35th Flying Training Wing (U.S. Army Air Forces)

History

The wing was a World War II Command and Control organization which supported Western Flying Training Command Flight Schools in California. Most of the assigned schools provided phase II basic flying training for Air Cadets, although the wing also commanded both contract basic (phase I) and advanced single and two-engine Army schools. In addition, an advanced navigation school at Mather Field for Air Cadets selected at the Santa Ana Classification Center was controlled by the wing. Graduates of the advanced schools were commissioned as Second Lieutenants, received their "wings" and were reassigned to Operational or Replacement Training Units operated by one of the four numbered air fores in the zone of interior.

As training requirements changed during the war, schools were activated and inactivated or transferred to meet those requirements.

Lineage

Established as 35th Flying Training Wing on 17 December 1942

Activated on 8 January 1943 Disbanded 16 June 1946.

Assignments

AAF West Coast (later, AAF Western Flying) Training Center, 8 January 1943 – 16 June 1946

Training aircraft

The schools of the wing used a wide variety of planes to support its numerous training needs:

Primary training aircraft were the Boeing-Stearman PT-17 and Ryan PT-22. PT-13 and PT-27 aircraft were also used which were basic Stearmans with varying horsepower ratings.

Beginning in late 1944 the USAAF (as well as the USN) began replacing the Vultee BT-13 / BT-15 Valiant from the Basic phase of flight training with the North American AT-6 Texan

The Vultee BT-13 was the basic training aircraft, along with the higher-horsepower Vultee BT-15

The North American AT-6 was used as the single-engine advanced trainer

The Cessna AT-17 was the standard two-engine advanced trainer, along with the Cessna UC-78 variant of the AT-17; Curtiss-Wright AT-9s were used at Mather and Stockton Fields for high performance two-engine training in perpetration for Lockheed P-38 Lightning training by IV Fighter Command.

Specialized two-engine bomber trainers at Mather Field were the Lockheed AT-18 Hudsons along with North American B-25 Mitchells. The Beechcraft AT-7 was used for two-engine pilot training and also navigator training at Mather

Stations

Merced Army Airfield California, 8 January 1943

Minter Field, California, 11 September 1943 – 16 June 1946