it was easily the highlight of my career. I really became a sort of foster mother to them. You would be surprised how many of my boys brought their wives and children to see me after the war.” She also indicated in a letter that she had trained combat pilots. “...I was a flight instructor all during the war. Had over three hundred students who served as combat pilots in the war.”
Flight training
Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills....
program (1938–1944) sponsored by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government with the stated purpose of increasing the number of civilian pilots, though having a clear impact on military preparedness.
Establishment
In the years immediately preceding World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, several European countries, particularly Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, began training thousands of young people to become pilots
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
. Purportedly civilian in nature, these government-sponsored programs were, in fact, nothing more than military flight training academies.
In October 1938 Gen Arnold
Henry H. Arnold
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps , Commanding General of the U.S...
brought in the top three aviation school representatives to request they establish an unfunded startup of CPTP schools at their own risk. These were Oliver Parks
Oliver Parks
Oliver L. “Lafe” Parks was a pioneer in the fields of pilot training and aviation studies in the early decades of the aviation industry’s existence...
of Parks Air College
Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology
Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology is a college within Saint Louis University.-History:right|thumb|[[de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver]] restored by Parks students in 1991...
, C.C.Mosley of the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute
Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute
The Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute was an early professional trade school operated by the Curtiss-Wright corporation for aircraft maintenance training...
, and Theopholis Lee of the Boeing School of Aeronautics; all agreed to start work. The CAA headed by Robert Hinckley,created the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938
United States government role in civil aviation
Governments have played an important part in shaping air transportation. This role began as early as 1783, when the king of France summoned the Montgolfier brothers to demonstrate their balloon. In 1892, the French War Ministry backed an attempt to build a heavier-than-air flying machine...
that contained language authorizing and funding a trial program for what would evolve into the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
unveiled the program on December 27, 1938, announcing at a White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
press conference that he had signed off on a proposal to provide a needed boost to general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
by providing pilot training to 20,000 college students a year.
Following the precedent established by the Europeans, the CPTP was established as a civilian program but its potential for national defense was undisguised. The program started in 1939
1939 in aviation
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1939:-Events:* Kawasaki Heavy Industries transfers its aircraft engine production business to its subsidiary, the Kawasaki Aircraft Engineering Company Ltd....
with two laws passed by Congress in April and June, with the government paying for a 72-hour ground school course followed by 35 to 50 hours of flight instruction at facilities located near eleven colleges and universities. It was an unqualified success and provided a grand vision for its supporters—to greatly expand the nation's civilian pilot population by training thousands of college students to fly.
Controversy
The military establishment was initially unenthusiastic about the CPTP concept, quite unimpressed by any program initiated and administered by civilians. CongressUnited States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, too, was split along mostly party lines
Party line (politics)
In politics, the line or the party line is an idiom for a political party or social movement's canon agenda, as well as specific ideological elements specific to the organization's partisanship. The common phrase toeing the party line describes a person who speaks in a manner that conforms to his...
as to the value of the CPTP. Isolationists branded the program as provocative saber rattling that threatened the nation's neutrality; others slammed it as a New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
pork barrel
Pork barrel
Pork barrel is a derogatory term referring to appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district...
waste of tax dollars, while supporters touted the positive impacts on the aviation industry
Aerospace manufacturer
An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, and/or spacecraft....
and the defense value of a vastly enlarged base of trained pilots.
After the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 triggered World War II, the military value of the CPTP became obvious, even to the program's detractors. The United States started to evaluate its ability to fight an air war and the results were appalling. Pilots, instructors
Flight instructor
A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to fly aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate the knowledge and skill level of an aviator in pursuit...
, and training aircraft were all in short supply. Acknowledging the shortage of trained pilots, both the Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
and Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
reluctantly waived certain “elimination” courses for CPTP graduates and allowed them to proceed directly into pilot training.
The Army Air corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
deemed the situation to be so grave it proposed that private aviation
Private aviation
Private aviation is the part of civil aviation that does not include flying for hire. In most countries, private flights are always general aviation flights, but the opposite is not true: many general aviation flights are commercial in that the pilot is hired and paid...
be suspended and all pilot training (most notably the CPTP) be brought under the control of the military. The December 13, 1940, issue of American Aviation Daily carried this account of the Army's intentions:
“Preliminary plans are understood to be already drafted by the Army to ground all private flying in the U.S. for the duration of the national emergency.…The Army will take over all training (including CPTP).”
