BU
s
HAPEL HILL, N. C
AVY PRE-FLIGHT SCHOOL,
Friday, May 25, 1945
U. S.
Vo. 3—No.
-Flight Sc
s 3rd Anniversary
H
mmmm
^ORE THAN 15,000—This water-color mural in Navy Hall sym
bolizes the more than 15,000 cadets who successfully completed
^re-Flight training here since commissioning of the school three
^®ars ago and were transferred for primary flight instruction. The
^^inting, created by Cadet Gene Aiello of the 13th Battalion, de
picts a typical cadet leaving the station after completing Pre-Flight
'^'^ork, while in the background are represented various activities
^hich make up the program.
^Vavy Will Sponsor
^ew Radio Show
The Navy Department has
■Ottipleted arrangements to pro-
^Uce and direct a 26-week series
j/ 30-minute programs on the
pUe Network, depicting the ac-
j^'^ities and achievements of
w^val Aviation, Rear Admiral
B. Miller, U.S.N., Director of
Office of Public Relations,
^^ounced today.
1 The program, which will be
I ^oadcast in the evening, will
®gin sometime this summer. It
is the first network program to
be approved for production by
the Navy Department.
The program is the first step
in plans of Rear Admiral Miller
to bring to the public a wider
coverage of the Navy’s participa
tion in the war, with particular
emphasis on the Pacific theater.
Dance At Pine Room
A cadet dance for the 69th,
IIRB, and 4RD Battalions will
be held in the Pine Room on the
evening of Saturday, 26 May
from 2100 to 2400.
Six Ex-Cadets Win
Navy Crosses For
Heroism In Pacific
Six Navy pilots who received
their pre-flight training at the
Navy Pre-Flight School here
have been awarded Navy Crosses
recently for heroism in the
Pacific war during October, 1944.
Lt. (jg) Donald McCutcheon,
Elizabeth, N. J., a member of
the First Battalion here when the
school was commissioned in May,
1942, won the Navy Cross for
valor as a pilot of a carrier-
based divebomber at Leyte Gulf
on October 25, 1944. Pressing
home his attack, he made a direct
hit on an enemy carrier of the
Shokaku class in the face of
intense anti-aircraft fire from the
entire enemy disposition. He con-
(Continued on Page 3)
More Than 15^000
Cadets Trained
Here Since 1942
Last Wednesday, May 23,
marked the third anniversary of
the commissioning of this Pre-
Flight School.
Since the arrival of the First
Battalion three years ago, more
than 15,000 V-5 trainees have
completed Pre-Flight instruction
here and have been transferred
to naval air stations for primary
flight training. Many of these
are now veteran combat pilots
in naval aviation, who have out-
flown and outfought the enemy
in combat areas around the
world.
For more than a year now this
has been the only Pre-Flight
School engaged in training
French cadets for the French
Navy.
Ouring the first two years a
(Continued on Page 3)
Anniversary Greetings
The following dispatch was received from the Chief of Naval
Air Primary Training on the occasion of the 3rd Anniversary
of this School’s commissioning:
“On the occasion of the Third Anniversary of the commis
sioning of the Chapel Hill Pre-Flight School, as Chief of
Naval Air Primary Training I extend to you as Command
ing Officer and through you to all hands my appreciation for
a job well done. Since the first Battalion reported three
years ago your school has transferred more than 15,000
aviation cadets to Primary training units. The fine military
and physical training received in Pre-Flight and the avia-,
tion training received at later stages are reflected in the
manner in which our graduates have outflown and out
fought the enemy in combat. Naval aviation still has a tre
mendous job to be done in the Pacific and there can be no
let-down anywhere. Stress upon all hands at Chapel Hill
Pre-Flight to continue to maintain the highest standards of
training to the end that our contribution to the war effort
will be all that Naval Aviation, the Navy, the Nation expect
of us. “O. B. Hardison,
“Rear Admiral, U. S. Navy.”
The Commanding Officer takes great pleasure in congratu
lating all hands for a job well done on the Third Anniversary
of the Pre-Flight School. The spirit with which all hands
have faced the tasks confronting them in the past three years
has been in keeping with the best traditions of the service.
The Commanding Officer knows that all hands will redouble
their efforts to complete the tasks before them and that when
the final victory is won the Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel
Hill, North Carolina, will go down in the annals of Naval his
tory as one of the finest schools of its type.
James P. Raugh,
Comdr., USNR
Commanding Officer.