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* Mather Field, California (B-29 Flight Engineer)
* Mather Field, California (B-29 Flight Engineer)
* San Marcos Field, Texas (Liaison-Helicopter)
* San Marcos Field, Texas (Liaison-Helicopter)
* Williams Field, Arizona (Adv Single-Engine)
* Williams Field, Arizona (Adv Single-Engine, Jet Engine)


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{{col-break|width=50}}
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: AAF Officer Candidate School, established 11 Jul 1947
: AAF Officer Candidate School, established 11 Jul 1947


In 1946 AAF Training Command began its first jet fighter transition course at Williams. However, by early 1947 the AAF had sped up its conversion to jet aircraft. The only way training needs could be met was by limiting course quotas to commands already using jet aircraft. Also, the training program was
During the late 1940s, ATC first began using the [[T-33 Shooting Star|Lockheed T-33 "Shooting Star"]] jet aircraft in advanced single-engine pilot training. But when the [[Berlin Blockade]] ended in 1949, the Air Force was again hit with reductions that resulted in forced reorganizations and reduced training.
handicapped by the fact that no dual jet trainer aircraft existed


By 1947 AAF personnel shortages were critical. The Army Air Forces had set a post-war goal of building its strength to 70 groups, however organizing, equipping and manning 55 groups was difficult. Many of the major commands felt their personnel cupboards had been stripped clean in order to accomplish this goal.
⚫
Because the long runways at Barksdale AFB were better suited to strategic bombers than trainer aircraft, Air Force transferred Barksdale to [[Strategic Air Command]] in September 1949. Headquarters ATC consequently was moved to [[Scott AFB]], Illinois, effective October 17, 1949. And in November 1949, Defense Department directives targeting intermediate levels of command compelled ATC to abolish its three-division organizational structure and take over direct administration of the entire training program.

Also, Congress passed the National Security Act of 1947, and on 27 September, the Air Force became a separate service, equal to the Army and Navy.

⚫
Because the long runways at Barksdale AFB were better suited to strategic bombers than trainer aircraft, Air Force transferred Barksdale to [[Strategic Air Command]] in September 1949. Headquarters ATC consequently was moved to [[Scott AFB]], Illinois, effective October 17, 1949.

When the [[Berlin Blockade]] ended in 1949, the Air Force was again hit with reductions that resulted in forced reorganizations and reduced training. In November 1949, Defense Department directives targeting intermediate levels of command compelled ATC to abolish its three-division organizational structure and take over direct administration of the entire training program.


====Korean War and the 1950s====
====Korean War and the 1950s====

Revision as of 00:13, 10 March 2010

Air Training Command
Air Training Command emblem
Active1946–1993
CountryUnited States
BranchUnited States Army Air Forces (1946–1947)
United States Air Force (1947–1993)
TypeMajor Command
RoleAir Force Basic, Flight and Technical training
Garrison/HQRandolph Air Force Base, Texas
Nickname(s)ATC
Airmen participate in a rite of passage shared by all enlisted Airmen -- the Basic Military Training graduation parade. The parade of 15 squadrons marked the end of the six-week training period for about 750 of the Air Force's newest Airmen. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Ken Wright).

Air Training Command (ATC) is a former major command of the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force. ATC came into being as a redesignation of the Army Air Forces Training Command on July 1, 1946. Its headquarters were located at Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas.

Air Training Command and Air University merged to form the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) on July 1, 1993. Headquarters AETC is located at Randolph AFB today.[1]

History

Air Training Command's official organs begin with its establishment on 23 January 1942 as the Air Corps Flying Training Command. However, the history of military aviation training in the United States dates to 8 October 1909 when Wilbur Wright began instructing Lieutenants Frank P. Lahm and Fredric E. Humphries on Signal Corps Airplane No. 1, which the United States Army had recently purchased from the Wright Brothers. Each of the two men received a little over three hours training before soloing on 26 October 1909.

Lineage

  • Established as Air Training Command on 1 July 1946 by resignation of Army Air Forces Training Command
Inactivated on 1 July 1993, assets immediately redesignated as Air Education and Training Command.

