Military Pilots

Military pilots fly with the U. S. Air Force, U. S. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps, U. S. Army, U. S. Coast Guard, and the Air National Guard. In the U. S. Air Force, the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) is based at Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas. Personnel hoping to become pilots receive up to 25 hours of initial flight training from civilian instructors. Selected candidates move on to further training by military instructors. Student pilots learn to fly on fairly slow training airplanes, such as the turboprop T-6II, moving up to the twin-jet T-37, and then to a supersonic jet such as the T-38.

All students learn basic flight skills. Then they are selected for one of sever­al advanced training tracks, depending on the type of aircraft they will fly. Helicopter pilots, for example, receive
special training, on the UH-1 Huey heli­copter. Student airlift (transport) and tanker pilots train on the T-1A Jayhawk, and others fly the T-44 to learn how to pilot a multi-engine, turboprop airplane such as the C-130 Hercules.

Pilots complete their training at U. S. Air Force bases around the country. For example, fighter pilots qualifying from the T-38 course at Randolph Air Force Base go on to fly the F-15 Eagle at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, or the F-16 Fighting Falcon at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. On completion of their military service, many pilots continue to fly as civilian pilots.

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SEE ALSO:

• Barnstorming • Bleriot, Louis

• Coleman, Bessie • Curtiss, Glenn

• Earhart, Amelia • Lindbergh,

Charles • Night Witches

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