The US Navy had four programs (NavCad, NAP, AVMIDN, and MarCad) for the training of naval aviators.
Naval Aviator Program (1911–1917; 1917–1955; 1955–present)
In 1908 at Fort Myer, Virginia, a demonstration of an early "heavier-than-air" craft was flown by a pair of inventors named Orville and Wilbur Wright. Two navy officers observing the demonstration were inspired to push for the navy to acquire aircraft of their own. In May, 1911 the navy purchased their first aircraft. From 1911 to 1914 the navy received free flying lessons from aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss at North Island, San Diego, California.
In 1911, the navy began training its first pilots at the newly founded Aviation Camp at Annapolis, Maryland. In 1914, the navy opened Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, dubbed the "Annapolis of the air", to train its first naval aviators. Candidates had to have served at least two years of sea duty and training was for 12 months. In 1917, the navy's program became part of the Flying Officer Training Program. Demand for pilots, however, still exceeded supply. The navy organized an unfunded naval militia in 1915 encouraging formation of ten state-run militia units of aviation enthusiasts. The Naval Appropriations Act of 29 August 1916 included funds for both a Naval Flying Corps (NFC) and a Naval Reserve Flying Corps. Students at several Ivy League colleges organized flying units and began pilot training at their own expenses. The NFC mustered 42 navy officers, six United States Marine Corps officers, and 239 enlisted men when the United States declared war on 6 April 1917. These men recruited and organized qualified members from the various state naval militia and college flying units into the Naval Reserve Flying Corps.
Naval Aviation Cadet Program (1935–1968 and 1986-1993) To meet the demand for aviators the Navy created a cadet program similar to the Flight Officer Program used by the Army.
Naval Aviation Cadet Act (1935) On 15 April 1935, Congress passed the Naval Aviation Cadet Act. This set up the volunteer Naval Reserve class V-5 Naval Aviation Cadet (NavCad) program to send civilian and enlisted candidates to train as aviation cadets. Candidates had to be between the ages of 19 and 25, have an associate degree or at least two years of college, and had to complete a bachelor's degree within six years after graduation to keep their commission. Training was for 18 months and candidates had to agree to not marry during training and to serve for at least three more years of active duty service.
Civilian candidates who had graduated or dropped out of college were classified as volunteer reserve class V-1 and held the rank of ordinary seaman in the organized reserve. Candidates who had not yet completed a four-year degree had a set time limit after training to complete it. Those that did not, lost their rank and received a transfer to volunteer reserve class V-6. Candidates who volunteered while still in college were enrolled in the Accredited College Program and were classified as volunteer reserve class V-1 (ACP).
Candidates who were not already in the navy were evaluated and processed at one of 13 naval reserve air bases across the country, each one representing one of the eligible naval districts. They consisted of the 1st and 3rd through 13th naval districts (representing the 48 states of the continental United States) and the 14th Naval District (comprising America's Pacific territories and headquartered at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii).
Candidates who were selected went on to Naval Flight Preparatory School. This was a course in physical training (to get the cadets in shape and weed out the unfit), military skills (marching, standing in formation, and performing the manual of arms), and naval customs and etiquette (as a naval officer was considered a gentleman). Pre-flight school was a refresher course in mathematics and physics with practical applications of these skills in flight. This was followed by a short preliminary flight training module in which the cadets did 10 hours in a simulator followed by a one-hour test flight with an instructor. Those that passed received V-5 flight badges (gold-metal aviator's wings with the V-5 badge set in the center). They were sent on to primary and basic flight training at NAS Pensacola and advanced flight training at another naval air station.
Graduates became naval aviators with the rank of aviation cadet, which was considered senior to the rank of chief petty officer but below the rank of warrant officer. As members of the volunteer reserve, they received the same pay as an ordinary seaman ($75 a month during training or duty ashore, $125 a month when on active sea duty, and $30 mess allowance). After three years of active service they were reviewed and could be promoted to the rank of lieutenant (junior grade) in the Naval Reserve and receive a $1,500 bonus.
Cadets who washed out of the V-5 program were assigned to volunteer reserve class V-6 with the rank of ordinary seaman.http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/Ranks&Rates/index.html Ranks and Rates of the U.S. Navy - Together with Designations and Insignia This was a holding category that allowed the navy to evaluate the candidate for either reassignment to another part of the volunteer reserve or reassignment to the general service branches of the Navy or Naval Reserve. They were exempt from being drafted by the Army in wartime but were considered reservists in the Navy and could be called to active service at any time.
Naval Aviation Reserve Act (1939) Due to poor pay and slow promotion, many naval aviation cadets left the service to work for the growing commercial aviation and airline industries. On 11 April 1939, Congress passed the Naval Aviation Reserve Act, which expanded the parameters of the earlier Aviation Cadet Act. Training was for 12 months. Graduates received commissions in the Naval Reserve as an ensign or the Marine Corps Reserve as a 2nd lieutenant, and served an additional seven years on active duty.
