Over the years, the air arm produced some 3,000 of them, and they have flown virtually all types of aircraft. Enlisted Pilots

BY BRUCE D. CALLANDER

HEN MSgt. George Holmes fi- tter the remarkable story of the enlisted le W nally retired, it marked a s pilots come to light. milestone in US Air Force history. New

ts The Army had not been engaged Pilo

Holmes, at fifty-nine, was neither in aviation very long before its first t

the oldest nor the longest-serving ean enlisted pilot arrived on the scene.

master sergeant, but something Serg That man was Pfc. Vernon Burge. f more distinctive. He was the last o In 1910, Burge and seven fellow en- pilot in the enlisted ranks. tesy listed men accompanied the Army's

Holmes left in 1957, thirty-six cour

to single plane, a Wright biplane, and years after taking flight training dur- their , Lt. Benjamin ing the 1920s. Commissioned in —Pho Foulois, to Texas. After serving World War II, he rose to the rank of there two years as a mechanic for , but reverted to Foulois, Burge was sent to the Phil- master sergeant after the war. ippines with a new Wright Model B, Holmes was among a handful of the Army's seventh airplane. He re- nonofficer pilots who transferred ported to Lt. Frank Lahm, who was into the new, postwar Air Force. in charge of setting up a flying When MSgt. Tom Rafferty died in school. a 1950 crash, Holmes became the When Lahm called for student pi- sole enlisted pilot on active duty. MSgt. George Holmes, the last of the lots, however, only one vol- Then there were none. "flying sergeants," stands in front of a unteered. Burge, by now a , In the postwar force, men such as PT-38 on Bluebonnet Hill near Mathis, applied, and Lahm gave him Tex. He graduated from pilot training in Holmes and Rafferty were viewed 1921 and retired in 1957. lessons. In June 1912, Burge re- as novelties. Few recalled that the ceived his certificate from Federa- Army had used enlisted pilots dur- tion Aeronautique Internationale. ing the war. Fewer still were aware At the time, only a dozen other that, over the years, the service had Army men—all officers—were sim- produced some 3,000 of this unique ilarly certified. breed or that they flew virtually all Burge's accomplishment, how- types of aircraft. At times, the fail- ever, drew nothing but frowns from ure to remember seemed almost de- the brass. When Lahm informed liberate. Only in recent years has Washington about it, the Chief Sig-

