Last week we met Minneota’s Frank Josephson and learned how he enlisted in the Army Air Forces’ Aviation Cadet program in Minneapolis and traveled by train to San Antonio, Texas, in March of 1943 where he completed initial Aviation Cadet training. The Army Air Forces then sent Frank to Primary Flight Training at Curtis Field in Brady, Texas, and on to Basic Flight Training at Majors Army Airfield in Greenville, Texas.

Once Frank completed Basic Flight Training, the Army Air Forces moved him to Advanced Flight Training at Frederick Army Airfield in Frederick, Oklahoma.

“We were sent to Frederick, Oklahoma. That was southern Oklahoma. That’s another not too large a town. That’s where I was assigned a twin engine. After Basic they determined where you’d be the most proficient. Some were sent to Single Engine Advanced, which was training for fighter pilots. I was sent to Twin Engine Advanced to get us ready for multi-engine airplanes.”

He described the twin-engine, AT-9 trainer they learned to fly there.

“It’s a Curtiss airplane. It was a good airplane. You had a co-pilot there, which at first was your instructor. And then after you soloed and another guy soloed, you changed out being pilot and co-pilot. They actually would haul five people, three others besides that.

Frank recalled a long flight that was part of their advanced training.

“(W)e did make a cross-country from Frederick, OK to Little Rock, Arkansas on a weekend. Our instructors arranged that. There was an instructor — one instructor or two instructors — and each one led another plane or two with just students. And then we followed them to Little Rock.”

Frank described how this cross-country flight also introduced the air cadets to the capabilities of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

“We had a little experience with a WASP in advanced twin-engine training when we flew to Little Rock. We saw a P-51 flying around there and looked like it was ready to land, so after we landed, we just waited and there that thing parked just as nice as could be. Out stepped a WASP. It was the first time we had ever seen them and we thought, “Boy, now there’s a lady that knows what she’s doing!”

Graduation from Advanced Flight Training was a big deal as the graduates received their pilot wings and their commissions as Army Air Forces officers. Frank remembered that day and the major snowstorm that shut things down that night.

“(W)e graduated January 7, 1944. That was a big ceremony. We were commissioned and then we had to clear the base as officers and that was another learning experience. The day we graduated there was a snowstorm and we had to be off the base because the new ones were coming in. We could go into Frederick, Oklahoma — not a big city – and we scrounged places where we could stay overnight. I think we had reserved buses, but they couldn’t come. The roads were blocked.”

Frank returned by train to Minnesota, wearing his uniform with his new pilot wings and the gold bar of a 2nd Lieutenant.

“There was no time out of uniform at all at that time. The day or night, even on leave, you had to be in uniform all the time. So, when you were in the service then, you were in the service 24/7.”

The Army Air Forces next sent Frank to Tarrant Field in Fort Worth.

“That was the 4-engine transition into the B-24. That’s where we learned about the B-24 for another nine weeks, doing the same training in them as we did in all the others, learning to fly it. Instructors first and then co-pilots and so on. They had an engineer ride with you and I think a radio operator. And we spent our time there learning – both in the airplane in the air and in Link Trainers.”

The B-24 “Liberator” was a heavy bomber and a new ballgame for Frank.

“That four-engine was a big airplane. At that time it was the biggest until the B-29 came along. It still had pretty much the same flight characteristics. You had — faster airspeeds. You had more wingspan to worry about and a heavier airplane, but basically you got it in the air and it was the same thing. You had a different landing attitude. You had to be careful on the B-24 that the nose wheel was off the ground when you landed and gently let it down because it wasn’t the strongest piece of equipment.”

Frank explained how they were assessed on flying the B-24 at Tarrant Field.

“We had the same tests as we had in the other training situations where we would have an instrument test beside the regular flying tests and so on. But we had a lot of time with another student and flying and we did a little smattering of formation flying just between us mostly. Then we were done there and we had our orders.”

Frank’s orders took him to Lincoln, NE.

“That’s where we picked up our crew – there was nine assigned to me. The nine of us went by train to Pueblo, Colorado, and started our crew training there. We became a very compatible crew — just picked up from every corner of the United States. I was the one in charge — that was part of my training.”

Frank’s crew learned to operate together while at Pueblo Army Airfield. Meanwhile, WWII was raging in the Western Pacific and Europe.

The new bomber crew did not yet know what role they would play in the global conflict.