Assignments

Stations

Major components

Centers

Wings

Operational history

World War II

see Army Air Forces Training Command for more information
World War II Army Air Forces Technical Training Command shoulder patch

Air Training Command (ATC) was originally formed on 23 January 1942 as Air Corps Flying Training Command with the mission to train pilots, flying specialists, and combat crews. The command was redesignated the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command on or about 15 March 1942, after the Army Air Forces became a subordinate but autonomous arm of the United States Army.

The command struggled with the challenge of a massive wartime expansion of the air forces. Throughout 1942, the need for combat crew personnel far exceeded the current and contemplated production of the command's flying training schools. The rate of expansion of housing and training facilities, instructors, as well as the procurement of aircraft and other equipment, though at a breakneck pace, constrained the rate of increase of production. Facilities were used to their maximum capacity as quickly as they could be stood up. Some schools were expanded while they were still under construction.

The Army Air Forces Flying Training Command was redesignated as the Army Air Forces Training Command on 7 July 1943, and assumed responsibility for both flying and technical training. The Technical Training Command inactivated. The two training commands had undergone enormous and rapid expansion in an effort to meet the needs of US forces in World War II. The latter half of 1943 inaugurated a period of continuation, refinement, adaptation, and eventual contraction of training for the Army Air Forces. The basic training centers and technical schools had already reached their peaks of production in February and May, but the apexes of training for most other major categories did not occur until 1944. The one exception to this generalization was primary pilot training, which achieved its maximum production level in November 1943, when 11,411 student pilots graduated.

While war continued to rage in the Pacific and Europe in 1944, the training pipeline began to catch up with the demand for most categories of graduates. The high point of training in the standard sequence of flying training occurred, for example, at the end of February 1944, with the peak production of graduate pilots occurring two months later. June 1944 brought the high point in the graduation of four-engine pilots, but the production of aircraft commanders for very heavy bombers continued to rise into 1945.

As World War II approached its conclusion (effectively on 14 August but formally not until 2 September 1945), training activities and the strength of Training Command declined. 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. Then, with the cessation of hostilities in the Pacific, most training ceased for those students not planning to remain in the post-war air forces. Before that time, however, the trend in training had gone increasingly toward specialized training on particular types of aircraft. Then during the last four months of 1945, rapid retrenchment in training occurred, and emphasis shifted to separating people from the Army Air Forces and reorganizing Training Command for its still undetermined peacetime goals.

At the end of World War II, the post-war drawdown resulted in several organizational changes for the Army Air Forces. In February 1946, AAF Training Command's headquarters moved from the leased facility in Fort Worth, Texas to Barksdale Field, Louisiana.

Postwar era, 1940s

On July 1, 1946, Army Air Forces redesignated the command as Air Training Command (ATC). At about the same time, Army Air Forces began interpreting the word "command" to mean a major air command. For that reason on 1 November 1946 Air Training Command adopted a three-division organizational structure – Flying Division, Technical Division, and Indoctrination Division. And in September 1947, the National Defense Act established the United States Air Force as a separate service.

However, the rapid demobilization of the Armed Forces after World War II, and the according large numbers of installations being declared surplus or being placed in inactive status led to a much smaller command than its wartime predecessor. At the end of 1946, the new Air Training Command consisted of the following major units and bases:

Indoctrination Division

AAF Basic Military School, established 1 Feb 1946
AAF Officer Candidate School, established 11 Jul 1947

In 1946 AAF Training Command began its first jet fighter transition course at Williams. However, by early 1947 the AAF had sped up its conversion to jet aircraft. The only way training needs could be met was by limiting course quotas to commands already using jet aircraft. Also, the training program was handicapped by the fact that no dual jet trainer aircraft existed

By 1947 AAF personnel shortages were critical. The Army Air Forces had set a post-war goal of building its strength to 70 groups, however organizing, equipping and manning 55 groups was difficult. Many of the major commands felt their personnel cupboards had been stripped clean in order to accomplish this goal.

Also, Congress passed the National Security Act of 1947, and on 27 September, the Air Force became a separate service, equal to the Army and Navy.

Because the long runways at Barksdale AFB were better suited to strategic bombers than trainer aircraft, Air Force transferred Barksdale to Strategic Air Command in September 1949. Headquarters ATC consequently was moved to Scott AFB, Illinois, effective October 17, 1949.

