Home : Hillard E. Johnmeyer :

Spartan School Of Aeronautics

Primary Flying School

Air Corps Training Detachment - Tulsa, OK
December 1943 - February 1944

When the U.S. entered the war in Dec. 1941, the AAF continued with the type of pilot training program it had originally established in 1939 — primary flying schools operated by civilian companies under contract and basic and advanced flying schools operated by the AAF. The civilian primary schools had been started in 1939 by ten civilian contractors without contracts — all they had was an urgent plea from Gen. Arnold and his statement that he thought he could get the necessary funds from congress the next year. Fortunately, the schools were already well in operation at the time of Pearl Harbor.

The civilian schools used Stearman, Ryan and Fairchild trainers owned by the AAF; their flight instructors were civilian employees. Each cadet was given sixty hours of flight training in nine weeks before moving on to the basic flight school.

Gift of Mrs. George Lloyd Jones 11/16/61

Morning Mission (1941-1945)

As It Stands At The Tulsa International Airport

During World War II, 16,000 young men of the United States and Allied Nations received flight training at the Tulsa Municipal Airport and subsidiary fields. Of these, 14,000 were trained by Spartan School of Aeronautics and 2,000 by the United States Army. In memory of these gallant gentlemen - and particularly of the scores who lost their lives in combat - this statue is gratefully dedicated.

- By Robert Wechmany

Tulsa, Oklahoma (Air Corps Training Detachment) Spartan School of Aeronautics, Tulsa Airport Established: 1928 by Mr. W.G. Skelly (1878-1957), President, Skelly Oil Corporation and Spartan Aircraft Co. (1928-1942); then Mr. J. Paul Getty (1892-____), President, Spartan Aircraft Corp. & Spartan School of Aeronautics (1942-1968). Operator: Capt. Maxwell W. Balfour (1895-1957), Vice President, Spartan Aircraft Co. and Spartan School of Aeronautics, Inc. (1939-1968). 314th AAF Flying Training Detachment (as of July 1942). 2565th AAF Base Unit (AAF Contract Pilot School, Primary), 1 May 1944.

Spartan School of Aeronautics was founded September 27, 1928, by W.G. Skelly, President of Skelly Oil Company. He established Spartan Aircraft Company and formed the corporation that built Tulsa Municipal Airport (now called Tulsa International Airport). Since 1928, this airport has been the home of Spartan. Mr. Skelly was convinced that air transportation would come of age and bring with it a need for skilled aircraft technicians and pilots; therefore, Spartan offered both mechanic and flight courses and quickly became a leader in aviation education.

Spartan's fame spread quickly, first nationally and then internationally. Students came from many states and foreign countries.

During World War II and the Korean War, Spartan trained thousands of pilots and mechanics for the armed forces while continuing to expand in the civil aviation field. Much of the credit for this period of expansion goes to J. Paul Getty, who took ownership of Spartan in the 1930's. When the war started in December of 1941, J. Paul Getty immediately tried to enlist. Knowing the navy's penchant for bestowing commissions on the rich and famous, he went to Washington to contact Frank Knox, the Secretary of the Navy . . . Knox told Getty that his age, now 49, would preclude receiving a Navy commission, but that he should turn his talents to managing the Spartan company. Thus it was that J. Paul Getty came to Spartan in February, 1942 and spent, until June 25, 1945, all his time in the personal management of Spartan.

Civilian flying schools, under government contract, provided a considerable part of the flying training effort undertaken during W.W.II by the Army Air Forces. The importance of these contractor operations to the war effort was significant. To the flying cadets, the contract schools were just another training assignment — although the flight instructors were civilian contractors, the cadets still experienced the discipline and drudgery of military life. Reveille and retreat were still held at the "base" flagpole. In official Army Air Forces directories, they were listed by the name of the civilian flying school, the name of the airport on which it operated, or sometimes just by the city name. (Spartan also used Hatbox Field, Muskogee, OK and Miami Municipal, Miami, OK.)

Hanger full of Fairchild PT-19 primary trainers.

The job done by the contract schools is a great tribute to the American system of private enterprise. These businessmen risked their capital and their business reputations to do a patriotic job for the Army Air Corps (later the AAF) of this nation . . . a job which many persons in high places said couldn't be done.

