Evening star., 1947-09-01
Air Forces Recruiting
Picks Up, but Service
Still Needs $4,000
BY the Associoted Press

The Army Air Forces has re-
cruited more than 10000 men in the
last few months in an effort to re-
gain its wartime efficiency level.
Officials credited much of the up
ewing in enlistments to new
career plan" offered by the AAF
10 high school graduates under
which they are given choice of
training in various technical schools
of the service.
Records show that, while monthly
recruiting totals for the AAF dur
ing the first part of the year ranged
between 5000 and 1000, the June
total was 10500, July, 1880, and
August, about 1000.
= Still $4,000 Short.
Despite the satisfactory trend in
the manpower problem. personnel
officials said, the AAF still is about
10000 short of the authorized
strength figure for this period of
approximately 391 900. At the be-
ginning of the current month the
AAF had about 267,000 men and
$4,000 officers, compared with an
authorized strength of $4,000 men
and $4,000 officers.
To bring the force up to full
strength for the current fiscal year
enlistments must average better
than 5000 men for each of the next
10 months The AAF goal is a
strength of about 400,O 900 men to fly
and keep in operation 10 combat
groups of about 5000 aircraft.
The ebb reached by the AAF in
the months Immediately after the
end rof the war was attested to re-
Gently in a statement by Gen. Carl
Spaatz, AAF chief, that at that time
I'VE had not a single squadron i'm
nediately capable of action with
wartime efficiency"
Training Is Headache.
While the broad program of the
AAF also embraces plans for getting
more pilots in the years just ahead,
Che major manpower headache now
is to train the highly skilled men
who fly in Army aircraft as part OF
the air crews or keep them flying
from maintenance hangers.
For this reason the Air Force has
opened up 40 of its technical schools
to recruits who come in under the
career plan" with an idea of spe-
cializing in particular fields.
AAF officials say thousands of
aircraft were kept grounded after
the end of the war-and many still
are-for lack of technicians. The
new training program, therefore, is
making special bids for maintenance
men, armament experts, radar and
radio maintenance men and oper-
ators, weathermen and airfleld con-
troll tower operators. And for those
who want to be an AAF mp" there
is even a special school for that.
The program is open to high
school graduates between II and "a,
either veterans or non-veterans.
Cadet Restrictions Relaxed.
With a view to augmenting its
backlog of pilots, the AAF recently
relaxed restrictions on the aviation
cadet training program to allow
civilians as well as enlisted men to-
apply for pilot training. Require
ments for this training provide the
applicant must be unmarried (dur-
ing the training period as well as
at the time he enters1th program
be between 20 and 1914 years old
and have earned at least one-haf
of the credits for degree at an
accredited college or university, or
pass an educational examination.
In a separate statement, Maj Gen
Butler B. Miltonberger, chief OF the
National Guard, said that the Guard
needs additional pilots to fly the
7S0 late type observation and lialson
planes assigned to its ground units.
Gen. Miltonberger said there are
more than 700 pilot vacancies open
and they offer IAN excellent op-
portunity for wartime pilots to keep
their hand in as part of the new
National Guard -"