When the Berlin Blockade ended in 1949, the Air Force was again hit with reductions that resulted in forced reorganizations and reduced training. In November 1949, Defense Department directives targeting intermediate levels of command compelled ATC to abolish its three-division organizational structure and take over direct administration of the entire training program.

Korean War and the 1950s

A T-37 Tweet from the 85th Flying Training Squadron, Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, flies over Lake Amistad during a training mission.

This lull in training production, combined with Fiscal Year 1950 budget cuts, resulted in a shortage of trained manpower when the Korean War erupted in June 1950. The Air Force resorted to an involuntary recall of reservists to fill the gap while Air Training Command expanded its training efforts to meet wartime demands.

In order to address the shortage of pilots, ATC reoperned several private contractor-operated flying training bases in the 1950s. These were former World War II pilot training airfields that were placed in reserve status after the war:

Air Training Command applied the "Air Base" designator to these contractor-operated flying training bases.

In 1960, ATC began looking at a new training concept—combining preflight, primary, and basic instruction into consolidated pilot training (CPT). Secretary of the Air Force Dudley C. Sharp approved the idea in March 1960, and Air Training Command intended to have the training program in operation by March 1961. At the same time, Secretary Sharp approved initiation of a consolidated pilot training program, ATC decided to replace all civilian flying instructors with military officers and to phase out all contract primary schools. The last of these closed in spring 1961.

Shortly after the war began, the Air Staff transferred most of the combat aircrew training mission from the operational commands to ATC, placing an even heavier burden on the command. Air Force directed Air Training Command to double pilot production to 7,200 per year, and to increase technician production to 225,000 per year. With the end of the Korean War on July 27, 1953, Air Training Command again began to reduce its training activities.

Many of the command's facilities were transferred to Strategic Air Command (SAC) and Tactical Air Command (TAC) in the 1950s. Over the next ten years, ATC reduced its bases from 43 to 16, and its personnel from 271,849 to 79,272. In large part this was due to the return of the crew training mission to the operational commands. In 1958, ATC returned bomber crew training to SAC and fighter crew training to TAC.

At about the same time, ATC gained another mission when it took over responsibility for the recruiting mission in 1954. Then in 1957, Headquarters Air Training Command moved from Scott AFB, Illinois, to Randolph AFB, Texas, in order to reduce operating costs by being closer to its primary training facilities.

One year later, the command began experimenting with eliminating propeller-driven aircraft from primary pilot training. "Project All-Jet" was a success, and in 1959, ATC began replacing the North American T-28 "Trojan" propeller-driven trainer with the Cessna T-37 "Tweety Bird" jet engine primary trainer.

Vietnam War and the 1960s

In the early 1960s, ATC converted from specialized to generalized undergraduate pilot training (UPT). During this time, the command retired the World War II–era North American B-25 "Mitchell" it had been using for advanced multi-engine training under specialized UPT. Under generalized UPT, all pilots received the same training, regardless of what type of operational aircraft they would ultimately fly. ATC acquired the North American T-38 "Talon" jet, and it became the main advanced trainer aircraft for all student pilots.

The first T-37/T-38 undergraduate pilot training course was held at Webb AFB, Texas, in February 1962. During the next few years, increasing numbers of US service members went to Southeast Asia as military advisors to the South Vietnamese armed forces, but the effect on ATC was negligible.

When President Lyndon B. Johnson increased America's military involvement in South Vietnam in 1965, there was a resultant increase in Air Force military and technical training. However, unlike previous wars, the Vietnam War did not result in a drastic increase in the command's bases or personnel. This was because ATC reverted to a split-phase program of basic military training, and because the command's training philosophy was geared toward generalized rather than specialized technical training.

Pilot training gradually increased as the war dragged on. But officials reassigned many of ATC's best instructor pilots to the operational commands, creating severe flying training difficulties. Then in 1969, ATC's involvement in a program of training and equipping the South Vietnamese Air Force to become a self-sufficient, 40-squadron air force caused technical training production to surge by approximately 50 percent, to over 310,000. This increase, however, was not to last long.

Post-Vietnam and the 1970s

ATC T-37 trainers at Vance AFB, Oklahoma, 1971

As popular support for the Vietnam War waned and American forces began to pull out of Southeast Asia, ATC's training requirements gradually diminished. President Richard Nixon ended the draft on June 30, 1973, converting the military to an all-volunteer force. Also, during this period the percentage of recruits with a high school education declined to the lowest point in the history of the Air Force. These factors combined to make the 1970s yet another era of change for Air Training Command.