These contract schools, among other organizations, came to the rescue of a nation pitifully unprepared for total war. In all probability, the total story will not be told for many years, but every man and woman in the United States can now be proud of this country's Air Force.

Hanger repair for Fairchild PT-19 primary trainers.

The contract schools are particularly proud of the USAAF because they have played such a vital part in training many of these pilots and mechanics.

Mr. Winston Churchill has said: "We must beware of trying to build a society in which nobody counts for anything except a politician or an official, a society where enterprise gains no reward, and thrift no privilege."

Total Students Entered vs. Pilots Produced

The table gives a detailed breakdown of statistics on the Spartan School of Aeronautics pilot training program. A total of 6,564 entered training, and 4,231 were graduated while 2,333 were eliminated during the period from July 1939 and 4 August 1944 when Class 44-K graduated.

SPARTAN SCHOOL OF AERONAUTICS, TULSA, OKLAHOMA
PILOT PRODUCTION DATA - 40-A TO 44-K

Class	No.	Elim.	Holdovers	Fatal.	Date Grad.	No. Grad.
40-A	86	35	1	0	2 Sep 39	50
40-B	79	22	0	0	10 Nov 39	57
40-C	85	28	0	0	20 Dec 39	57
40-D	90	28	2	0	14 Feb 40	60
40-E	89	39	2	0	22 Mar 40	48
40-F	85	32	4	0	11 May 40	49
40-G	81	25	0	1	19 Jun 40	56
40-H	91	22	2	0	27 Jul 40	67
41-A	90	19	1	0	5 Sep 40	70
41-B	119	15	1	0	11 Oct 40	103
41-C	114	31	3	0	20 Nov 40	80
41-D	112	32	2	0	28 Dec 40	78
41-E	111	37	3	0	12 Feb 41	71
41-F	110	38	7	0	17 Mar 41	65
41-G	112	42	3	0	25 Apr 41	67
41-H	124	37	0	0	31 May 41	67
41-I	121	39	0	1	5 Jul 41	82
42-A	83	34	2	0	15 Aug 41	47
42-B	148	55	1	0	27 Sep 41	92
42-C	137	33	2	0	3 Nov 41	102
42-D	127	43	3	0	9 Dec 41	81
42-E	130	49	2	0	14 Jan 42	80
42-F	131	26	8	0	23 Feb 42	97
42-G	132	28	13	0	28 Mar 42	91
42-H	149	51	9	0	28 Apr 42	89
42-I	141	41	11	0	1 Jun 42	89
42-J	141	40	8	0	2 Jul 42	93
42-K	140	44	6	0	4 Aug 42	90
43-A	135	58	4	0	2 Sep 42	73
43-B	134	53	10	0	8 Oct 42	71
43-C	142	55	9	0	5 Nov 42	78
43-D	149	59	4	0	10 Dec 42	86
43-E	145	44	14	0	13 Jan 43	87
43-F	153	36	23	0	12 Feb 43	94
43-G	165	44	19	0	18 Mar 43	102
43-H	164	45	9	0	21 Apr 43	110
43-I	154	47	10	0	24 May 43	97
43-J	155	40	8	0	24 Jun 43	107
43-K	158	50	7	0	27 Jul 43	101
44-A	165	83	14	1	26 Aug 43	68
44-B	174	65	16	0	1 Oct 43	93
44-C	177	51	18	1	3 Nov 43	108
44-D	178	33	9	0	4 Dec 43	136
44-E	160	28	16	0	9 Jan 44	116
44-F	166	14	34	0	8 Feb 44	118
44-G	175	31	17	2	12 Mar 44	127
44-H	143	32	12	0	16 Apr 44	99
44-I	133	41	9	0	23 May 44	83
44-J	143	26	9	0	27 Jun 44	108
44-K	139	39	5*	1	4 Aug 44	91
*Four students advanced to next higher class, 44-K was final class.

---

---

Pilot Flight Record

And Log Book

11 Dec to 23 Dec 1943

24 Dec 1943 to 14 Jan 1944

15 Jan to 26 Jan 1944

27 Jan to 4 Feb 1944

4 Feb 1944 Link Trainer

Certification

---

top of page

back a page