Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/40

 �This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 Air Force Lditto TJS H[STORIOAL STUDIES War Department were opposed to this meas- ure as being impractical and one which would possibly mpair the war effort by interfering with or uselessly duplicating the Air Corps Training Program. ns For senttally the same reasons the War Depart- merit also opposed a bfiI to establish a Civil- ian Air ResetroY  This measure also failed to pass. During this period (1989-41) when the Army axr arm was undergomng great expan- sion it was felt that legislative action was necessary to change the flying pay set-up. One of the personnel problems pecuhar to the Air Corps was that of the rate and allocation of flying pay. The prinmpal ob- jectives of the War Department in relation to flying pay were: 1) to make flying pay available to officers other than priors by changing the defmihon of flying officers, and 2) to elimnate discrimination in flying pay rates between Air Corps personnel and the other arms and serwces personnel who were attached to the Air Corps  Snce the passage of the Pay Readjust- ment Act of 1922, the law had authorized 50 per cent extra pay for those flyers who participated in regular and frequent flights. Since 1934 the mhtary appropriation acts had limited to a maximum of $1,440 the flying pay of ofcers of other branches of the service attached to the Air CorpsY s By a provision of the lV!ilitary Appropria- tion Act, 1940, approved 2($ April 1939, the flying pay o flight surgeons was reduced to a maremum of $20 per annum, leaving the maximum for other nonflying officers at $1,440 per annum. '1 The next year Con- gress cut the maximum flying pay of alI nonflying officers to $750 when it passed the Mhtary Appropriation Act for the fis- cal year 1941. Ths legmlation also provided that a nonflying officer must perform three or more flights under orders from com- petent authority within each 90-day pemod in order to draw flying ly. 'ø The War Department made strong at- tempts to increase the fight pay barns for both flight surgeons and other nonflying officers for the fiscal years 1941 and 1942 but such legislton vas not secured untfi the passage of the Mfitary Appropriation Act for the fiscal year 1943. The War De- partment was successful, however, in mak- ing flying pay available to personnel other than priors by securing legislation chang- ing the definition of flying officers---thus at- tamng its first objective in regard to flying pay. ' By thin legslatnon, Public Law 795, 6 Cong., 2 Sess. (approved 4 October 1940), Section 13a of the National Defense Act was amended to allow observers and other mem- bers of combat crews to be ncluded ½n the defimhon of flying officer. Thus it was now possible to apply to such nonpilot person- nel the ]egslative prowsions concerning flying pay which were then in ernstonce This law also removed all lirfdtations on the number of Army officers who nnght be detafied to the Air Corps as flying officers. In order to protect the Air Corps against hawng nonflying officers placed m com- mand of flying units the act specified tha flying units should m all cases be com- manded by flying officers who had aero- nautical ratings as pfiots of service type aircraft or by qualified permanent general officers of the line with the same aeronau- tical rahngs as those required for flying ocers m command of flying units. = Under Title VI of the Second Revenue Act of 1940, approved 8 October 1940, a sys- tem of latmnal Serwce Life Insurance was set up for the personnel of the military and naval services. Under thin legislatmn the personnel of the Ar Corps, as well as the members of the other arms and branches of the scrwccs, received generous nsurance benefits All military and naval personnel were gven the pnwlege of taking out a maximum of $10,000 worth of government hfe insurance at very low premium rates provided they made application for it within 120 days alter entrance nto the service. The benefimanes were hmlted to widows and wdowers, children, and parents of the insured. The insurance was to be admin- istered by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs. r-' As already mentioned, Congress enacted spemal insurance provisions for awation cadets and students m the Avia- tmn Cadet and Aviation Student Acts of 1941. THIS PAGE Declasstried lAW EO12958