As a liquid, water molecules are in constant motion, bumping and jostling each other and never staying in one place for long. Basic Requirements There are a number of basic requirements that you must fulfill in order to be considered for a position as an officer. Officer pilots were selected for the new school from advanced twin-engine training schools. Students began training on twin-engine Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan bomber trainers. The students were trained in pilot skills, instrument flying, meteorology, radio, briefing, and general transition. The students were training to ferry Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers, (the aircraft used at the Four-Engine School) and other multi-engine aircraft to the RAF in Great Britain. In August 1943, Kirtland Field became host to a USAAF Provisional B-24 Liberator Pilot Transition School designed to train airplane commanders. Bombardier and pilot training was not the only focus at Kirtland Field between 1942 and 1945. In 1943, the USAAF Flying Training Command merged with the Technical Training Command in an effort to save manpower. The new command, the Air Training Command, became responsible for all training from classification center through pilot and technical schools.

As the aircraft approached the target, the pilot turned the aircraft over to the bombardier and the Norden bombsight, which was also an automatic pilot that flew the aircraft as bombs were released over the target. Practice combat flying missions required continuous evasive action within a 10-mile radius of the intended target. Army transferred the training function from TWA back to the USAAF, and the school was redesignated the Combat Crew Training School. The Air Corps Ferrying Command was redesignated the Army Air Forces Ferrying Command in March 1942, a month after the AAC transferred the school from TWA training back to the military. By January 1942, there were 50 aircraft on base, in addition to 28 B-18A Bolo bombers used for training. And film actor Jimmy Stewart was stationed at Kirtland Field briefly, beginning in August 1942, assisting bombardier cadet training by flying bombers on training missions. Contracts for day and night bombing targets on the ranges were let during January 1942, and access roads to the targets were constructed. On 7 February 1942, the U.S. The wing relocated to Williams Field, Arizona, in February 1945 due to Kirtland Field’s conversion to a Superfortress base under the Second Air Force.

One of the wings under the Western Flying Training Command, the 38th held jurisdiction not only over Kirtland Field but also the Hobbs, Roswell, and Carlsbad Army Air Fields; Williams Field, Arizona; and Victorville Air Field, California. Expanded training at Kirtland Field included a ground school for glider pilots-called the Glider Replacement Center, which was established in July 1942. The center served as a temporary training area for glider pilots awaiting vacancies at glider schools. The idea is to marry a small nuclear bomb with a penetrating bomb casing to create a weapon that can penetrate deep into the ground and then explode with nuclear force. The school operated under the Army Air Corps Ferrying Command, which had been established in late May 1941 and charged with transporting aircraft overseas for delivery to the Royal Air Force. The 19th Bombardment Group transferred to active duty in September 1941. It was replaced by the AAC Ferrying Command Specialized Four Engine school.

With the departure of the 19th Bombardment Group from Albuquerque Army Air Base in the fall of 1941, Major General Arnold moved the military’s bombardier school from Louisiana to Albuquerque for two reasons-good weather and the availability of vacant land on which to build bombing ranges. Servicemen and WPA workers were tasked with laying out bombing ranges for training. The elimination rate for trainees was 12 percent, and upon graduation, a new bombardier was transferred to an operational training unit and trained for overseas duty. It was proclaimed the “World’s First Bombardier School”, and on 24 December 1941 it was officially designated an Army Air Forces Advanced Flying School under the USAAF Western Flying Training Command. The first contingent of B-24 trainees arrived in Albuquerque on 19 June 1941. The facility was officially titled the Air Corps Ferrying Command Four-Engine Transition School but was unofficially referred to as the “Four-Engine School” or “Jack Frye School”-for the president of TWA. In May 1943, a Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) contingent was established at Kirtland Field with the arrival of 45 women on base. WAAC quarters built at Kirtland Field included barracks, a day room, beauty shop, and supply room. A WAAC open house for the new post was held in August 1943 and several hundred men with their wives and families attended.