A/C Class 45-A

2007-07-15T20:44:00.004-06:00

This is a brief history of three teenagers, Robert D. Peterson, Leo T. Parry and Glen F. Werner living in Salt Lake City the Sugarhouse area (see Sugarhouse blog http://www.sugar-house.blogspot.com/), who went into the Army Air Corps in 1943 to train to become pilots during WWII. We left Salt Lake City 3Aug1943 on a Union Pacific Rail Road and were stationed at the following army bases:

8Aug1943 - Arrived Miami Beach, Florida - housed in the Patrician Hotel for basic training
2Sep1943 - Arrived Knoxville, Tennessee for College Training Detachment (CTD) at the U of Tenn.
20Feb1944 - Arrived Nashville, Tennessee for classification - classified for pilot training
3Mar1944 - Arrived Blytheville, Arkansas - pilot pool, waiting pilot training
22Apr1944 - Arrived Montgomery, Alabama - Maxwell Field for preflight training
28Jun1944 - Arrived Arcadia, Florida - Dorr Field for Primary Flight Training in the PT-17
11Sep1944 - Arrived Greenville, Mississippi - Greenville AAB for Basic Flight Training in the BT-13
31Dec1944 - Arrived Selma, Alabama - Craig Field AAB for Advanced Training in the AT-6
11Mar1945 - Bob graduated with wings as a 2nd Lieutenant and Glen as a Flight Officer
11Mar1945 - 1st leave
27Mar1945 - Arrived back at Craig Field assigned to pilot pool
8May1945 - V-E Day
2Jul1945 - Arrived Eglin Field, Florida for flight gunnery training in the AT-6
20Jul1945 - Arrived back at Craig Field
8Aug1945 - 2nd leave - War ended, V-J Day 15Aug1945, while on leave
22Aug1945 - Arrived back at Craig Field
13Oct1945 - Left Craig Field for Maxwell Field
15Oct1945 - Discharged from Army with Certificate of Service papers (Glen never has receive his final discharge papers)
25Oct1945 - Left Maxwell Field for home
29Oct1945 - Arrived home by-way-of New Orleans (Bob and Glen lost our civilian pilot licenses flying over Lake Ponchatrain) and Los Angeles, Calfornia

Bob at CTD at the U. of Tennessee

Knoxville Island Home-Downtown Aitport (2007) on the Tennessee River where we had 4 hour flight training in Taylorcrafts

Next - Pre-Flight Training at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, AL.
Then to Dorr Field, Arcadia, FL

Bob beside a PT-17

Leo in a PT-17

Glen in a PT-17

Boeing Sterman PT-17

Flight line at Dorr Field

Barracks at Dorr Field looking north

Barracks at Dorr Field looking South

Dorr Field was closed as an airport and the barracks
converted to a detention center.

Next - Basic Flight Training at Greenville Army Air Base,

Leo in a BT-13

Glen on wing of a BT-13

BT-13 at Greenville

Flight line at Greenville

Downtown Greenville, Mississippi from atop the Mississippi River levy

Greenville Army air Base 1945

Greenville, Mississippi Municipal Airport today

Next - Craig Field, Selma, AL and graduation from the
Army Air Corps with our wings

2nd Lt. Bob Peterson and F/O Glen Werner (age 19 and one of the few to graduate from the cadets without a high school diploma) after graduation at Craig Field, Selma, Alabama

Bob Under AT-6

Glen with AT-6

Bob Trained in the Curtis P-40

Bob and Glen in Piper Cubs over New Orleans

Bob owned a Globe Swift after the war and flew C-47’s in the Air Force Reserves as a 1st Lieutenant

Glen joined a flying club, named the Commercial Flyers Flying Club located at the Salt Lake City Airport, in 1946. The club owned a two place Cessna 120 which the members could fly for less than $4.00 an hour including gas.

In the late 1950, after attending Northrup Aeronautical Engineering School in California, Glen joined another flying club located at the old Alta Airport in Sandy. The runway was located on top of a rise a little south of 8600 South Street and just about where Ida Lane is today. The hanger was located just a little south of where my daughter, Leslie, now resides. The club owned a two place Ercoupe.

A/C Class of 45-A

A/C Class 45-A