The Army's proposal met with stiff resistance. Just two weeks after the American Aviation Daily article appeared, 83 companies with a vested interest in general aviation organized the National Aviation Training Association (NATA). The NATA members recognized that, if left unchallenged, the Army plan would, for all practical purposes, ban private aircraft from the nation's skies. The NATA and other aviation interests blunted the Army's bid with an effective lobbying campaign in Congress. Their actions not only saved the CPTP, they may have saved the entire general aviation industry in the United States.
Buildup
The result was a revitalized CPTP and an expansion of its curriculum to a larger segment of the nation's colleges and universities. In May 1939 the first nine schools were selected, nine more were added in Aug 1940, 11 more in March 1941,and 15 more by October 1941 before entry into WWII. By the program's peak, 1,132 educational institutions and 1,460 flight schools were participating in the CPTP. Institutions such as the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
; Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
; Pomona Junior College; San Jose State Teachers College
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
; and most notably, the Tuskegee Institute, all included the CPTP in their curricula. (See References below to access complete list of educational institutions participating in the CPTP.)
The inclusion of Tuskegee Institute in the ranks of CPTP participants, along with Hampton Institute, Virginia State University
Virginia State University
Virginia State University is a historically black and land-grant university located north of the Appomattox River in Chesterfield, in the Richmond area. Founded on , Virginia State was the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of higher learning for black Americans...
, and Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
, helped open the doors for the first African-American military pilots
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps....
. The onset of World War II and political pressure combined to compel the U.S. Army Air Corps to employ African-Americans as officers and pilots—the majority were graduates of the CPTP.
The decision to train civilian pilots also produced an unexpected, but welcome, side effect on the general aviation industry. As it turned out, the United States faced just as large a shortage of training aircraft as it did civilian pilots. The federal Civil Aeronautics Authority (predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
) regulations required a CPTP-participating flight school to own one aircraft for every ten students enrolled in the program.
Furthermore, the requirements specified for these aircraft narrowed down the field to only several models in production at that time, with most flight schools preferring the tandem-seat configuration of the Piper Cub. Seizing the opportunity unexpectedly thrust upon them, several light aircraft manufacturers quickly filled the market void with CPTP-compatible aircraft of their own, such as the WACO
Waco Aircraft Company
The Waco Aircraft Company was an aircraft manufacturer located in Troy, Ohio, USA. Between 1919 and 1947, the company produced a wide range of civilian biplanes....
UPF-7
Waco F series
-External links:*...
and the Meyers
Meyers Aircraft Company
The Meyers Aircraft Company was a US aircraft manufacturer established by Al Meyers in Tecumseh, Michigan in 1936. Originally, the company produced a biplane trainer, the Meyers OTW, but after World War II developed a range of light utility aircraft, culminating in the Meyers 200...
OTW
Meyers OTW
|-See also:-External links:* *...
biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
. Aeronca and Taylorcraft also produced tandem
Tandem
Tandem is an arrangement where a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction....
versions of their existing side-by-side seating airplanes.
Entry To War
After the attack on Pearl HarborAttack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
and the U.S. entrance into World War II, the CPTP changed forever, including the name. The Civilian Pilot Training Program became the War Training Service (WTS) and, from 1942
1942 in aviation
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1942:- Events :* The United States Coast Guard begins to use the national insignia for U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft on its own aircraft for the first time. The practice has continued ever since.-January:* The U.S...
to 1944
1944 in aviation
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1944:-January:* United States Coast Guard pilot Lieutenant, junior grade, Stewart Graham makes the first helicopter flight from a merchant ship in convoy in the North Atlantic Ocean...
, served primarily as the screening program for potential pilot candidates. Students still attended classes at colleges and universities and flight training was still conducted by private flight schools, but all WTS graduates were required to sign a contract agreeing to enter the military following graduation. There is a list of colleges and universities participating in the CPTP in '43-'44 in the appendix of "They Flew Proud".
