29th Flying Training Wing (U.S. Army Air Forces)


The 29th Flying Training Wing was a wing of the United States Army Air Forces. It was last assigned to the Western Flying Training Command, and was disbanded on 16 June 1946 at Napier Field, Alabama. The wing controlled World War II Phase One primary flying training units of the Army Air Forces Training Command. Headquartered at Moody Field, Georgia for most of its operational service, it controlled contract civilian-operated pilot schools primarily in the Southeastern United States.
There is no lineage connection between the 29th Flying Training Wing, established on 22 December 1939 as the 29th Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Virginia, and this organization.

History

Until 1939, the United States Army Air Corps provided all flying training with military instructor pilots. Beginning in 1939, it contracted with nine civilian flying schools to provide primary flight training. Primary training consisted of a three-month course of 65 hours of flying instruction. As the United States prepared to enter World War II by expanding its number of flying squadrons, the number of contract primary schools increased.
According to the contract, the government supplied students with training aircraft, flying clothes, textbooks, and equipment. The Air Corps also put a detachment at each school to supervise training. The schools furnished instructors, training sites and facilities, aircraft maintenance, quarters, and mess halls. 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.
Following the fall of France in 1940, the Air Corps upped its pilot production goal to 7,000 per year. To meet that goal, the Air Corps increased the capacity of its schools and added more contract primary schools.
The vast majority of contract primary pilot training ended in the spring of 1944 as part of the rundown of Army pilot training. The ones remaining open ended their operations in October, 1945.

Lineage

CPS Primary Trainers were primarily PT-17 Stearman biplanes and Fairchild PT-19s monoplanes, although a wide variety of other types could be found at the airfields. The Fairchild PT-19 aircraft also could have the student pilot covered with a hood for "Blind" instrument flying training.
Glider pilot schools used Aeronca TG-5As, Taylorcraft TG-6As, and Piper TG-8As unpowered glider conversions of powered light observation aircraft which had similar characteristics to the military gliders under development.

Contract Pilot Schools

; Albany Army Airfield, Albany Georgia
; Augustine Field, Madison, Mississippi
; Avon Park Municipal Airport, Avon Park, Florida
; Carlstrom Field, Arcadia, Florida
; Chester Field, McBride, Missouri
; Decatur Airport, Decatur, Alabama
; Douglas Airport, Douglas, Georgia
; Dorr Field, Arcadia, Florida
; Fletcher Field, Clarksdale, Mississippi

; Harrell Field, Camden, Arkansas
; Harris Army Airfield, Cape Giardeau, Missouri
; Hawthorne School of Aeronautics, Orangeburg, South Carolina

; Lodwick Field, Lakeland, Florida
; Lafayette Airport, Lafayette, Louisiana
; McKellar Field, Jackson, Tennessee

; Moton Field, Tuskegee, Alabama
; Palmer Field, Bennettsville, South Carolina
; Souther Field, Americus, Georgia
; Taylor Field, Ocala, Florida

; Thompson-Robbins Field, Helena, Arkansas
; Van de Graaff Field, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
; Embry Riddle Aeronautical Institute, Union City, Tennessee
; Woodward Field, Camden, South Carolina

Contract Glider Pilot Schools

; Antigo Airport, Antigo, Wisconsin
; Bates Field, Mobile Alabama
; Greenville Municipal Airport, Greenville, South Carolina
; Grand Forks Airport, Grand Forks, North Dakota
; Kirkwood Field, Crookston, Minnesota
; Lobb Field, Rochester, Minnesota
; Stillwater Airport, Stillwater, Minnesota
; Monticello Field, Monticello, Minnesota