Evening star., 1943-04-23
Civilians Hatch Out
Army's Airmen al
Incubators
Teachers Of Cadets
Risk Necks Weekly
At Beginner Schools
BY the Associated Press.

Lie lllCuUdlOlS Cildt IldICIl oAACAc
Sans war birds-the Army pilots
are manned by civilians who seldom
get their names in headlines.
The civilian instructor may be
just kid who a few years back
was known among the home folks
as that kid who likes to monkey
with motors"
Or maybe hes was a transformer.
one of that hardy breed who in
aviation teen age entrusted his neck
to crates.
But in any event, the teacher is
civilian, not a soldier, and his job
Is to risk his neck six days a week
teaching the Army cadet to fly.
The civilian teaches the cadet to
fly, and the Army shows him how
to fight.
Civilians Are Teachers.
AS Flight Director M. o. Schellen-
berg of the w. and B. Primary Fly
ing School here puts it:
Usually, the cadet doesn't know
a thing about flying when he GETS
here We teach him to fly, to do
automatically, like a reflex action,
the things he has to do to be a
good pilot
A primary school is the only stop
along the pilot assembly line-from
raw~recruit to finished combat pilot
where the teacher is civilian
and the Army acts only as the
supervisor. So *. ,...,.a. ..,,
From the San Antonio, Tex, avia-
ton cadet center, where The Army
drills and indoctrinates the cadet
to make a soldier out of him, the
future pilot is shipped to one CT the
primary flying schools which dot
the coalntryside-schools much like
w. and B. >.a,..
Here the civilian instructor takes
over. The cadet learns to solo and
to do the acrobatics which are de-
signed to keep pilots off the casualty
lists.
After primary school. the cadet
is ready for the basic school, where
the Army again takes over. Event.
ually he emerges from the twin
engine or single-engine schools with
his wings and is ready for action.
Typical Instructors Day.
Take day in the life of lyrical
instructor at w. and B., selected at
random by Director George w.
Teter.
John W. Davis. %, Boulder, Colo,
has been flying three years. Most
instructors have more experience
than that, says Teter.
Davis is up at am, cooks his
own breakfast, is on the field by
s O'Clock, and climbs into flying
togs.
First on tap is fight meeting,
where Schellenberg and Glass Com
manders John A. Myers and Albert
F. Clark 60 over the days work.
Then Davis is off to meet a new
crop of cadets. He gets his quota of
cadets-a small group-and it's his
job to sweat them through the next
two or three months of primary
training.
After or 10 hours of dual con-
troll flying, however. this former
shoe clerk, or ploWboy or soda jerk
is ready for his solo.
This is the big moment in the
life of the pupil-and the teacher,
too, to hear him tell it.
No cadet in the air perspires
more than his instructor on the
ground.
Flying in War Areas.
Any one around one of these
schools can tell you an instructor
isn't normal again until his pupil
sets the training plane down with
out landing in the road or cutting
his way through hangar.
It's 12-hour day for the in
structor with no vacations. He risks
his life, never gets rich, and is as
draftable as the shoe clerk, or the
plowboy.
The civilian setup at w. and b.
is typical of primary schools. Ray
mond Wilson and Maj. F. w. Bon
hls, business manager of the Denver
Post, made a contract with the
Army to train pilots.
Then they built this sprawling
field and selected the personnel.
The Army keeps enough officers
here to supervise the students. both
in disciplinary matters and in flyl
ing. Capt. Harold L. williams is
the commanding ofncer.
A lot of cadets pass before these
civilian instructors. but they try to
keep track of the progress of all OF
them.
Clark recently had q letter from
one Of his cadets now in North
Africa saying: "Just think, Just .
year and couple of days ago I
made my first solo,"
Where Americans fight-in North
Africa. over Europe. in China, In
far-of Australia or in the South
Pacific-are primary school gradu-
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