UNC-Chapel Hill WWII Navy Pre-Flight School Booklet, WWII 26

UNC-Chapel Hill WWII Navy Pre-Flight School Booklet, [Folder Numbers], WWII 26, WWII Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.

The collection is composed of one original photographic booklet documenting the operations of the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School hosted at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill from February 1942 to October 1945. UNC hosted one of four locations nationally for the Navy's Pre-Flight program. The Pre-Flight portion of the program was intense and comprehensive, and was designed to develop the stamina and strength required of Navy pilots in combat. The booklet, published by the Merin-Baliban Studios of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, photographically documented the activities of the Pre-Flight School from 1942 to 1943, and copies of these booklets were offered to the men who went through the UNC Pre-Flight School. The booklet features images of the program on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, training exercises, classes, and images of the Chapel Hill community.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, the United States Navy realized they needed to revitalize their training programs, particularly as it related to naval aviation training during World War II. It was decided that a Pre-Flight portion of the program could be taught on college campuses, and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was chosen as one of four locations in January 1942. The University hosted the second stage of a one-year training program for the servicemen.

The Navy's goal was to train 30,000 pilots a year until the end of the war. The Pre-Flight portion of the program was intense, rigorous and comprehensive; it was designed to develop the stamina and strength required of Navy pilots in combat. If downed in enemy territory, the Navy pilot should, according to Navy rhetoric, "possess the ability to kill a man twelve different ways with his bare hands." The Pre-Flight program's academics were divided into naval lore and ground school subjects, including mathematics, navigation, meteorology, seamanship, physics, and gunnery. Cadets needed five thousand calories a day to sustain their physical training schedule, and meals were provided in Lenoir Hall on the UNC campus. Navy cadets had little personal liberty. They were mainly confined to their established "Navy area" on the university campus, being permitted to visit other parts of the campus or go downtown only three times a week on Wednesday afternoons, Saturday afternoons and nights, and Sunday afternoons.

Though there was some opposition to the Navy's presence on the campus and in the community, the town of Chapel Hill generally responded well to the influx of military men into the community. Civilians and service individuals worked well together to overcome the problems of overcrowding in the community and war rationing of staple supplies. Townspeople often invited Pre-Flight cadets and officers to speak at community events, and Chapel Hill families often invited Navy men into their homes for meals. The Pre-Flight School reciprocated by inviting the Chapel Hill community to athletic events, military reviews, concerts, dances, and church services.

Cadets began arriving in May 1942 at the rate of about 300 every two weeks until a quota of 1,875 was reached. The program graduated its first class in October 1942. Competitive sports were a large part of the training program. Two hours of daily participation was compulsory, and the best athletes were on UNC varsity sports teams that played other military and college teams.

To accommodate the influx of servicemen, the UNC renovated ten dormitories and expanded Woollen Gymnasium. They also built a new infirmary, recreation center (called Navy Hall), and an athletic field. Italian and German prisoners-of-war (POWs) from Camp Butner, North Carolina, were employed in Lenoir Hall (the dining facility) when enough civilian workers could not be found.

Before the Pre-Flight School was formally decommissioned on October 15, 1945, the station had trained 18,700 U.S. Navy Pre-Flight cadets, 360 Free French cadets, 78 French officers, and 1,220 U.S. Navy V-5 officers. Two men who later became U.S. presidents were in residence at the Pre-Flight School-George H. W. Bush as a cadet, and Gerald R. Ford as an instructor. It also hosted legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant. The Navy's improvements to the campus had a lasting impact, with some believing the program to be one of the best things to ever have happened to the university.

[The content for this Historical Note comes directly from Mary Layne Baker's 1980 UNC-Chapel Hill History Department master's thesis, The Sky's the Limit: the University of North Carolina and the Chapel Hill Communities' Response to the Establishment of the U. S. Naval Pre-Flight School During World War II. Historical information also was taken from the finding aid for United States Navy Pre-Flight School (University of North Carolina) Photographic Collection #P0027, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.]

The collection was donated to the Military Collection of the State Archives of North Carolina by a private donor, who purchased the collection on behalf of the State Archives in April 2016.