Aviation Cadet Training Program (USN)

Naval Aviation Cadet program (1935-1968)
In 1908 at Fort Myer, Virginia, a demonstration of an early "heavier-than-air" craft was flown by a pair of inventors named Orville and Wilbur Wright. Two navy officers observing the demonstration were inspired to push for the Navy to acquire aircraft of their own. In May, 1911 the Navy purchased their first aircraft. From 1911 to 1914 the Navy received free flying lessons from aviation pioneer Glenn Curtis at North Island, San Diego, California.

In 1911, the Navy began training its first pilots at the newly founded Aviation Camp at Annapolis, Maryland. In 1914, the Navy opened Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, dubbed the "Annapolis of the Air", to train its first Naval Aviators. Candidates had to have served at least 2 years of sea duty and training was for 12 months. In 1917, the Navy's program became part of the Flying Officer Training Program. Demand for pilots, however, still exceeded supply.

Aviation Cadet Act (1935)
On April 15, 1935 Congress passed the Aviation Cadet Act. This set up the Volunteer Naval Reserve class V-5 Naval Aviation Cadet (NavCad) program to send civilian and enlisted candidates to train as aviation cadets. Candidates had to be between the ages of 19 and 25, have an Associate's degree or at least two years of college, and had to complete a Bachelor's degree within six years after graduation to keep their commission. Training was for 18 months and candidates had to agree to not marry during training and to serve for at least three more years of active duty service. 

Civilian candidates who had graduated or dropped out of college were classified as Volunteer Reserve class V-1 and held the rank of Ordinary Seaman in the Organized Reserve. Candidates who had not yet completed a four-year degree had a set time limit after training to complete it. Those that did not lost their rank and received a transfer to Volunteer Reserve class V-6. Candidates who volunteered while still in college were enrolled in the Accredited College Program and were classified as Volunteer Reserve class V-1 (ACP).

Candidates who were not already in the Navy were evaluated and processed at one of 13 Naval Reserve Air Bases across the country, each one representing one of the eligible Naval Districts. They consisted of the 1st and 3rd through 13th Naval Districts (representing the 48 states of the continental United States) and the 14th Naval District (comprising America's Pacific territories and headquartered at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii).

Candidates who were selected went on to Naval Flight Preparatory School. This was a course in physical training (to get the cadets in shape and weed out the unfit), military skills (marching, standing in formation, and performing the manual of arms), and naval customs and etiquette (as a naval officer was considered a gentleman). Pre-Flight School was a refresher course in mathematics and physics with practical applications of these skills in flight. This was followed by a short preliminary flight training module in which the cadets flew 10 hours with an instructor and 1 hour flying solo; those that passed received V-5 flight badges (gold-metal aviator's wings with the V-5 badge set in the center). They were sent on to Basic flight training at NAS Pensacola and Advanced flight training at another Naval Air Station.

Graduates would become Naval Aviators with the rank of Aviation Cadet, which was considered senior to the rank of Chief Petty Officer but below the rank of Warrant Officer. As members of the Volunteer Reserve, they received the same pay as an Ordinary Seaman ($75 a month during training or duty ashore, $125 a month when on active sea duty, and $30 Mess allowance). After three years of active service they were reviewed and could be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) in the Naval Reserve and received a $1,500 bonus.

Cadets who washed out of the V-5 program were assigned to Volunteer Reserve class V-6 with the rank of Ordinary Seaman. This was a holding category that allowed the Navy to evaluate the candidate for either reassignment to another part of the Volunteer Reserve or reassignment to the General Service branches of the Navy or Naval Reserve. They were exempt from being drafted by the Army in wartime but were considered Reservists in the Navy and could be called to active service at any time.

Naval Aviation Reserve Act (1939)
Due to poor pay and slow promotion, many Naval Aviation Cadets left the service to work for the growing commercial aviation and airline industries. On April 11, 1939, Congress passed the Naval Aviation Reserve Act, which expanded the parameters of the earlier Aviation Cadet Act. Training was for 12 months. Graduates would receive commissions in the Naval Reserve as an Ensign or the Marine Corps Reserve as a 2nd Lieutenant, and served an additional seven years on active duty.

Uniforms and Insignia
During Basic and Ground School their duty uniforms from 1935 to 1943 were green surplus Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) fatigue uniforms. Naval Aviation Cadets wore the same dress uniforms as naval officers once they completed Primary.

Cadets wore a different insignia than Army Aviation Cadets: a yellow shield with a blue chief with the word "Navy" in yellow letters, a pair of Naval Aviator wings bordered and decorated in blue across the middle, and the letter/number "V-5" in blue in the base. The insignia was in enameled sterling silver for wear on the breast pocket of dress uniform jackets and cloth patch form for wear on uniforms. Graduates received gold-metal Naval Aviator's wings rather than the silver-metal wings awarded to Army Aviators.