One change was in the command's approach to technical training. Poor retention rates and the generally lower quality of recruits prompted ATC to shift from a "career oriented" technical training philosophy to one of teaching only those tasks recruits needed during their first enlistment. This reduced the length of training while also lowering training costs. To supplement on-duty training, and in hopes of attracting higher-quality recruits, Air Force established the Community College of the Air Force in 1972 as part of ATC.

Another change came in the form of increased opportunities for women. The first class of 10 women pilots in the USAF received their wings on September 2, 1977, and the first class of female graduates from undergraduate navigator training received their wings at Mather AFB, California, on October 12, 1977.

Other changes came out of the need to reduce training costs in order to fund the F-15, F-16 and A-10 modernization programs. These included closing Craig and Webb Air Force Bases, increasing reliance on flight simulators, and reducing flying hours in undergraduate pilot training.

Still another change was the way in which ATC conducted undergraduate navigator training. In 1978, navigator training shifted from generalized to specialized, with follow-on advanced training specific to the student's career track.

In keeping with the consolidations of the 1970s, Air Training Command assumed responsibility in 1978 for two additional functions: Air University and cryptologic training. Air Force transferred Air University to ATC effective May 15, 1978. This consolidation brought all professional military education under the same roof as basic military, technical, and flying training. However, Air Force officials soon became concerned this arrangement lowered the visibility and diminished the importance of Air War College and the other schools.

Therefore, on July 1, 1983 – little more than five years after the realignment – Air Force once again conveyed separate command status upon Air University. The USAF Security Service at Goodfellow AFB, Texas, had conducted all Air Force cryptologic training since 1958. On July 1, 1978, both Goodfellow and the cryptologic training mission transferred to ATC.

Reagan era and the 1980s

T-38s overfly Randolph AFB

During the military expansion of the Reagan Administration in the early 1980s, ATC was able to improve training in several areas. The command added more flying hours to the pilot training program and extended the course by three weeks.

In the fall of 1981, ATC began training pilots from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries under the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) program at Sheppard AFB, Texas.

In 1984, expanded training budgets allowed the command to change back to a philosophy of training technical personnel to the fullest extent possible, rather than limiting training to the skills needed only for the first enlistment. Technical training courses, especially those in "sortie-producing" specialties, were expanded from generalist courses to specialized instruction. By 1985, the average length for these courses had risen to nearly 17 weeks.

However, several events in the middle and late 1980s brought about the next cycle of restricted military spending affecting ATC's mission. By Fiscal Year 1988, funding for technical training dropped by over 15 percent, and the command had to institute a civilian hiring freeze. Then, in rapid succession beginning in 1989, the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Cold War was over. Suddenly, the threat from the East that had dominated American military thinking for decades was gone. Congress quickly cut military spending in response to the diminished threat.

Persian Gulf War and post-Cold War reorganization of the 1990s

In the midst of these world changes, the Persian Gulf War erupted when Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. In support of wartime demands, ATC deployed over 3,000 command personnel to other commands. Then ATC called up 2,387 individual mobilization augmentee reservists and over 1,000 inactive reservists and Air Force retirees to fill active duty positions vacated by wartime deployments.

Air Force also activated ATC's 11th Contingency Hospital and deployed it to the United Kingdom to treat expected casualties from the war. Fortunately, the Persian Gulf War did not produce large numbers of American casualties, and the conflict was soon over.

Air Training Command got on with the task of consolidating training and in Fiscal Years 1993 and 1994 closed Chanute, Mather, Williams, and Lowry Air Force Bases. However, despite the return to tightened budgets, ATC did not back off from its commitment to fully train personnel to be mission ready upon arrival at their first operational assignment.

An especially important Year of Training initiative was the recommendation to create a single, coherent education and training structure for officer, enlisted, and civilian personnel. As a result of this recommendation, Air Force again merged Air University and ATC, redesignating the command as the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) on July 1, 1993.

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  • Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas ASIN: B000NYX3PC
  1. ^ A Brief History of Air Education and Training Command

Much of this text in an early version of this article was taken from pages on the Air Education and Training Command (AETC website, which as a work of the U.S. Government is presumed to be a public domain resource).

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