Vol. 4—No. 1
U. S. NAVY PRE-FLIGHT SCHOOL, CHAPEL HILL, N. C. Friday, September 21, 1945
All Trainees to Leave Here by October 1st
Rear Adra. Wagner
Will Become New
Chief of NAPT
Rear Admiral O. B. Hardison,
USN, whose detachment as Chief
of Naval Air Primary Training
was announced last week, will
be succeeded sometime in No
vember by Rear Admiral Frank
D. Wagner, USN, who is credited
with being the inventor of dive
bombing.
In the interim Capt. Harry E.
Sears, USN, who has been Chief
of Staff for Admiral Hardison
and also Deputy Chief of Naval
Air Primary Training, will ad
minister the command.
In a farewell statement to all
hands at Naval Air Stations and
Navy Pre-Flight Schools of
NAPTC, Admiral Hardison de
clared:
“I have as of this date, 11 Sep
tember 1945, been detached after
more than 20 months as Chief of
Naval Air Primary Training.
During those months at units of
this command we have trained
and sent on to further training
for ultimate duty as combat
pilots with the fleet more than
26,000 aviation cadets, including
(Continued on Page 4)
UNC Speakers
Tell Cadets Of
College Chance
Some 850 Pre-Flight cadets
expecting to return to civilian
life in the near future met in
Memorial Hall last Friday morn
ing to hear a two-hour program
on college education, with speak
ers drawn from faculty and stu
dent leaders at the University of
North Carolina.
Purpose of the program was
to inform the cadets on what
they might expect from colleges
in general, since many of them
will soon be entering colleges as
civilians for the first time.
Guy B. Phillips, secretary of
summer school and head of the
College for War Training, pre
sided over the session. Chancel
lor R. B. House gave a general
statement of advantages offered
veterans in colleges and univer
sities over the nation. Short
talks were made by Dr. Cecil
Johnson, representing Dean C. P.
Spruill of the General College,
Dr. A. W. Hobbs, Dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences, and
Dr. John B. Woosley of the
(Continued on page 4)
DIRECTING the process of cadet
transfers to Navy Separation
Centers is this officer trio, from
left to right, Lt. Karl Drexel,
records officer, Ens. Charles Al
corn, on loan from the naviga
tion department, and Lt. Eugene
Flick, insurance and transporta
tion officer.
Navy’s Box Score
Confirmed by Japs
(SEA)—The Japanese have
not only confirmed the U. S.
Navy’s list of Jap combatant
ships sunk or out of action, but
have declared two battleships
previously believed moderately
damaged were out of action.
The U. S. Navy claimed 318
Jap combatant vessels sunk or
out of action, and the figure was
borne out when the Japanese
Register of Naval Vessels was
presented to Navy officers.
BUSIEST SPOTS on the station during the past!
10 days have been the temporary office quarters'
in the east end of Navy Hall, shown on the left,
and the records office in Alexander Hall, on the
right. In the past week and a half approximately
a thousand complete records have been processed
at these places to clear the way for rapid dissolu
tion of the cadet regiment. This processing has in-
Icluded the preparation of aviation training rec
ords, draft lists and orders, statements of service,
assignment to Separation Centers and the procure
ment of transportation. Pitching in to help CY
Charles Ellis’ yeoman staff, which itself is short-
handed through transfers and releases, have been
some 15 cadets who themselves are awaiting sep
aration.
Decommissioning
Of School Will
Follow Shortly
The open season for soothsay
ing, speculation, and the usual
variety of Navy scuttlebutt came
to a close here last Wednesday
when official word was received
that all trainees at this Pre-
Flight School are to be trans
ferred by Oct. 1 and the school
decommissioned shortly there
after.
It is estimated that approxi
mately 1,000 of the 1,400 in the
regiment at the beginning of the
separation program will be sent
to Navy Separation Centers for
release to inactive duty and
civilian life. The remainder who
have expressed a desire to con
tinue in the naval aviation pro
gram will be transferred else
where for training.
Facilities of the University of
North Carolina which have been
occupied by the Pre-Flight
School since its commissioning
in May, 1942, are being turned
back to the university as rapidly
as possible, Comdr James P.
Raugh, commanding officer,
stated yesterday. Every effort,
he said, is being made by the
Navy to expedite the return of
dormitories and other buildings
used by the Pre-Flight School
during the war, in order to aid
the university in meeting its
postwar expansion needs.
Speedy Separation
Discontinuance of this Pre-
Flight School, which is a unit
of the Naval Air Primary Train
ing Command, is in line with the
general curtailment of the naval
aviation training program.
As of today a total of 316
(Continued on page 3)
Inactive Duty Rank
An officer of the Naval Reserve
who, while on active duty, held
a temporary rank, shall when
in an inactive duty status be en
titled to bear the official title of
the highest rank held on active
duty and to wear the uniform of
such rank when the weariHg of
a uniform is appropriate, the
Navy Department has announced.
This policy will continue until
temporary appointments are no
longer permitted by law, at or
before which time further in
structions will be issued.