Army Flying School

Army Flying School at Airport To Continue Until July 1 but
Private Flying Instruction Now Given

In this group are seen the flying contractor and flight instructor personnel at the Eau Claire Flying School at the airport on the State Street Hill.

Reading from left to right, they are Flight Instructor George Christie, Flight Instructor Rick Hense, Assistant Chief Flight Instructor Dan Wakefield, Flight Instructor Robert Robinson, Chief Flight Instructor Larry Stephen, Flight Contractor Mel J. Larsen.

Flight Instructor Elden Krenz, Flight Instructor Charles Woodworth, Flight Instructor Frank Blake, Flight Instructor Lester Grooms, and CAA Flight Supervisor George Petit.

With the closing of the Eau Claire Flying School, in operation at the Eau Claire Airport, State Street Hill, since April 1, 1943, as a part of the war training service at the Eau Claire State Teachers College, scheduled for July 1, the airport will be free to resume the giving of private flight instruction, according to Mel J. Larsen, flight contractor and manager of the airport.

Fifty-seven of the aviation students, who have been taking instruction at the school, will be graduated Saturday, April 22, he said, leaving 31 students, who will close their training by July 1, the closing date of the school. Larsen said that a number of replacements would probably be sent here to bring the class up to full quota.

May Get Another Project
There was a strong probability, Larsen said, of another government flying project being allocated to the airport here, but he added that nothing definite in the matter has come through, but whatever it is, he added, it would not interfere with private flight instruction, which was already being given at the airport.

The flying school, Larsen said, which has been conducted by the Army Air Corps flying instructors, including and under Chief Flight Instructor Larry Stephen and CAA Flight Supervisor George Petit, is pardonably proud of the fact that the school has given approximately 10,000 hours of flying instruction to, and has graduated, some 1,000 boys, without a single accident or crackup of any kind since the school opened more than a year ago.

The Eau Claire Airport is an accredited field, Larson said, and completely equipped. It has hangar facilities for the storage of about 16 planes, its shop facilities are complete and, besides all this, it has room facilities for giving ground school instruction and theory of flight.

The airport is an accredited field, on which any, but the largest, bombers and fighting planes can be landed or, from which, they can take off.

Besides the 19 government planes, which have been used by the flying school, the airport has a number of planes of its own and plans to get more.

Air Force Training Program at College Here to Terminate

Last AAF Class Here to Close July 1

WASHINGTON, January 31 (AP)— The Army Air Forces will return to civilian users 70 colleges utilized in the college training program and 14 civilian contract schools used in the pilot training program.

The War Department, announcing this Saturday, said that students, now in training at these institutions, will complete their courses but that, in the future, no new AAF students will be accepted for training at these establishments.

Shift to Replacements
The Department said the move was in conformance with General H. H. Arnold's recent report, in which he stated that "as the war continues, emphasis will naturally shift, from training of vast numbers of new men to the training of replacements."

The AAF emphasized that "elimination of any particular college or civilian contract school does not reflect dissatisfaction relative to the performance of the school."

The AAF training program was established, the Department said, on a basis whereby trainees travel every month from basic training centers to colleges and from colleges to pre-flight schools.

"Consequently,'' the announcement said, "the overall policy of elimination of institutions adopted by the training command has been based on the principle of the relieving an excessive and unnecessary burden on the nation's railway system and, at the same time, effecting a large saving of travel funds and military man hours in transit. Institutions were also eliminated on the basis of geographical location and suitability to the specific needs of the training command."

8 State Colleges
Among colleges to be released by the AAF are Iowa Weslyan, Mount Pleasant, Iowa; Jefferson College, St. Louis, Missouri; Hastings College, Nebraska; University of Nebraska.

Beloit College, Wisconsin; Carroll College, Waukesha; Oshkosh State Teachers College, State Teachers College at Eau Claire, State Teachers College of Milwaukee, State Teachers College at Stevens Point, and Superior Teachers College, all in Wisconsin.

Among the civilian contract schools to be released are those at Cape Girardeau, Missouri; East St. Louis, Illinois; and McBride, Missouri.

Commenting on the announcement that the Army-conducted training program at Eau Claire State Teachers College will be terminated at the conclusion of the training period of those now at the college, President W. R. Davies said:

Group Arrived Sunday
"The last group of trainees arrived at the college Sunday. This means that the program will taper off month by month and be completely eliminated by July 1.

"The announcement was not a surprise to college officials and is in accordance with plans now in the making for an enlarged civilian college program at the close of the present emergency, as well as lightening of Air Force training requirements.

"Furthermore, the tapering off will permit gradual readjustment to a normal college basis. In effect, the period just ahead will be similar to a retooling period for industry."

Aviation students have arrived here in groups of about 60 each month for a five-month course. Those arriving Sunday will finish their course about the end of June. Each month, a group of about 60 is graduated and, as there will now be no replacements, the size of the group here will decrease each month.