Uniforms and insignia During basic and ground school their duty uniforms from 1935 to 1943 were green surplus Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) fatigue uniforms. Naval aviation cadets wore the same dress uniforms as naval officers once they completed primary.
Cadets wore a different insignia than army aviation cadets: a yellow shield with a blue chief with the word "navy" in yellow letters, a pair of naval aviator wings bordered and decorated in blue across the middle, and the letter-number "V-5" in blue in the base. The insignia was in enameled sterling silver for wear on the breast pocket of dress uniform jackets and cloth patch form for wear on uniforms. Graduates received gold-metal naval aviator's wings rather than the silver-metal wings awarded to army aviators.
1940–1945 During World War II, the USN pilot training program started to ramp up. It had the same stages as the army aviation program (pre-flight, primary, basic, and advanced), except basic flight added a carrier landing stage for fighter and torpedo- or dive-bomber pilots.
In 1940, it was modified to be more like the V-7 program of the United States Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School. Candidates had to attend two 4-month semesters (or 10-week "quarters") of college before attending pre-flight. Pre-flight was divided into flight preparatory school, pre-Midshipman School, and Midshipman School. Flight Preparatory School was a four-week "boot camp" that taught discipline and drill, etiquette and protocol (as an officer was expected to be a gentleman), and ethics (as an officer was expected to be honorable); graduates became Seamen Second Class. Pre-Midshipman School was four months of accelerated academic coursework in science, math and physics for those candidates between the ages of 17 and 20 who did not have the educational requirements to attend Midshipman School; graduates became midshipmen. Midshipman School (nicknamed "Pre-Ensign") was three months of seamanship (swimming and boat-handling), navigation, ordnance, telegraphy, engineering, leadership, and naval military history; graduates became commissioned as Ensigns in the US Naval Reserve. Those that washed out were placed in the general V-6 pool as Seamen Second Class in the Naval Reserve.
V-5 Pre-Flight Schools were established in five locations: at the University of Iowa in Iowa City (opened on 15 April 1942),Navy Takes Over Iowa U. Facilities, Des Moines Tribune, 15 Apr 1942 (page 9) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (established on 1 February 1942, opened that May),Exercises in Kenan Stadium, Navy Pre-Flight School (info from photo caption)United States Navy Pre-Flight School (University of North Carolina) Photographic Collection, 1942-1945 at the University of Georgia campus in Athens (contract NOd3035 signed on 19 March 1942, and opened on 18 June 1942),A Brief History of the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School at UGA and two in California: at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, and at the Hotel Del Monte at Monterey BayNaval Aviation in WW II, by Capt. Matt Portz, USNR (ret), Aviation Training and Expansion, Part 1, Naval Aviation News, Jul-Aug 1990 (a lease that would lead to a purchase of the resort and ultimately in 1951, becoming the Naval Postgraduate School). Astronaut John Glenn was in the first V-5 class at Iowa, where the aspiring carrier fighter pilots were nicknamed the Seahawks. Personnel at Chapel Hill included future presidents George Bush and Gerald Ford, along with MLB star Ted Williams, where they were known as the Cloudbusters. Cadets in California included Ed McMahon and Dennis Weaver.The Cloudbuster Nine: The Baseball Team Who Helped Win World War II, presentation by author Anne Keene, Allen, Tx, 2018, uploaded on 28 Dec At St. Mary's, they were known as the Air Devils. Their nickname at Georgia was the Skycrackers. In early 1943, flight preparatory schools were established at 17 colleges and universities. In July, 1943 the V-5 and V-7 programs were merged into the new V-12 Navy College Training Program. V-5 students were reclassified as V-12A (with the A standing for Aviation). Candidates had to attend four 4-month semesters (or 10-week "quarters") of college before attending Pre-Flight or could opt to transfer to the NROTC. The V-12 program differed in that it was focused on college education and it eliminated the Naval Flight Preparatory School and War Training Services stages.
Primary Flight School was at NAS Pensacola and it taught basic flying and landing. It used the NAF N3N or Stearman N2S Primary trainers, dubbed "Yellow Perils" from their bright yellow paintscheme (and the inexperience of the student pilots).Basic Flight School was broken into two parts: part one taught instrument flying and night flying and part two taught formation flying and gunnery; an additional part three stage for single-engined aircraft pilots taught carrier landing. They used the North American SNJ basic trainer.
Advanced Flight Training qualified the pilot on either a single-engined fighter, dive-bomber or torpedo bomber or a multiple-engined transport, patrol plane or bomber; graduates were classed as Naval Aviators and received gold Naval Aviator wings. Each graduate had around 600 total flight hours, with approximately 200 flight hours on front-line Navy aircraft. Pilots who washed out were assigned as regular ensigns.
Enlisted Naval Aviation cadets were paid $50 / month for the first month of training (as an Apprentice Seaman in "Boot Camp") and $75 / month for the second through eighth months (as a Seamen Second Class or midshipman attending training). Commissioned Naval Aviation students (NavCad Ensigns or commissioned officers attending Flight School) were paid $245 / month (the same pay as an ensign attending training).