Lee Arbon
They Also Flew
The Enlisted Pilot Legacy, 1912-1942
ISBN 1-56098-837-1
While the history of the United States Air Force as a separate and
independent component of the Department of Defense did not officially begin
until September 1947, its roots went back to August 1907, when its parent,
the Army, began to concern itself with aeronautics.
Understandably proud of its new status, the Air Force had to look to its
future. Only recently has it begun to reflect on its earlier, humbler
beginnings-beginnings that included a small number of enlisted pilots.
Those of us who served their nation as enlisted pilots, even if for a little
while, have found it humbling to learn that few ever knew we served. When
the term enlisted pilot, or sergeant pilot, is introduced into any
appropriate conversation today, and draws only a blank response, an
accounting seems overdue.
I have undertaken this writing to place the legacy of this small number of
pilots into the literature, and to inform its readers that from 1912 to 1942
enlisted pilots also flew.
I have chosen to use the terms aeroplane and airplane in their contemporary
context, that is, aeroplane, 1903-17, and airplane, 1917-42.
A caveat in closing: Since I am neither a writer nor a historian, my
reconstruction of the sergeant pilot story, drawn from documents forty-five
to eighty-two years old as well as from the recollections of individuals
years after the events, is bound to be flawed by time and bias. It is,
however, as careful and honest an account as I can construct. Readers who
discover such flaws would do this account a favor by bringing them to the
author's attention. -Lee Arbon
Source: http://www.b26.com/page/they_also_flew.htm
Obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/statesman/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=152042957
The
sergeant pilot training program ended in late 1942 since the
educational requirement for cadets had been lowered to that for an
aviation student (high school diploma) and all students were to be
appointed at graduation as flight officers or second lieutenants. The
promotion of those pilots still sergeants was ordered on Nov. 17, 1942,
but promotions didn't catch up with
all sergeant pilots who were
overseas until 1944. Eventually, nearly all became second lieutenants.
Not wanting to be mistaken as unblooded new pilots, some of these combat
veterans scoured their new gold bars with dirt until they resembled
those of first lieutenants. (In World War II, AAF regulations also
provided for enlisted glider pilot and enlisted service pilot, but
generally such pilots were flight officers or above.)
Lee Arbon
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