1942-1945
During World War II, the USN pilot training program started to ramp up. It had the same stages as the Army Aviation program (Pre-Flight, Primary, Basic, and Advanced), except it added a Carrier Landing stage for fighter, torpedo and dive-bomber pilots. Each graduate had around 600 total flight hours, with approximately 200 flight hours on front-line Navy aircraft.

In 1942 the program graduated 10,869 aviators, almost twice as many as had completed the program in the previous 8 years. In 1943 there were 20,842 graduates; in 1944, 21,067; and in 1945 there were 8,880. Thus in the period 1942 to 1945, the U.S. Navy produced 61,658 pilots - more than 2.5 times the number of pilots as the Imperial Japanese Navy.

1955-1968
The Navy program separated in 1955, forming the Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) at NAS Pensacola. All Aviation Officer Candidates (AOCs) were 4 year college or university graduates instructed by Navy personnel and trained by Marine Corps Drill Instructors. NavCads continued to be integrated into AOCS for a time, with the principal distinction being that AOCs, with their bachelor's degrees, were commissioned as Ensigns in the Naval Reserve on graduation and attended flight school as commissioned officers on par with their USNA, NROTC, Marine Corps OCS, USCGA and Coast Guard OCS classmates. In contrast, NavCads, who had some college, but typically lacked a bachelor's degree, attended their entire flight school program as non-commissioned candidates and did not receive their commissions as Ensigns until they completed flight training and received their wings as Naval Aviators. These former NavCads, commissioned officers without bachelor's degrees, would complete their initial fleet squadron tour and would then be sent to the Naval Postgraduate School or a civilian college or university as Ensigns on their first shore duty assignment in order to finish their baccalaureate degree. AOCS stopped taking NavCad civilian and enlisted candidates in 1968, thus ending the NavCad program for a time.

1986-1993
NavCad was temporarily reopened in March 1986 to meet the demands of the expanded Navy and was integrated back into Aviation Officer Candidate School program. Candidates had to have either an Associate's Degree or 60 semester hours of college study. Like their predecessors decades before, these NavCads would complete flight training as candidates, receive their commissions once they received their wings as Naval Aviators, and would later attend college to complete their degree on their first shore duty assignment. The NavCad program was shut down again following the end of the Cold War. The last civilian applicants were accepted in 1992 and the NavCad program finally cancelled on October 1, 1993.

In 1994, the Navy's Officer Candidate School (OCS) program moved from the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island to NAS Pensacola and was merged with AOCS. In July 2007, this merged OCS program relocated back to Newport. Today, prospective Naval Aviator, Naval Flight Officer, Naval Intelligence and Naval Aircraft Maintenance Duty officer candidates now attend the general OCS at NETC Newport. Following completion of the OCS program, graduates designated as Student Naval Aviators (SNA) and Student Naval Flight Officers (SNFO) proceed to Naval Aviation Schools Command at NAS Pensacola for Aviation Preflight Indoctrination with their SNA and SNFO counterparts commissioned via the U.S. Naval Academy, NROTC, Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class-Air (PLC-Air), Marine Corps Officer Candidate Class, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Coast Guard OCS.

Naval Aviation Pilot program (1916-1918; 1919-1940; 1941-1948)
This was a program to train Enlisted pilots in the Navy to fly large or multi-engined aircraft or pilot airships, since pilot officers were assigned to fly fighters and fighter/bombers.

1916
A training program for enlisted pilots was begun on January 1, 1916 and consisted of seven Petty Officers and two Marine Sergeants. A second class was started on March 21, 1917 that consisted of nine Petty Officers (one of which was rolled over from the previous class).

1917-1918
Once the United States entered World War One, all pilot training at Pensacola was suspended. Naval Aviator candidates were sent to be trained in Europe after passing Ground School and the enlisted aviator program was suspended. Two hundred Landsmen (100 Quartermaster (Aviation) Landsmen and 100 Machinist (Aviation) Landsmen) were trained to act as ground crew. To expand the number of available pilots, the US Navy sent 33 Quartermaster (Aviation) Petty Officers to pilot training schools in France and Italy. Graduates received military aviator's wings. Two Petty Officers (Harold H. "Kiddy" Karr and Clarence Woods) received both French and Italian pilot's wings. Thirteen became Warrant Officers or commissioned officers and twenty remained as Petty Officers.

The enlisted aviators were used as Ferry Pilots. Ferry Pilots flew jury-rigged damaged planes to rear-area depots for extensive repairs that couldn't be done in the field. They would then fly repaired or new planes back to the forward airfields at the front.

1919-1940
After the war, the Navy decided that the dreary task of flying transport planes or dirigibles should fall to enlisted men. In 1921 the specialties were seaplane (scout aircraft with pontoon landing gear), ship-plane (scout aircraft designed to be catapulted from a ship), and airship (lighter-than-air craft).