The CPTP/WTS program was largely phased out in the summer of 1944 but not before 435,165 people, including hundreds of women and African-Americans, had been taught to fly. Notable legends trained under the CPTP include: Astronaut/Senator John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
, top Navy ace Alexander Vraciu
Alexander Vraciu
Alexander Vraciu was a leading United States Navy fighter ace and Congressional Medal of Honor nominee during World War II. He once shot down six Japanese fighters in eight minutes.-Biography:...
, Douglas test pilot Robert Rahn, top WWII ace Major Richard Bong
Richard Bong
Richard Ira "Dick" Bong is the United States' highest-scoring air ace, having shot down at least 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II. He was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces and a recipient of the Medal of Honor...
, WWII triple ace Bud Anderson
Bud Anderson
Clarence Emil "Bud" Anderson is a retired officer in the United States Air Force and a "triple ace" in World War II.-Biography:Anderson was born in Oakland, California, and reared on a farm near Newcastle, California...
, former Senator George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
, WASP Dora Dougherty and Tuskegee airman Major Robert W. Deiz. The CPTP admirably achieved its primary mission, best expressed by the title of aviation historian Dominick Pisano's book — “To fill the skies with pilots.”
Two of the largest CPT/WTS schools were Piedmont Aviation, operated by Tom Davis, and Southern Airways, operated by Frank W. Hulse. Piedmont's school was based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, while Southern had schools in Charlotte, North Carolina, Greenville and Camden, South Carolina, and in Birmingham and Decatur, Alabama. Both companies trained over 60,000 war pilots including young men from Brazil (Piedmont) and a large number of Royal Air Force pilots from England (Southern). By 1947 Davis had turned his school into Piedmont Airlines with scheduled passenger flights between North Carolina and Ohio. In 1949, Hulse had Southern Airways flying commercial service between Jacksonville, Florida and Memphis, Tennessee, and between Atlanta and Charlotte. Both airlines began operations with war surplus Douglas DC-3 aircraft that were modified for commercial service in their former CPT/WTS maintenance hangars.
One of the few women instructors in the CPTP later wrote about her experiences. With the threat of war rising on the horizon, Opal Kunz
Opal Kunz
Opal Kunz, also known as Opal van Zandt Giberson Kunz was a noted early American aviator, the first president of the "Ninety-Nines", a women pilots’ organization, that was formed in her living room, and an early feminist. She was married to Dr. George Frederick Kunz.As an aviatrix, Opal Kunz...
renewed her pilot’s license after taking a refresher course at Hagerstown, Maryland, and began teaching aviation students at the Arkansas State College (now Arkansas State University
Arkansas State University
Arkansas State University is a public university and is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System, the state's second largest college system and third largest university by enrollment. It is located atop on Crowley's Ridge at Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA...
). She later moved to Rhode Island, and at the start of World War II became an instructor at the Rhode Island State Airport Terminal
Rhode Island State Airport Terminal
The Rhode Island State Airport Terminal is a historic airport terminal located on Airport Road in Warwick, Rhode Island, at what is now known as T. F. Green Airport...
for Navy cadets and the government sponsored “Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP)” during the war, teaching over 400 young men how to fly for the Air Corps. This was her old dream of the Betsy Ross Air Corps
Betsy Ross Air Corps
The Betsy Ross Air Corps was a pre–World War II pilot's organization of female pilots. Organized by Opal Kunz and named after Revolutionary war heronie Betsy Ross, the organization had a short lived period of existence during the Great Depression and was never formally recognized by the US...
come true, as she helped train the men who would fly fighter aircraft in combat. An account from the time shows the work she was doing by saying: “Mrs. Kunz has been in Providence since January [1942] as a member of the staff of E. W. Wiggins Airways
Wiggins Airways
Wiggins Airways is an American fixed base operator, cargo airline, and charter airline based at Manchester, New Hampshire and operating from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.-History:...
. She has a mother’s confidence in her ‘boys’ and they reciprocate with respect and enthusiasm. Nothing gives her greater joy than to see them solo, to know she has taken them one step nearer to Uncle Sam’s aerial defense line.” Later, at her home in California, she would recall with fondness her experiences. “I trained about 400 boys and it was easily the highlight of my career. I really became a sort of foster mother to them. You would be surprised how many of my boys brought their wives and children to see me after the war.” She also indicated in a letter that she had trained combat pilots. “...I was a flight instructor all during the war. Had over three hundred students who served as combat pilots in the war.”