Vol. I—No. 3
U. S. Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill, N. C.
Saturday, October 3, 1942
5c a Copy
Trials of Vour
Curious Reporter
By Everett Bracken, Y3c
“Hummn,” mused the editor, “We
should interview some cadets.” “Aye,
aye. Sir,” we said, and lit out forth
with. When we were several blocks
from the editor’s lair, it occurred to us
that we hadn’t asked what we were to
interview the cadets about. While we
were debating whether to go back and
risk the editor’s ire or to take the easi
est course and simply go “over the
hill,” we noticed a cadet pacing the
entrance to the reservation—Raleigh
Street.
He paced his beat, wearing an odd,
half-reproachful, half-weary look. A
civilian approached and the cadet
brightened a little, probably in the hope
that this person wouldn’t have a pass,
thereby entitling him to belabor the
poor civilian with his club which he
swung menacingly. This crisis, how
ever, passed peaceably ( the civilian
didn’t want to come in, anyway) and
we were left contemplating our dil
emma and our cadet.
Then came the inspiration—surely
this lad must have had an exciting
weekend in the dives of Chapel Hill—
perhaps he had even been in the arbor
etum on Saturday night—so we decid
ed to take matters into our own hands
and interview him on the momentous
question of “What did you do over last
week-end?”
We sidled up to our victim, and, in
as authoritative tones as we could mus
ter, asked, “What is your name?” Our
cadet eyed us up and down and reached
for his whistle, thinking we were spies.
When we had convinced him that we
were not in league with the Axis, and
that his name was not a military se
cret, we learned that our subject was
Cadet Carr, of the 7th Battalion. Ca
det Carr merely looked sadder when
we popped our Great Question to him.
After prodding him a little, though, he
stated (for publication) that he had
See TRIALS, page 8
lifluU ^0uB444f Wdlt
WAR BONDS
With air superiority essential to
the United Nations, the United States
Army is using thousands of primary
trainer planes for instruction of her
air pilots. These small planes cost
about $15,000.
These planes are simple in con
struction . . . are used to teach
freshman pilots the essentials of fly
ing and plane technique. Our facto
ries are turning out thousands of
these ships as our air force grows
larger each month. Your purchase
of War Bonds and Stamps will help
pay for them. Invest at least ten
percent of your income in War
Bonds every payday and become a
member of the national “Ten Per
cent Club.” And remember, you’ll
get $4 at maturity for every $3 you
UlVest now. 5, Treasury Det'artment
U.N.C. Announces
Big Construction
Plans for School
A contract for spending $932,729
for new buildings and improvements
at the Pre-Flight station has been ap
proved by the Navy and the Univer
sity of North Carolina trustees, accord
ing to an announcement made by the
University administration early this
week.
The Navy, it was said, will contri
bute $768,523 of the total, with the
University paying $164,106 represent
ing the difference between cost of tem
porary installations suitable to Navy
purposes and permanent installations
which will be of service to the Univer
sity after the war.
Included among the projects listed
are a $192,000 hospital, an outdoor
swimming pool to cost more than $60,-
000, a $47,000 athletic field, and a
$89,500 office building.
The Navy will pay rentals to the
University and it was estimated that
the fees thus received will return even
tually the entire amount spent by the
University in construction.
The new hospital will be built with
$125,000 of Navy funds, and a $67,020
contribution from the University.
The University will add $11,084 to
the Navy’s $52,690 for the outdoor
swimming pool and will provide
$49,000 toward the construction of the
office building for which the Navy will
spend an additional $40,250. The new
athletic field will be built entirely of
Navy funds at the cost of $47,500.
Other projects include:
Improvements to 10 dormitories tak
en over by the Pre-Flight School,
plumbing, fixtures, painting and fur
niture, $162,467 all from Navy funds.
Alterations and additions to class
rooms taken over by the Navy, $90,634
all from Navy funds.
Improvements to Woollen gymnasi
um, $15,000 mostly from University
funds.