1941-1948
During World War Two, the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps produced Naval Aviation Pilots to meet the demands of the expanding Naval Aviation force.

The Navy produced 2,208 NAPs during the war and trained ? NAPs between 1945 and 1948. The Coast Guard produces 179 NAPs during the war and later trained 37 NAPs between 1945 and 1948. The Marine Corps produced 480 NAPs during the war.

1949-1981
After 1948, the NAP rating was officially ended. However, the NAPs were still in service.

The last enlisted Marine Corps NAPs (Master Gunnery Sergeants Joseph A. Conroy, Leslie T. Ericson, Robert M. Lurie and Patrick J. O'Neil), simultaneously retired on February 1, 1973. The last Marine Corps NAP (Chief Warrant Officer Henry "Bud" Wildfang) retired on May 31, 1978. The last enlisted Coast Guard NAP (Master Chief Petty Officer/ADCMAP John P. Greathouse) retired in 1979. The last enlisted Navy NAP (Master Chief Petty Officer/ACCM Robert K. "NAP" Jones) retired on January 31, 1981.

Aviation Midshipman Program (1946-1950)
Known as the "Holloway Plan", after its creator Rear Admiral James L. Holloway, Jr., the Aviation Midshipman Program was created in 1946 to meet the perceived potential shortfall in Naval Aviators once the enlistments of the currently-serving veteran pre-war and wartime aviators expired.

It granted high school graduates a subsidized college education in a scientific or engineering major for two years in exchange for enlistment as Airmen Apprentices and a commitment to serve in the Navy for 3 years. Students received free tuition, fees and book costs and $50 per week for expenses. After serving on active duty for at least three years, they had to return to school to finish their remaining education within two years or lose their commission.

It also offered the remaining Aviation Cadets still in training and newly-graduated Naval Aviators the chance to serve as full-time active duty pilots rather than be discharged or serve stateside and part-time in the Reserves. However, they would not receive the education benefits of the full Aviation Midshipmen, nor would they receive the starting rank of Ensign like the Aviation Cadets.

The Aviation Midshipmen (dubbed "Holloway's Hooligans") had Regular Navy commissions rather than the Naval Reserve commissions granted the Aviation Cadets. However, they were not allowed to marry until they fulfilled their 3-year service commitment and could not be commissioned as Ensigns until two years after their date of rank (the date they received their Midshipmen's warrant). They also had to live on meager pay ($132 a month; $88 base pay plus $44 Flight Status pay) while having to pay for mess fees and uniforms.

Later, the midshipmen were informed that their two years spent in training and active service as a pilot didn't count towards seniority, longevity pay or retirement benefits. This was not rectified until an Act of Congress was passed in 1974. Even then it only affected the less than 100 officers still in service.

Training
After attending two years of school, the students attended a four-week Officer Candidate Training course at NAS Pensacola. The students were drilled by Navy Petty Officers. Graduates were promoted to Aviation Midshipmen Fourth Class and wore a khaki uniform with black dress shoes. They were not allowed to drink and had restrictions on leave.

Pre-Flight training was a refresher in math and science coursework and taught military skills like transmitting and receiving Morse Code. The candidates were drilled by Marine sergeants and were placed under a stricter regimen of discipline. Graduates of Pre-Flight were promoted to Midshipmen Third Class.

Primary Flight Training was at Whiting Field, where the midshipmen were taught basic flying. Graduates were promoted to Midshipmen Second Class.

Basic Flight Training was split into two parts. Flying by instruments and night flying were taught at Corry Field and formation flying and gunnery were taught at Saufley Field. Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) was held at Barin Field. Carrier Qualification (CarQual) testing was first held aboard the USS Saipan (CVL-48) from September 1946 to April 1947; later it was held aboard the USS Wright (CVL-49) or USS Cabot (CVL-28). Graduates were promoted to Midshipmen First Class and got to wear anchor insignia on both collars. The student could now wear a Naval Aviator's green duty uniform and brown aviator's boots and restrictions on drinking and leaves were lifted.

Advanced Flight Training took place at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. There the midshipmen were sorted into single-engine (fighters and fighter-bombers) and multiple-engine (transport, reconnaissance, and bomber) pilots. Although there were jet aircraft in service, Advanced training was on soon-to-be-obsolescent propeller driven aircraft like the F6F Hellcat and AD-4 Skyraider.

Problems
From 1948 to 1950 the program was subject to cost-cutting due to post-war budget restructuring that favored the Air Force over the Navy. This impaired training and discouraged retention of its students and graduates. Midshipmen were being offered a release from their service commitment or a place in the Naval Reserves rather than a Regular Navy commission.