98 AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1989 fly, hespenthisnextfewyears listed menfollowedinBurge'sfoot- chanic. Heeventuallywonacom- Thus, althoughBurgecontinuedto contrary toWarDepartmentpolicy. that teachingenlistedmentoflyran nal OfficeroftheArmydeclared dozen atatime,theArmyhadpro- payment, hegotfreeflyinglessons. the nearbyCurtissflyingschool.In training asanArmymechanicin civilian flyingschool.Whilehewas his pilot'scertificatefromaprivate, with theNavy. to flyinginWorldWarI,thistime Mexican Revolution.Hereturned left Armyaviationandflewmis- training inSanDiego,Lamkeythen in 1912.Followingfurtherflight civilian, earninghisFAIcertificate had alreadytakenflyinglessonsasa listed intheSignalCorps1913, mission, however,andretiredin working mainlyasanaircraftme- listing. Hewasabletosolothree who hadloggedfortyhoursasa in 1915wasCpl.AlbertD.Smith, the endof1914.Joiningtheirranks duced onlysevenenlistedpilotsby created theAviationSectionof enlisted pilots.AnactofCongress its mindandofficiallyrecognized al warinEurope,theArmychanged He wascommissionedin1917. Ocker laterbecameaninstructor. San Diego,Ockermoonlightedat sions forPanchoVilla'sforcesinthe steps. WilliamA.Lamkey,whoen- Following theFootsteps Though hesoonlefttheArmy, days afterreportingforduty. civilian exhibitionpilotbeforeen- percent morepay. unteers weretoreceiveupfifty instructed intheartofflying."Vol- command oftheaviationsection,be in thediscretionofofficer "twelve enlistedmenatatimeshall, Signal Corpsandprovidedthat enlisted menrarelygota crack at time wasaproblem.There weren't gitimated in1914,butgetting flying war. Smith returnedasacaptaininthe AIR FORCE them. Many of theenlistedpilots enough planestogoaround, and 1941 asalieutenantcolonel. spent theirtime workingasmechan- Though permittedtotraina Despite theArmyedict,otheren- In July1914,ontheeveofagener- Sgt. WilliamC.Ockeralsoearned Enlisted pilotsmayhavebeen le- Magazine / June 1989 formed flyingclubstotrainArmy of weatherandofficialdom.Thesta- was sporadic,subjecttothewhims was notanorderlybuildup.Training units launchedsmallprograms.It pilots. ReserveandNationalGuard Royal FlyingCorps.Bothoutfits war, Americanswereflyingcombat and changeable. tus ofthestudentswasconfused airborne radioequipmentin1916. pilots whohelpedtestanddevelop tions. Theyarecountedamongthe ics. OckerandSmithwereexcep- the enlistedpilotswereostracized. and gentlemancouldfly.Socially, that anyoneotherthananofficer particular, foundithardtoaccept missioned pilots.TheBritish,in made useofenlistedaswellcom- Lafayette EscadrilleandtheBritish missions asenlistedpilotsinthe ing schoolsweresetupatChicago, neutral UnitedStateswaspreparing been ragingfortwoyears,andthe vard, Yale,andotheruniversities Memphis, andMineola,N.Y.Har- itself forpossibleentry.Flighttrain- crew, togetherwithelev- fer fromtheforeignoutfits tonew were commissioned beforegoing American units. Most,however, listed Americanpilotssimply trans- belligerent in1917sawmany en- Group, posesinhisC-47 signed tonewlycreated ron, 316thTroopCarrier TCG, weredestroyedby son ofthe36thSquad- SSgt. PilotRalphJack- AFB). Hundredsof troop carriergroupsin friendly fireduringthe Even beforetheUSentered at DelValle,Tex.(later By thattime,WorldWarIhad en othersofthe316th The emergenceoftheUS asa geant Jackson's planeand the summerof1942. home ofBergstrom Sicilian invasion. pilots wereas- ser- joined thesmallnumberof enlisted Army inWorldWarII. famous aircraftcompanyandpro- tors. AmongthemwasSgt.Walter known tohaveseenactioninthe vided thousandsoftrainerstothe test pilots,couriers,andinstruc- in enlistedstatus,mostlyflyingas American pilotscontinuedtoserve into combat.Onlyahandfulof Beech, wholaterfoundedhisworld- the task.Ofthese,atleastfivewere They werepressedintoservicebe- ever, revertedtoenlistedstatusand commercial aviation.Some,how- ries plummeted.Manypilotsleftthe to 10,000by1920.Aircraftinvento- down tobarely25,000by1919and Air Service,whichreachedapeak contraction offorces.TheUSArmy credited withshootingdownoneor cause ofashortageofficersfor war didsoasobserver-gunners. men stillbeingtrainedtofly. nies ortoentertheemergingfieldof service tobarnstorminsurplusJen- strength of200,000in1918,was more enemyplanes. came in1924, whenfoursingle- One ofthemost ambitiousexploits was anexcitingtimeforaviation. Exciting TimeforAviation The onlyflyingenlistedmen The postwarerasawasevere Still, theperiodafterWorld WarI 99

