Enlisted combat pilots? The Air Force is launching a test that could lead to that.
The Air Force is launching a new pilot training program that will include enlisted airmen — and could eventually lead to them flying combat aircraft.
Maj. Gen. Timothy Leahy, commander of the Second Air Force, said in a Nov. 30 email to his commanders that 15 officers and 5 enlisted airmen will be picked for the six-month pilot training program.
“Enlisted volunteers will be pioneers in innovating Air Force aviator recruitment, selection, and training processes by demonstrating the potential of non-college graduates to succeed in a rigorous pilot training environment,” Leahy wrote. “This program will provide data to [Air
Education and Training Command commander Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast] on the potential for enlisted members to train to fly modern combat aircraft.”
That's nothing new. The Army had enlisted pilots as far back as 1912. They had an entire group called the "flying sergeants" that graduated in 1942 and the majority went on to fly P-38's during the war. The USMC still had enlisted pilots flying combat in the Korean conflict.
These were poorly trained for the P-38 since they had no AC to train on the would directly get them ready for a P-38. We lost a lot of kids because of the poor P-38 training in the beginning. But those that lived became hot shot pilots. It was sad that the Pacific COs had to do the training that the students should have received in flight school. In the ETO, you got your P-38 ride and first combat at almost exactly the same time. Maybe this was just one of the reason why theP-38 was so successful in the PTO versus the ETO. The MTO took the extra time as well and the P-38 shined there as well.
I am unsure exactly when the change happened. But the Enlisted Pilots were given the choice of getting a degree (out for 4 and back in as Officer Candidates) or stop flying. I knew a couple of the old flying sgts that became flight engineers on C-124. During Korea, I was still pulling my Rosebud and Radio Flyer.
It is a very sad fact that the military brass always was well prepared to fight the last war, but terribly deficient in modern tactics. That is very true. Hub Zemke ran into that problem all of the time when he got back from his mission to the Soviet Union in 1940. The top brass just had a hard time believing what was going on in the skies over Russia.