Beginning in Autust 1943, the Army Air Force discovered that the loss rate for pilots had not been as great as anticipated, that it had all of the pilots that was needed in the combat zones and that a problem was developing with a surplus of pilots. A related problem was that the AAF had recruited more Aviation Cadets than the flight training facilities could handle and that the surplus of pilots called for reducing the number of flying schools rather than increasing them. At the same time, General Weaver of the Technical Training Command was complaining about the quality of technical trainees that he was receiving from the draft. So, the generals of the Air Force Training Command thought a great solution to their problems would be to shift the Aviation Cadets from the Flying Training Command to the Technical Training Command. This would solve both problems. They would get rid of the surplus pilot trainees and and at the same time give General Weaver the higher educated students that he was clamoring for.
Scott Field began to receive former Aviation Cadets as early as August 1943. Beginning the first of 1944, almost all of the personnel sent to Scott Field for radio school were former cadets. When the cadets arrived at Scott Field, they were placed in the 4th Area, the shipping and receiving area across the tracks from the radio school.
On February 1, 1944, the 11th Technical School Squadron and the 21st Academic School Squadron were combined in order to more efficiently receive and house the large number of Aviation Cadets. The squadron was located in the 4th Area and, at this time, was in essence a place to pool the former cadets until such time as the radio school could handle them.
Lt. Robert B. Shanklin became the commanding officer of the squadron on October 21, 1943. Prior to the time, he was the adjutant. Sometime later, Cap't. . Frank M. Getman became the commanding officer.
The squadron was a casual squadron. The prime duty of the men while in the pool was KP and detail work. However, KP had priority over all other duty assignments. The future radio students formed their first impression of Scott Field in the 4th Area and it wasn't a good one. .
The AAF had lied to the cadets when they volunteered and enlisted as Aviation Cadets. The AAF had promised , among many commitments, that if they were not needed as pilots, they would stay in the Aviation Cadet program and trained as navigators or bombardiers or stay in the Aviation Cadet ground program. The AAF could not transfer the cadets from the Flying Training Command to the Technical Training Command without violating their own policies and regulations. Furthermore, in an attempt to justify their conduct in transfering the cadets, the generals of the Flying Training Command did so under the pretense that the cadets had not measured up in some way or other. The former cadets were sent to Scott Field with this background and against their will.
They were not willing to accept their new status as enlisted men of the lowest level. Major Brownlee lectured some of the new arrivals on "how important radio work was to the war effort. They did not see it that way. There was certainly a vast difference between the status of an Aviation Cadet and a private at Scott Field. The former cadet was not accustomed to being treated in the abusive manner that the World War II Army deemed proper for enlisted men. Furthermore, they were not willing to categorically being treated as imbiciles. Brownlee told them that they had a patriotic duty to accept the shabby treatment being dished out to they by the AAF and be good soldiers. The former cadets did not see it that way.
The former cadets applied for reassignment in large numbers. The only reason more did not do so was because they recognized the futileness in doing so. Many of them were college men with special training ; almost all had education and training that better qualified them for other duty, but all received a flat "No!" Those with navigation training were not sent to navigation school. Meteorologists were not sent to meteorology school. Men trained in personel management were not tranferred to areas where their training could be used etc.
Problems with discipline abounded. Some were so bitter that they invited company punishment and courts martial. Thomas Albrecht was transferred to Scott Field just before he graduated from pilot training with a second lieutenant's commission and his wings. He was ready to graduate. The AAF had already made a photograph of him in an officer's blouse with second lieutenants bars and his wings. The photograph along with an announcement of his graduation as a pilot and second lieutenant had been sent to his family and friends. He was now an enlisted man of the lowest order. He was so embarassed that he could never go home again. He was so bitter that he set fire to his barracks in the 13th TSS. Albrecht had completed primary, basic, and advanced pilot training. He had more flight training than that required for liaison pilot, glider pilot, or for an instructor. But the AAF did not care. They did not need pilots and were willing to waste his training along with that of all the other surplus pilot trainees.