—Photo cou rtesy of Sergeant Pilots' Newsl engine Douglas biplanes embarked one ever dreamed of the Thunder- free rated officers for combat. An- on an around-the-world flight. Eight birds, the trio in their peppy little other was to use flying schools flyers, two of them enlisted, made P-12s thrilled crowds and inspired a and civilian instructors for the first up the team. Sgt. Alva Harvey flew generation of youngsters to fly. The phase of flight training. Overage com- with the mission commander, Maj. group didn't last long. Chennault re- mercial pilots received direct com- Fred Martin, in the aircraft Seattle. tired in a few years, and McDonald missions and ratings as "service pi- Sgt. Henry Ogden flew with Lt. and Williamson left the Army to fly lots" to instruct and fly noncombat Leigh Wade in Boston. in China. There, all three were re- missions. Female pilots were formed The tiny armada took off from united when Chennault formed the into a women's auxiliary, the WASP, Seattle, hugging the western coast now-famous Flying Tigers in sup- or Women's Airforce Service Pilots, of Canada and the southern rim of port of Chiang Kai-shek. to ferry planes in the US. Alaska. There, Seattle crashed in a While Chennault's acrobatic team Those were the roles envisioned fog, and Martin and Harvey spent was wowing the crowds, other en- for the new sergeant pilots. The ten days hiking out to an Eskimo listed pilots were helping build the Army particularly wanted to avoid village. The other three planes con- air transport system that would be putting them in the position of being tinued southwest to Japan, down the vital in the next decade. The 10th in command of aircraft with officers China coast, across India and the Transport Group included some two serving as other crew members. Middle East, and up into southern dozen pilots in grades ranging from That was the plan as the first Europe. All the planes made it to private to master sergeant. They group of 183 men entered the avia- England, but Boston later ditched flew everything from Keystone tion student program in August and was lost in the North Atlantic. bombers to Bellanca C-27s to the 1941. From the beginning, the A spare plane, Boston II, was first Douglas twin-engine transport Army wasn't sure how to treat this pressed into service and caught up planes. Within ten years, five of the new breed of flyers. Aviation cadets with the other two in Newfound- enlisted pilots would be were officer candidates; aviation land. The three reached Seattle 175 commanding troop carrier groups in students were enlisted men destined days after takeoff. the Mediterranean, one would com- to remain enlisted men. They were Contemporary news photos show mand a troop carrier group in the given separate barracks and were six smiling young men receiving the South Pacific, and another, former socially isolated from cadets. They nation's acclaim. Not to be seen, MSgt. Maurice Beach, would head ate at the same mess, but not on however, were any wearing ser- the 53d Troop Carrier Wing as a equal terms. On graduation, ser- geant's stripes. Harvey had been . geants generally were forbidden to left in Alaska. Ogden was wearing In the late 1930s, with war raging exit by the same door used by ca- an officer's uniform; at Wade's re- in China and about to commence in dets. quest, he had been commissioned Europe, the United States was be- Over fifteen months, more than during the flight. Harvey later re- ginning to realize how unprepared it 2,000 staff sergeant pilots were ceived his own commission and was for a fight. President Roosevelt graduated. Those assigned as flight commanded a bomber group in ordered increases in both aircraft instructors worked with commis- World War II. production and pilot training. sioned officers by day but returned Two years later, the Army Air to enlisted barracks at night and, of came into being. Despite im- Rapid Expansion course, were barred from officers' proved status and a planned five- The aviation cadet program ex- clubs. Often the sergeant pilots year expansion, the force remained panded rapidly. To supplement this faced not only the elitism of rated small, its officer corps limited by the group, the Army proposed to train officers but the hostility of jealous ceiling on total Army strength. To more enlisted pilots. The last en- nonrated officers as well. fill the gap, the Army continued to listed training program had ended in The situation did not last long. By train small numbers of enlisted pi- 1933, however, and early 1942, the demand for pilots lots. were not eager to revive it. Non- had grown to the point that the The ranks of enlisted pilots commissioned pilots didn't fit in, Army had to lower its entrance re- swelled after the October 1929 they said. Neither fish nor fowl, quirements, even for cadets. Appli- stock-market crash, when tight they were not welcomed by the offi- cants needed only to be eighteen budgets forced the Army to trim cers and were not happy with their years old and possess a high school commissioned officers. Faced with lot as enlisted men. Despite such diploma. The aviation student pro- a choice between civilian job-hunt- objections, Congress authorized the gram phased out. Graduates either ing in the Great Depression or re- start of a new aviation student pro- received commissions or were war- verting to enlisted status, some offi- gram in June 1941, six months be- ranted in the new grade of flight of- cers chose to keep flying even if it fore the Japanese attack on Pearl ficer. In a short time, however, even meant doing so as privates. Harbor. Cadets were to be commis- the program was given Two flying staff sergeants even sioned on graduation, while aviation up. All graduates received officer managed to gain wide attention in students were to receive the newly commissions. the mid-1930s. Billy McDonald and created rank of staff sergeant pilot. Most graduates were officers by J. H. Williamson flew as wingmen to The Army did not plan to use the the time they went overseas, but not Capt. Claire Chennault in an aero- staff sergeant pilots in combat. The all. Some continued to fly trans- batic team known as "Three Men on aviation student program was just ports in combat zones as enlisted a Flying Trapeze." Long before any- one of several schemes designed to pilots, and at least a few were shot

