The 33d Flying Training Wing is an inactive

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

unit. It was last assigned to the

Central Flying Training Command Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

, and was disbanded on 13 October 1946 at

Randolph Field Randolph Air Force Base was an United States Air Force base located at Universal City, Texas ( east-northeast of Downtown San Antonio). Opened in 1931, Randolph has been a flying training facility for the United States Army Air Corps, the Uni ...

, Texas. There is no lineage link between the United States Air Force

33d Fighter Wing The 33rd Fighter Wing, sometimes written 33d Fighter Wing, (33 FW) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Education and Training Command's Nineteenth Air Force. It is stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida where it is a tenant ...

, established on 15 October 1947 at

Roswell Army Airfield Walker Air Force Base is a closed United States Air Force base located three miles (5 km) south of the central business district of Roswell, New Mexico. It was opened in 1941 as an Army Air Corps flying school and was active during World ...

, New Mexico, and this organization.

History

The wing was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Command and Control organization which supported Training Command Flight Schools in Central and Northern Texas and Oklaholma. The assigned schools provided phase III advanced two-engine flying training for Air Cadets, along with advanced B-25 Mitchell transition training for experienced pilots for reassignment to other flying units. Air Cadet graduates of the advanced schools were commissioned as Second Lieutenants, received their "wings" and were reassigned to Operational or Replacement Training Units operated by one of the four numbered air fores in the zone of interior. As training requirements changed during the war, schools were activated and inactivated or transferred to meet those requirements.Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas.

Lineage

* Established as 33d Flying Training Wing on 17 December1942 : Activated on 16 January 1943 : Disbanded on 13 October 1946.33d Flying Training Wing, lineage and history document Air Force Historical Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama

Assignments

* AAF Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Training Command), 16 January 1943 – 13 October 1946

Training aircraft

The schools of the wing used primarily the

Beechcraft AT-7 The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to Novembe ...

and

Cessna AT-17 The Cessna AT-17 Bobcat or Cessna Crane is a twin-engine advanced trainer aircraft designed and made in the United States, and used during World War II to bridge the gap between single-engine trainers and larger multi-engine combat aircraft. The ...

/UC-78 as their two-engine advanced trainer. *

Curtiss-Wright AT-9 The Curtiss-Wright AT-9 Jeep was a twin-engined advanced trainer aircraft used by the United States during World War II to bridge the gap between single-engined trainers and twin-engined combat aircraft. The AT-9 had a low-wing cantilever monopl ...

high performance two-engine trainers were also used for high-performance fighter training * Beechcraft AT-10s for two-engine bomber training. *

North American B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

s were used for two-engine transition training * L-2, L-3, L-4, TG-5 and TG-6s were used for glider and liaison pilot training

Assigned Schools

;

Altus Army Airfield Altus Air Force Base (Altus AFB, AAFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately east-northeast of Altus, Oklahoma. The host unit at Altus AFB is the 97th Air Mobility Wing (97 AMW), assigned to the Nineteenth Air Force (19 AF) ...

, Altus, Oklahoma : AAF Pilot School (Advanced Two-Engine) : 66th Two-Engine Flying Training Group : Opened: June 1942, Closed: May 1945 (AT-9, AT-17, UC-78) : Base closed May 1945; reopened 1953, now Altus Air Force Base ;

Blackland Army Airfield Blacklands or Blackland may refer to: Places In Texas * Blackland, Austin, Texas, a neighborhood in Austin * Blackland, Texas, a town in Rockwall County * Blackland Army Airfield, a former name of Waco Regional Airport * Texas Blackland Prai ...

, Waco, Texas : AAF Pilot School (Advanced 2-Engine), also transition school : 73d Two-Engine Flying Training Group : Opened: September 1942, Closed: October 1945 (AT-9, AT-10, AT-17, UC-78, B-25) : Conducted Glider Training August–October 1942; B-25 Transition school opened April 1944 ; Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas : AAF Pilot School (Advanced 2-Engine) : 67th Two-Engine Flying Training Group : Opened: December 1940, Closed: January 1945 (AT-6, BC-1, O-52) : World War I training airfield, two-engine school opened December 1940; also flew advanced single-engine trainers; trained observation pilots; later Brooks Air Force Base, closed 2011 ;

Ellington Field Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base is a joint installation shared by various active component and reserve component military units, as well as aircraft flight operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the aegis ...

, Houston, Texas : AAF Pilot School (Advanced 2-Engine) : 68th Two-Engine Flying Training Group : Opened: January 1942, Closed: November 1945 (AT-9, AT-10, AT-17, UC-78) : World War I training airfield, re-opened October 1941, later Ellington Air Force Base, closed 1976, now Ellington Air National Guard Base (TX ANG) ; Frederick Army Airfield, Frederick, Oklahoma : AAF Pilot School (Advanced 2-Engine), also transition school : 70th Two-Engine Flying Training Group : Opened: March 1943, Closed: November 1945 (AT-9, UC-78, A-26, B-25) : B-25 Transition school opened January 1945 ;

Lubbock Army Airfield Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

, Lubbock, Texas : AAF Pilot School (Advanced 2-Engine) : 71st Two-Engine Flying Training Group : Opened: February 1942, Closed: January 1945 (AT-6, AT-9, AT-10, AT-17, UC-78) : Also Glider/Liaison pilot training (L-2, L-5, CG-4A) during 1943; became Advanced, Single-Engine, Jan-Oct 1945; reopened 1949 as Reese Air Force Base, closed 1997 ;

Pampa Army Airfield Pampa Army Airfield is an abandoned airfield located about 11 miles east of Pampa in Gray County, Texas. During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces used Pampa Airfield as a training airfield by the Army Air Forces Flying Training Co ...

, Pampa, Texas : AAF Pilot School (Advanced 2-Engine), also transition school : 74th Two-Engine Flying Training Group : Opened: October 1942, Closed: September 1945 (AT-9, AT-10, AT-17, UC-78, B-25) : B-25 Transition school opened October 1944

Stations

, Texas, 16 January 1943 * Waco Army Airfield, Texas, 8 Jul 1944 *

, Texas, (temporary 31 October 1945) permanent 5 August – 13 October 1946

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Training wings of the United States Army Air Forces Military units and formations disestablished in 1946 1943 establishments in Texas 1946 disestablishments in Texas