From June to September, 1948 the number of students at Pensacola expanded to five training battalions, swamping the facilities. Graduates of Pre-Flight in November and December 1948 were assigned to the USS Wright (CVL-49) to do maintenance and guard duty until a slot opened up for them at Whiting Field to begin Basic. In June, 1949 students in Basic and Advanced Flight Training were sent on leave for a month because Pensacola and Corpus Christi had used up their monthly aviation gasoline allotment and there was no funding for more.

On May 19, 1950 the Navy announced that the program was ending and that aviators would be drawn from Annapolis and Navy ROTC programs. Less than 40 members of the latest graduating class of 450 midshipmen would be retained and the rest (including the midshipmen still in training) would be let go by the end of June. The dawn of the Korean War on June 25 saved the remainder but they were told they were only authorized until July 31 (later extended to a 12-month period). In the fall of 1950 they were told that they could remain on active duty "indefinitely" (i.e., until the end of hostilities), but pre-war limits on promotion and pay would still be in force.

Famous "Flying Midshipmen"
In 1946, Richard C. "Jake" Jacobi became the first Aviation Midshipman to complete flight training.

Aviation Midshipman Joe Louis Akagi became the first Japanese-American Naval Aviator. He served in the Korean War with squadron VF-194 ("Red Lightning"). He received the Distinguished Flying Cross on June 1954. for his valorous actions on July 26, 1953 in which he bombed a railroad tunnel, severed three railroad bridges, cut rail lines in two places, and knocked out two anti-aircraft positions.

In October 1948, Aviation Midshipman Jesse L. Brown was commissioned as an Ensign and became the first African-American Naval Aviator. He served during the Korean War with VF-32 ("Fighting Swordsmen") flying the F4U Corsair, dying in combat on December 4, 1950. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The frigate USS Jesse L. Brown was named in his honor.

In May 1949, Norman Gerhart became the last Aviation Midshipman to complete the regular flight training program under the Holloway Plan.

On April 8, 1950 Ensign Thomas Lee Burgess of Patrol Squadron 26 (VP-26), the "Tridents", became the first Aviation Midshipman to die while on active service. Burgess' PB4Y-2 Privateer, based at NAS Port Lyautey, Morocco, was shot down over the western Baltic Sea in international waters by the Soviet Air Force. The Soviets claimed they thought it was a B-29 bomber, that it had violated Latvian airspace, and that it had fired on planes sent to intercept it. No crewmen were recovered. 

On August 16, 1950 Aviation Midshipman Neil Armstrong was qualified as a Naval Aviator and commissioned as an Ensign. He served during the Korean War with Fighter Squadron 51 (VF-51), the "Screaming Eagles." He later became a NACA test pilot, a NASA astronaut, and was the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

On August 1, 1984 Rear Admiral William A. Gureck, the last Regular Navy "Flying Midshipman", retired.

Marine Aviation Cadet program (1959-1968)
The Marine Corps developed their own programs to meet their increased demand for helicopter pilots. One of the basic hurdles was the 3-year minimum service requirement, which caused potential candidates to hesitate.

In 1955, a special Platoon Leader's Course (PLC) variant called PLC (Aviation) was created. It was like PLC, but it sent officer candidates directly to the Navy's Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) rather than the Basic Course. Its advantage was that if the candidate changed his mind, he could still go on to Basic. An Aviation Officer Candidate Course (AOCC) followed in 1963 to train dedicated Marine pilot officer candidates that went straight to AOCS.

Since this still didn't meet the demand, the Marine Aviation Cadet (MarCad) program was created on July, 1959 to take in enlisted Marines. Candidates had to sign the four-year "Aviation Guarantee", promising that they'd serve at least four years on active duty. Graduates were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants in the Marine Corps Reserve. On February 1961 Second Lieutenant Clyde O. Childress USMC became the first MarCad to be commissioned.

On October 6, 1962 First Lieutenant Michael J. Tunney USMC became the first MarCad to die in combat when the UH-34D Seahorse helicopter he was co-piloting crashed due to mechanical failure.

When the number of Marine pilots began to meet demand in 1968, the MarCad program was closed. On March 22, 1968 Second Lieutenant Larry D. Mullins USMC was the last MarCad to be commissioned.

Between 1959 and 1968 the program produced 1,296 Naval Aviators, most of whom were helicopter pilots.

Naval Aviation Cadets

 * Charles Glass. "NAVCAD Program Circa 53-54" THE FOLLOWING LINK NO LONGER WORKS. Wings of Gold - The Journal of the Association of Naval Aviation, Summer 2005

Marine Aviation Cadets

 * William R. Fails. Marines and Helicopters (1962–1973) Department of the Navy, History and Museums Division USMC, 1978.

Naval Aviation Pilots

 * Capt. Mark J. Campbell, USCG. Enlisted Naval Aviation Pilots: A Legacy of Service Naval Aviation News (November 1, 2003)