Throughout 1942, the need for combat crew personnel far exceeded the current and contemplated production of the command's flying training schools.

New airfields had to be located in areas with sufficient flying space free of other air traffic, and the West Coast training center faced the extraordinary requirement to avoid sites near the internment camps for Japanese-Americans.

[1] During World War II, the training of its officers and enlisted men was one of the chief functions of the United States Army Air Forces, consuming a great deal of money, people, equipment, and time.

Its members on their induction into the military face an abrupt transition to a life and pattern of behavior altogether foreign to their previous experience.

[2] In 1940 the War Department authorized the establishment of Air Corps enlisted replacement centers for the initial training of recruits.

This included new dedicated BTC facilities set up at Greensboro, North Carolina, Miami Beach and St. Petersburg, Florida, and Atlantic City, New Jersey.

[1] As lessons from combat theaters found their way into the training program, more attention was paid to camouflage, individual security, defense against air attack, scouting and patrolling, and recognition of American aircraft--subjects combined in 1944 into a nine-hour course.

A soldier's qualification card (WD AGO Form 20), which occupied a central place in the scheme of classifying and assigning enlisted men, was filled out partly at the AAF reception center prior to entering training and more fully later at the BTC.

An important phase of the classification of recruits was the interview which uncovered such civilian experiences as skills derived from employment or hobbies and the extent and type of schooling.

The measure permitted the enlistment of 150,000 women between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five, but the executive order which established the corps set an initial strength limit of 25,000.

[1] WAACs went through indoctrination training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa under Army Service Forces (ASF) auspices.

There was no need for elaborate technical training because the majority of women, in contrast to the seventeen- and eighteen- year-old boys being inducted, had a usable skill before they enlisted, often in the highly prized clerical field.

Toward the end of the war there was an increase in the number of women on technical assignments, when it became difficult to obtain enlisted men in the top intelligence brackets required by some of the work.

As they completed the required phases of training, individuals and crews were drawn from the RTU and given deployment orders overseas to their assigned group in the combat areas.

Reno Army Air Base, Nevada specialized on training C-47 and C-46 pilots for China-India operations, flying "The Hump" across the Himalayan Mountains.

From the Air Corps, schools received a flat fee of $1,170 for each graduate and $18 per flying hour for students eliminated from training.

[1] After the first class of five pilots graduated, it took until July 1942 for enough black airmen to complete flight training for the squadron to reach full strength.

On 24 March 1945, while escorting B-17 Flying Fortresses during a raid on a tank factory in Berlin, the 332d's pilots downed three German jet fighters.

On 7 October 1942, shortly after the WAFS was formed, General Arnold inaugurated a flight training program to produce 500 women ferry pilots.

Cochran was named Director of Women Pilots, and Nancy Love continued in the WASP as executive of the Ferrying Division of the Air Transport Command.

[1] The WASPs flew all types of military aircraft, including AT-6 Texan, AT-10 Wichita, AT-11 Kansan, and BT-13 Valiant trainers; C-47 Skytrain, C-54 Skymaster, and C-60 Lodestar transports; A-25 Shrike (SB2C Helldiver) and A-26 Invader attack aircraft; B-24 Liberator, B-25 Mitchell, TB-26 Marauder, and B-29 Superfortress bombers; P-38 Lightning, P-40 Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt, and P-51 Mustang fighters.

In addition to ferrying, the WASPs performed many other tasks such as glider and target towing, radar calibration flights, aircraft testing, and other noncombat duties to release male pilots for overseas action.

Based on that foundation, the air arm of the US Army grew quickly and compiled a credible combat record during World War I.

Technical training expanded in 1938 at Lowry Field, Colorado, when the Photography, Armament and Clerical instruction were moved from Chanute to the new facilities in Denver.

Also, because technical schools did not require flying facilities, the Army Air Forces took over a total of 452 hotels, as well as warehouses, theaters, convention halls, athletic fields, parking lots, and various other structures to accommodate student classroom space.

Simultaneously, the headquarters of Eastern Technical Training Command moved from Greensboro, North Carolina, to St Louis.

Consequently, in early September Training Command headquarters set up a demobilization unit in its Personnel (A-1) Division, and on 22 October it established a Recruiting Section.

The end of the war in Europe in May caused the focus of training to shift from the needs of the European Theater to those of the Pacific, particularly courses associated with very heavy bombardment.

In preparation for that event, also in June, the Officer Candidate School transferred from the aviation cadet center to Maxwell Field, Alabama.

Notes: The 3rd District, AAF Technical Training Command at Tulsa, Oklahoma (10 March 1942 – 31 August 1943) was divided between AAFWTTC and AAFCTTC.