A new wing on Woollen, $65,000 by
the Navy and $17,162 by the Univer
sity,
A rifle range, $11,000 all from the
Navy.
Improvements to Emerson Field sta
dium, $19,650 all from the Navy,
Tenth Battalion Arrives
The 10th Battalion, comprised of 204
cadets, came aboard last Thursday
bringing the regimental total at the
Pre-Flight School to approximately
1,350,
The Chapel Hill Choral Club has
invited all officers and their wives to
join the musical organization. First
rehearsal will be held Oct. 5 at 1930
in Hill Music Hall.
Navy Pilots Will Defeat Japan,
Pacific Expert Tells Cadets
Good News from Memphis
Good news comes from the
Public Relations Officer at the
Naval Reserve Aviation Base,
Memphis, Tenn,, regarding mem
bers of Chapel Hill’s second
graduating group,
“You might be interested in
knowing,” writes Lieut. Allen
Morgan, PRO at Memphis in a
letter dated Sept, 26, “that 15
out of the first 20 cadets have
soloed to date.”
The 20 Pre-Flight graduates
reported there on Sept. 10.
Navy Hero Declares
Carriers Can Clear
Way for Jap Defeat
Lt. Comdr. John S, Thach, thrice
decorated for his work as leader of a
squadron of Navy fighter planes in
the Pacific, declared at a Navy De
partment press conference, Sept. 29,
“that only carrier-based airpower
could clear the way for invasion and
defeat of Japan.”
Horizontal bombers, Lt. Comdr.
Thach declared, cannot do the job,
“not one major ship in this war” hav
ing been sunk by horizontal bombing
as contrasted to dive and torpedo
bombing.
The Navy hero said he was con
vinced that “with a couple of dozen
aircraft and supporting task force
units, and with enough Marines to
carry out landings,” the United States
could “cut a path across the Pacific
and cut it quickly, right to Japan.”
“And we can make it stick,” he
added.
FORMER SENATOR Hiram Bing
ham, from Connecticut, told the
regiment of cadets last week that
the war against Japan will be won
by Naval aviators operating from
Former New York Cop (Irish, Too)
Steals Spotlight at Station Smoker
By Cadet Robert Flavelle
Entertainment at the Pre-Flight
School reached a pleasant peak last
Wednesday evening at the fortnightly
Smoker staged in Woollen Gymnasium.
It was Cadet William J. P. O’Sulli
van, of the 7th Battalion, who stole the
show with his intimate angi impish in
terpretations of “A Cadet’s Life at
Chapel Hill.”
The former New York City cop, who
quit his job as a vice-buster to become
a Cloudbuster, didn’t give the audience
a chance to get set as he unreeled his
comic portrayals of the cadet mes
senger at work, a session or two of aca
demics, and the George Raft-Edward
G. Robinson style of dying compared
to the newer never-give-up cadet
brand.
One would think to watch O’Sullivan
that he had been reared in back of the
footlights, but incredible as it may
sound to his Smoker audience, the Wed
nesday night appearance was his debut
in the entertainment field. He admits
to vocal offerings in several of New
York’s more obscure recreation rooms,
Coming Events
Oc|;. 3—Football game at Kenan
Stadium, University of North Caro
lina vs. University of South Carolina,
with kickoff at 1500.
Oct. 3—Regimental dance at Wool
len Gym, 2030-2315.
Oct. 3—Free movie at Pick Thea
tre, “Great Man’s Lady” with Bar
bara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. Fea
ture begins at 1900 and 2040.
Oct. 4—Free movie at Pick Thea
tre, “Between Us Girls” with Diana
Barrymore and Robert Cummings,
Feature begins at 1300 and 1444,
Oct. 4—Band concert at Kenan Sta
dium, 1630-1730,
Oct. 14—Smoker at Woollen Gym,
starting at 1900.
but waves them aside with, “You know
the kind I mean.”
