Evening star., 1942-03-13
Pilot Training Cenfer,
Rapidly Constructed
By Army Air Corps
New Georgia Field Put
Into Operation in Less
Than Three Months
BY DEVON FRANCIS,
Vide World News AYiatinn Editor

Wide World News Aviation Editor.
COCHRAN FIELD, Macon, Ga,
March 13.-The headlines have gone
to the spectacularly accelerated pro-
duction of fighting planes and heavy
bombers because the Army Air Corps
wanted to do a job and talk about
1t afterward.
That job-training the men to fly
the fighters and BON m5ers-is far
from complete.
1t will continue for the duration.
But the facilities have been estab-
lished, and thousands Of men are in
training or ready for training The
embodiment of what the Air Corps
has done can be seen here at Coch-
ran Field, one of the basic flying
schools.
1t was only a few months ago that
the then It. Col. D. D. Fitz Gerald
was called into conference by the
commanding officer of the South
east Air Corps Training Center at
Maxwell Field. Montgomery, Ala.
He was told to build training field
at Macon in three months.
Pearl Harbor was still in the fu-
ture. But the Air Corps was pre-
pairing for an emergency which
might get worse.
Col. Fitz Gerald set to work and
planes were flying off the field,
carved out of peach orchards and
truck farms, in less than three
months.
Officer Personnel Needed.
What he did here has been done,
perhaps not quite so fast, but at
pace which would have seemed fam
tastic in peacetime, at scores OF 9TH
er places constituting the three big
training centers devoted to produc-
ing more than 10000 Army pilots a
year.
Complicating the task was the
need for training sufficient officer
personnel for the many new posts.
Apart from officers Of the Engi-
neer Corps, the initial complement
of Cochran Field numbered only five
officers and 100 enlisted men last
May. Armies must be fed, clothed
and housed.
Roads were built and surfaced.
One of the intersections was dubbed
Sand Rat road and Dust Bowl
boulevard. The sand rats referred
to the soldiers. The dust bowl de-
scribed the terrain and the strength
- Jc ic1, rrI,irr,p6 thrny1Dn
How big the post is now and what
It looks like are things which are
not permitted in print in wartime,
but when the stations complement
of men-suficient to handle several
thousand aviation cadets year
moved in, it found the soup on.
Barracks had been erected. Beds
were ready. Steaming plates of food
were flowing out of the kitchens.
Airplanes had hard-surfaced run
ways to land on.
Complicated Structures.
Armies are complicated structures.
Creating flyers for an air army of
100000 men requires a lot more
than an airplane, an instructor and
a student.
Here is a sample setup for the Or
ganization of a training field, estab-
.ished before the first student dons
his flying togs and climbs into a
cockpit:
The commanding officer and his
staff, an executive director of train
ing, administrative inspector, the
adjutant and two assistants, an ord
nance officer, provost marshal, a
fire marshal, trial judge advocate,
a weather Office, post exchange, a
finance officer, communications
office, a signal officer, a technical
inspector, an intelligence officer, a
post administration Office, chap
lain, a quartermaster, a surgeon, a
morale Office and branch of the
Chemical Warfare Service.
Then, and only then, does the post
approach the business of turning out
flyers.
Training Period Reduced.
It is estimated here that it re-
quires about one resident, counting
officers and enlisted men, for every
one and one-half students over IL
month period The resident per-
sonnel at any given moment far out
numbers the aviation cadets in
training, but the classes are going
through at a rate Of almost 10 a
year.
BY telescoping the training, just
as much is being accomplished in
five weeks as used to require II.
The cadets actually are here six
weeks, but the extra week Is thrown
in to allow for delays due to bad
weather.
The buildings of this typical Air
Corps training post are temporary
structures, reminders of the con-
struction during the feverish days of
World War I. But flags fly and
floors are clear.
The Army draws no odious COM
parsons between these woody-smell-
ing posts and the older, established
NJ.