Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/36

 �This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 Ai FoYce Legislto I$AF HLSTOa[CAL .TU[S -- 29 measures resulted m an increase of Air C_ orps personnel from 20,250 on 1 July 1939 to 152,5õ9 two years later28 The War Department initiated action in the winter of 1940-41 for the purpose of se- curing legislation which would make listed men of the Regular Army and Reserve officers of branches other than the Air Corps ehgible for pilot training. Bills drafted by the War Department were ntro- duced in Congress in April of 1941. Tlus ]egmlatlon was to create the new grade aviation student in which enlisted men of the Regular Army and of other components of the Army of the Urnted States could be given pilot training. The aviatmn student bill became law on 3 June 1941. it author- zed the utilizatwn of large numbers of en- hsted men as prior trameez, and was of great value in helping the Air Corps to procure the personnel needed for the rap- idly increasing number of aircraft. s" - A month later to the day the President signed a bfiI, Public Law 152, g7 Cont., 1 Sees., which amended the act of April 3, 1939 to allow National Guard officers and Reserve officers of branches other than the Air Corps to take pilot training. This legis- lation was based on a recommendation made by the Chief of the Ar Corps. " It provided still another source of personnel for the pfiot-training program. -It is eviden tha there was a close in- terrelaion between traimng, personnel procurement, and general personnel regula- tions in much of the legislation dealing with Air Corps personnel n the period under consideratxon. In the next few pages the emphasis wfil be placed on legislation deahng more specifically with training and mention wfil be made of those related pro- visions dealing with general personnel mat- ters such as pay, insurance benefits, etc., as well as legislation prowdng for training facilities. The Emergency Natonat Defense Act of April 2, 1939 provided a training program designed to produce a re.erve supply of pilots. Since Air Corps facfiities were in- adequate to handle the great training pro- gram entailed by the expansion of the Air Corps, it was determined to use mvilian training facilities, appropriate steps being taken to provide for the umfonnity oœ the pimary training to be given in the mviI- fan schools and to provide the necessary nstructonal eqmpment. Although the act empowered the Secretary of War to deraft personnel of the Regular Army as aviation students at civilian technical, professional, or educational institutions, or as students, observers, and investigators at industrial plants, etc. where knowledge in aviation spemaltes could be obtained, its principal am was the ut1Iization of civilian flying schools for primary pilot training. The above provisions, however, also authorized the training of Regular Army per.onnel in other awatmn specialties berndes flying, opening the way for a very wtally needed techmcal traimng program. As the Air Corps expanded it became necessary to ex- tend these training provisions to include components other than the Regular Army. :' These training prowsions grew out of drafts of proposed leguslatlon submitted by Gen- eral Arnold to the War Department Chief of Staff.  Reference has already been made to he next training tegislatmn enacted by Con- gress, "An Act to provide for the training of civil aircraft pilots, and for other pur- poses," approved 27 June 1939. Ths meas- ure, which provided for a civilian pilot training program established and operated under the supervision of the Civil Aero- nautical Administration, had the approval of the Ar Corps and the War Department. The CAA program proved of great value to the Air Corps expanmon program in tha the Ar Corps pilot traincos who were gradu- ates of the mvilian prior training prelimi- nary course had a much lower elimination rate than those who had not had the course. Ths program also produced a large num- ber of the flying instructors who gave pri- mary training to Air Corps cadets in the Army's civilian contract flying schools, and made important contributions in filling the urgent demand for trained airhne pilots. ferry pilots, and test pilots2  Congress continued the CAA program and gave it generous support By the Third Deficiency Appropriation Act, approved 9 THIS PAGE Declassflied lAW EO12958