Called upon briefly for a football
quizzing, Lt. Comdr. James H. Crow
ley, head Cloudbuster grid coach, told
the audience that although the Georgia
Pre-Flight squad is “bigger and heavier
than ours, we’ll try to make that up in
spirit when we meet them Friday
night.”
The former Fordham mentor de
clared that “Iowa Pre-Flight has the
cream in the way of football material
and therefore should be our toughest
opponent,”
The Pre-Flight Band under the di
rection of J. B, Parsons, Mus. 2c, open
ed the Smoker with a tingling rendi
tion of the National Anthem. Cadet
R, 0. Schaffer of Philadelphia then took
the controls and treated the gathering
to a bit of martial harmonica music
and followed with “Deep Purple” as
his encore.
Cadet Jim Harrington, of New York
City, followed in fine style singing a
selection from “The Vagabond King”
by Friml. As his encore, Harrington
turned to a more mellow mood and
crooned the well-known “Smoke Gets
in Your Eyes.”
A jive quartet composed of Cadets
Bill Maxted, Racine, Wis., piano; H.
H. Graves, Booneville, N. Y., clarinet,
the aforementioned Schaffer, drums;
and C. L. Woods, Mus. 2c., had the
cadets jumping in their seats with
their lively arrangement of “Blue
Skies,” and a more melancholy version
of “Indian Love Call.”
Cadet Maxted, who formerly tickled
the keys for Benny Goodman, Jimmy
and Tommy Dorsey, and of late with
Will Bradley, swung forth with his
own composition, “Blackout at Man
ley.” Maxted and Graves then team
ed to give the boys a shot in the arm
with another Maxted brain-storm, “20-
Mile Hike at Fast Cadence.”
See COP, pagfe 8
Former Senator
Bingham Visits,
Tells War Views
Naval aviation will play the princi
pal role in winning the war against
Japan, the regiment of cadets were told
early this week by former Senator Hi
ram Bingham, of Connecticut, who is
an expert of long standing on island
affairs in the Pacific war theater.
Bingham, who has spent 20 of his
66 years in the Pacific area and is now
on a lecture tour of Navy schools and
stations at the request of Secretary of
the Navy Frank Knox, declared that
the only way the United States can win
the war of the Pacific is to take control
of the southwest islands step by step,
to provide supply and military bases
for operations directly against Japan
proper.
“It’s a long job and a difficult one,”
he warned, “one in which, I believe.
Naval aviation will play the leading
role.
“The United States can’t use Rus
sian bases for attacking Japan because
Russia isn’t ready yet for total war
with the Japs. Japan has an army of
a million men on the Siberian border,
and it is very important for Russia
not to upset present relations with
Japan.”
He dismissed the possibility of using
bases in China for decisive attack on
Japan because of the extreme difficulty
of keeping steady supply lines open
there.
In summarizing his attitude on the
Pacific situation, Bingham asserted
firm belief that “the war against Ja
pan will be won by Naval aviators op
erating from carriers,
“I congratulate you,” he told the ca
dets, “on having chosen Naval avia
tion for your part in the war. You
have chosen the hard way, as many of
you have already discovered, but you’ll
find your training here very worth
while when you’re in the thick of bat
tle next year.
“Anyone who graduates from this
school can truthfully say, ‘I’m a he-
man. I can give it, and I can take it’.”
Bingham, who himself was a pilot
in the first World War, when asked
about the survival chances of a Naval
aviator forced to parachute down into
the jungles of one of the southwest Pa
cific islands, properly replied, “That
would depend on whether he is a grad
uate of one of these Pre-Flight
Schools,” Most pilots, he opined,
would come through all right,
Bingham discussed the customs and
history of the Pacific islands at length
at Monday and Tuesday assemblies,
then departed for the Pre-Flight
School at Athens, Ga,, the next stop
on his itinerary which will take him
throughout the country,
Kate Smith Radio
Program Postponed
The Kate Smith radio show sched
uled to be broadcast from the Pre-
Flight School on Oct. 9 has been post
poned until a later date, Lt. (jg)
Frank Gillespie, assistant welfare of
ficer, has announced.