On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 22:22:12 -0500, vincent p. norris
wrote:

During the Vietnam era a number of USMC flight students went through the USAF pilot training pipeline as an expediency.

Migawd!!! I never heard that!!!

I was a Marine-no-longer-on-active-duty by that time, but nevertheless
it's hard to believe. Can you supply details?

vince norris

That would have been around 1968-70. At that time the requirements for
Naval Aviators exceeded what Pensacola could produce. For comparison
it should be noted that USAF pilot training went up from eight to ten
bases dedicated to the mission.

Although the USAF didn't have truly "excess" capability, they could
absorb a bit of the load for the Navy. We took one USMC student per
class (8 classes per year) per base (10 bases). The Marines went
through the full and complete USAF UPT syllabus (T-41/T-37/T-38) and
upon graduation were awarded USAF pilot wings.

They then went to Pensacola for USN completion training which included
CARQUAL. As far as I know, they were all fast jet tracked. Upon
completion of that abbreviated program they were awarded USN gold
wings and assigned to their operational training.

I was a UPT instructor during the period at Williams AFB in AZ. Since
then I've crossed paths with several of the students and swapped TINS
stories.

As a follow-on, at the wind-down of the war, requirements were
drastically reduced (late 1970) and while USAF chose to cut the
training pipeline at the acquisition point--reduce recruiting for
pilot slots, the Navy opted to cut immediately across the board. On
one Black Friday they went into Pensacola and cut more than 400
students in training. Several were within weeks of graduation.

A number of these Navy pilot candidates were given the opportunity for
inter-service transfers and were picked up by the USAF where they
completed UPT. (At that time I was on the MAJCOM staff at Air Training
Command managing UPT/UNT/UHT and Survival courses).


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com