Evening star., 1936-08-15
NAVY TRAINS PILOTS FOR DAY OF LARGER AIR FORCE
ESQ AIRMEN NEEDED
Anacostia Air Station Among II Schools
Feeding Depleted Flying Squadrons;
Students Given Rigorous Schooling.
BY Joseph S. Edgerton.

pleted aviation squadrons of
\ the Navy and Marine Corps will
bear it's first fruit between now and
September l, when l9 aviation cadets
and Is new Marine Corps second lieu
tenants, with sparkling new silver
wings on their breasts, will report to
the commanding officers of the fight
ing squadrons ashore and af1oat for
flight duty.
These 35 new aviators, after month
of elimination training at the Ana
costa Naval Air Station and 13 other
Navy stations and year of intensive
flight training at Pensacola, Fla, are
ready to begin regular flight service
in the squadrons. The cadets will serve
wing-to Owing with the pilots of the
regular Navy for three years and then
will receive commissions and return
to civil life as Navy Reserve officers.
The Marines have been commissioned
in the regular service. One is a Wash
1ngton man.
Each month from now on new
groups of the f1edgling pilots, fresh
from Pensacola, will go into the feet
and Marine squadrons, rounding out
skeleton flying organizations and keep
ing naval aviation abreast of the
great aviation construction program
now under way.
The aviation cadet program, sort
of last resort" measure to provide
aviators in numbers beyond the powers
of the regular naval establishment and
the Naval Academy at Annapolis, now
is working we'll and is expected to go
a long way toward filling the cock
pits of the under-Strength old squad
rons and the new sQuadrons aboard
the new aircraft carrier U. S. S.
Ranger. and the new carriers now
under construction.
OF the 16 new Marine Corps pilots.
nine started in the Naval Reserve and
seven in the Marine Reserve. All IS
successful graduates of the first avia-
ton cadet class were given an op-
portunity to qualify for appointment
as second ieutenants in the Regular
Marine Corps. Among the successful
is is George Ayers McKusick, 3435
r street, who began his flight train
ing at the Anacostia Naval Air Sta
ton on July /, 1885.
Ana costa, one of IA naval stations
engaged in conducting elimination
flight training, last year put through
six classes. averaging six or seven men
10 the class, all of whom were sent
TO Pensacola for full flight training.
McKusick, the one of the first class
10 get through the year at Pensacola
and win his commission in the Marine
regulars, was a member of the first
Anacostia class, which began train
ing July l of last year. Successful
members of the second Anacostia class,
which began training August l, 1885,
will be graduated from Pensacola and
will go into the combat squadrons
during September.
A NACOSTIA this year has put
through three elimination classes,
sending from four to six men to Pen
sacola from each class for year of
training there.
After their three years of active
flying service in the feet squadrons,
the aviation cadets now beginning to
report for duty will be released from
active duty with commissions as en-
signs in the Naval Reserve. To re-
reserve pilots and to be eligible for
promotion, they will be required to
maintain their flying proficiency by
flying and attending drills at the
Naval Reserve aviation base in their
home area.
Today 494 cadets arc in training at
Pensacola Some of these will be
graduated each month and follow the
first class to the fleet Each month
The newcomers who successfully COM
plete a month of elimination training
at the naval air stations will report
to Pensacola to join the cadet body.
From the candidates who will enter
the cadet corps during the fiscal year
ending next June 80, the Navy De-
partment hopes to obtain some $50
pilots for the fleet. The men who
compose the cadet corps at Pensacola
represent many of the major colleges
and universities of the country and
almost every State in the Union.
To understand just how the cadet
program works, let us follow the
career of a typical cadet-let us call
him Bob Newman. Bob is a Washing
ton boy-he has been graduated from
the local public schools and from
George Washington University. He
has a healthy desire to fly. So, last
Summer, let us say, Bob heard of the
aviation cadet program. He decided
to investigate.
Bob went to the Anacostia Naval
Air Station, where he was directed to
Lieut.. M. B. johnson, in charge of
Reserve activities there, with Lieut..
T. K. Wagner as his assistant. Salts
fled with the situation as it was out
lined to him by Lieut.. Johnson, New
man applied for training He was list
ed for examination for Glass No. 3,
which reported at Anacostia on Sep
tember l, 1885.
About 40 men in addition to New
man had applied for membership in
that class. OF this number, "a failed
to make the grade. They were
washed out" for one reason or an
other, before they even had a chance
to climb into an airplane. Only six
passed the strenuous selective tests.
They met the requirements that they
must be United States citizens, be-
tween the ages of IS and % and
must be mentally, morally, physically
and psychologically qualified, in ac-
cordance with very rigid standards
prescribed by the Navy Department.
DOB was required to present a
certificate from the registrar of
g. w. showing that he possessed a GER
tain minimum mathematical educa-
ton, which included arithmetic, alge-
bra, plane and solid geometry, trig-
onometry and physics.
He had to agree to remain on ac-
tive duty for four years, including
the period of training at Pensacola.
He also had to agree not to marry
during that time. Further, he agreed
70 Laay> ,,r }, racory,a 81 f,,c ~ f$ar