100 AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1989 At Mines Field, Calif. (later Los Angeles Inter- national Airport), during the summer of 1942, pi- lots of the 95th Fighter Squadron, 82d Fighter Group, await a scramble for coastal . Left to right: SSgt. Pilot James E. ObermiIler, Capt. Robert E. Kirtley (Squad- ron Commander), Lt. "Gummy" Joel, SSgt. Pi- lots Hyde and Charles Langdon, Lt. David Stentz, and SSgt. Archie F. Mallette.

down while wearing stripes. The but didn't appear very eager to re- One of the organizers was James men whom the Army had intended member that any had piloted "real" H. MacWilliam of Columbus, N. C., to use only in a backup role were airplanes. Perhaps this was because a graduate of Class 42-G who flew flying every kind of mission in every the new Air Force was trying to with the Fifth Air Force in World theater of the war, most as officers build a new image. Fast, compli- War II, served with the Fifth Air but some as sergeant pilots. cated jets were coming into the in- Force in the Korean War, and re- ventory, and the Air Force was tired in 1964 as a . Not Enough Room looking for bright, highly educated By 1980, MacWilliam and his co- In the postwar demobilization, officer pilots to fly them. It was not horts had gathered enough material there was no room for the tens of helpful to call attention to the fact to publish the first "Sergeant Pilots' thousands of officers commissioned that hundreds of pilots had flown Newsletter." Within a year, the in the war. Most simply left the ser- proficiently without benefit of com- newsletter grew into a slick publica- vice. A few reverted to the enlisted missions. tion, with MacWilliam serving as grades in hopes that they could keep The story of the enlisted pilots editor and publisher and Lee Ar- flying. still might be buried in official ar- bon, of Johnson City, Tex., as con- In July 1948, however, the newly chives if not for the efforts of a few tributing editor. Arbon, from Class created or- World War II veterans who decided 42-F, also retired as an officer. He dered all enlisted pilots—except to bring it to life. specializes in researching the histo- those who had received pilot ratings Over the years, individual pilots ry of enlisted pilots from 1912 to before December 7, 1941—to cease had kept in touch with each other. 1933. flying by year's end. Those who Small groups had met in reunions of Now, even an "Army Air Corps didn't like the deal could apply for wartime units, and modest attempts Enlisted Pilots Association" has immediate discharge. The Air were made to organize alumni of been established. It held its first re- Force's ranks still contained about specific classes. Still, there was no union in 1982 and plans to hold an- 140 enlisted pilots. Only a few, such overall movement to tie things to- other in 1990 at the Air Force Muse- as George Holmes, qualified to con- gether. In the late 1970s, however, a um in Ohio. Thus is the story finally tinue flying under the dispensation small group of former sergeant pi- being told of all the men, from Cor- granted for pilots with prewar rat- lots began to gather names and ad- poral Burge through Master Ser- ings. dresses of aviation students. They geant Holmes, who have worn In 1957, the Air Force did take collected orders, class rosters, and stripes and wings in service to the official note of Holmes's retirement. personal histories. nation. • Even so, it expressed a general lack of interest in documenting the era A World War ll B-24 , Bruce D. Callander was recalled to active and the contributions of the enlisted duty during the Korean War. Between tours of active duty, he earned a B.A. in pilots. It was willing to acknowledge journalism at the University of Michigan. In 1952, he joined Air Force Times, that enlisted men had flown gliders becoming Editor in 1972. His most recent article for AIR FORCE Magazine was and liaison planes during the war, "The Choppy Course of the Helicopter" in the May '89 issue.

AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1989 101