Earlier in August of 1943 when the AAF inaugurated the policy of reducing the number of surplus pilot trainees by sending them to tech shools and Scott Field began to receive large numbers of them, Colonel Albert T. Wilson Jr., Director of Training, "felt called upon to deliver a speech of admonition to the ex-cadets. ... He referred to them as 'bad apples' who were contaminating the 'good apples' in the Scott Field barrel."
(History of the 11th Technical School Squadron, 1 July 1943 - 31 Dec. 1943; Jan. 1944 - 30 April 1944; History of Scott Field, 1 July 1943 - 1 March 1944.)
The former cadets were mostly college men. All passed the Aviation Cadets qualification tests both mental and physical. Ken Lehey from Houston, Texas was a chemical engineer with a Masters Degree working in a defense plant. He was getting rich and exempt from the draft. But, he was patriotic and did not think he was doing his part in the war. So Ken enlisted in the Aviation Cadets to become a pilot. Ken never started in the cadet program. Ken was washed out along with a whole bunch of others and sent to Scott Field. Ken wasn't about to fall in line. He was determined to get kicked out of radio school and finally made it. On July 11, 1944, Ken and his friend Hank Clune, a Manhatten shirt model from New York were transferred to Madison, Wisconsin for some unknown duty.
Radio school wasn't all that bed if the student ignored the chicken s_ _ t. [Since World War II, it found it's way into the dictionry.] For example, Colonel Frederick L. Christine, the Deputy for Administration and Services, inaugurated a new "militarization" program to improve military courtesy on the field along with a "Salute with Pride" campaign. As part of the program, enlisted men when moving around the base in groups of six or more had to march in formation. And, they had to sing while marching. To maker certain that the enlisted men did not claim as an excuse that they did not know any songs, A "Song of the Week" was was printed in the field newspager every week. They were ordered to do an "eyes right" when passing an officer. Of course, all officers had to be saluted. Then, the enlisted men were ordered to wear gas masks on Tuesday and Fridays from 0800 to 0830 hours. Officers were spread around the field to check on compliance with all the new regulations.
Some of the radio students found it quite humorous wear gas masks in the mess hall or to try to wear earphones and listen to code while wearing them during the spicified times. They also thought it quite funny when some of the new regulations came though the post communications office. The orders were so rediculous that the WAC receiving the orders thought it was a prank and didn't pass them on.
In May of 1944, the Director of Military Training and the Commandant of Students decided that the students needed lectures on "malaria control and personal adjustment." But, there was a problem. The student's schedules were full. The only time they had was on their one day off each week. So, it was ordered that they take the lectures on their days off. In Section L, an anonymous letter objecting to the requirement was posted on the bulletin board. The offender was caught and referred to the post legal officer for courts-martial. However, there was so much dissension from the ranks that the program was canceled after four weeks.
By the end of October 1944, the surplus pilot trainees had been processed through Scott Field and other technical shools and had gone on to become respected members of aircrews. They were fighting their war, not as they had planned, but in the air. The AAF had all the radio operator-gunners they needed and the radio school for aircrew was beginning to wind down. The 4th Area was going out of business. This part of the history of Scott Field was coming to an end. The Scott Field unit historians, like all military unit historians of World War II, had to be careful what they wrote because they were appointed by the commanding officers and were writing under their control, the same commanding officers that handed out their efficiency ratings. Yet, in spite of this, some of those who were there will recognize that some of the true facts for this period of time slipped into the unit histories of Scott Field.
(History of Scott Field, 7 July 1943 - 1 March 1944, May - June 1944; History of the 11th Technical School Squadron, July - 31 Dec. 1943; History of the 368 Technical School Squadron 1 Mar. 1944 - 30 Apr. 1944; Army Air Forces In World War II, Vols I, V, & VI.)
