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The Navy Pre-Flight School at Chapel Hill, 1942–1945

Name: The Navy Pre-Flight School at Chapel Hill, 1942–1945
Start: 1942
End: 1945
Location: Orange County, North Carolina

The wartime cadet school that filled the campus with aviation trainees, remade its athletics fields, and left the town a record in photographs.

In briefCommissioned at UNC in May 1942, the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School trained 18,700 cadets before it was decommissioned on October 15, 1945. Cadets ate in Lenoir Hall and drilled in a Navy-built armory that opened in 1943. George H. W. Bush trained there as a cadet, Gerald Ford taught there, and Ted Williams played on its baseball team.

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Greetings from the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill: a 1943 postcard

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during World War II Beta Theta Pi and other fraternity houses quarter Navy trainees While the university served as a naval training center, many fraternity houses, the Beta house among them, were used to lodge midshipmen, which held back chapter growth until the war ended.Search the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, National Register nomination (OR1744), p. 11
1942 The Navy and the university jointly build a gymnasium for women students The gym replaced space women lost when the Navy took over campus buildings for wartime training. Their playing field went to military training and was not replaced.Pamela Dean, Women on the Hill: A History of Women at the University of North Carolina (1987), scan p. 20
by March 6, 1942 The Navy picks the University as one of four pre-flight training schools The Navy chose the University as one of four places in the country, with the Universities of Georgia and Iowa and St. Mary's College in California, to put aviation cadets through three months of physical conditioning before flight training, with the first 625 of 1,875 cadets due May 1. The University began planning to empty several dormitories and feed the cadets in its dining hall, and President Graham said regular work could go on without serious dislocation. People: Frank Porter GrahamThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 6, 1942, p. 1
March 11, 1942 Chapel Hill aldermen move to hold down rents before the Navy cadets come At their March 11 meeting the Chapel Hill aldermen went on record for any measure needed to keep rents from rising with the coming of 1,875 Navy cadets and their staff, and Mayor John Foushee named Obie Davis and R. W. Madry to work with the University on rents and on finding rooms for displaced students and the Navy staff. The board also backed stricter enforcement of the speed laws and talked of adding police, after the chief reported fourteen speeding arrests in February. People: Robert W. Madry, John M. FousheeThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 13, 1942, p. 1
March 24, 1942 The Navy opens the first Pre-Flight School offices in Swain Hall Two Navy supply officers, Lt. Comdr. B. H. Micou and Ensign E. E. Mack, arrived in Chapel Hill and set up temporary offices for the coming Pre-Flight School in Swain Hall, hiring a local stenographer before leaving to order supplies. The executive officer, John P. Graff, arrived two days later, and the school's small staff worked out of Swain Hall until early May. People: John P. GraffCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), September 19, 1942, p. 1
May 22, 1942–October 24, 1945 The Navy B-1 Band lives in the Community Center With the community center unfinished for lack of funds, the town lent it on May 22, 1942 to the Navy as quarters for the B-1 Band, the Black musicians of the Pre-Flight School. The Navy, not the band, finished and equipped the building. The band, trained at Norfolk, arrived on July 31, 1942 and lived there until the town regained it on October 24, 1945.The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 13, 1942, p. 1 (open house at the Negro Community Center) · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 22, 1942, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 31, 1942, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 7, 1942, p. 1
May 23, 1942 Governor Broughton welcomes guests at the commissioning of the Navy Pre-Flight School The dinner program for the commissioning of the Naval Aviation Pre-Flight School at Chapel Hill on May 23, 1942 has Governor J. Melville Broughton offering the welcome, and Josephus Daniels giving greetings to the Navy Department representatives and to Commander O. O. Kessing. The school trained 18,700 pre-flight cadets before it was decommissioned on October 15, 1945. People: Josephus Daniels, Oliver Owen KessingSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Training Programs, A Nursery of Patriotism: the University at War, 1861-1945
May 28, 1942 The first battalion of 242 Pre-Flight cadets arrives in Chapel Hill The Pre-Flight School's First Battalion, 242 naval aviation cadets, arrived on May 28, 1942, five days after the commissioning, and marched to Manly Hall, their quarters, as the painters were leaving. New battalions then came every two weeks.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 3, 1942, p. 5
early May 1942 The Pre-Flight School moves its administration into Alexander Hall In the first two weeks of May 1942 the Pre-Flight School moved its offices from Swain Hall into Alexander Hall, the dormitory known as Dormitory K, which had been remodeled as the school's administration building. The disbursing office took over a basement billiard room, and Caldwell Hall was being remodeled to hold the academic staff and about 900 cadets at a time for classes.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 3, 1942, p. 5
July 29, 1942 A Navy branch post office opens at the Pre-Flight School headquarters A postal inspector from Raleigh and Postmaster W. S. Hogan formally opened a branch post office on the main floor of Alexander Hall, with money order, registry and parcel post service, staffed by four Navy enlisted men. Its cancellation stamp read "U. S. Navy," and on the Monday of opening week the staff found 2,700 cadets' letters waiting to go out. People: William S. HoganThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 31, 1942, p. 1
July 31, 1942 to April 1944 The Navy B-1 Band serves at Chapel Hill The B-1 Band, 44 Black musicians sworn in at Raleigh on May 27, 1942 as the first African Americans to serve in the Navy at general rank, played for the Navy Pre-Flight School at UNC from July 1942 to April 1944. Barred from campus housing, they lived in the new Black community center on Roberson Street, now the Hargraves Center.Search the index · UNC-Chapel Hill: Pioneers of integration (May 25, 2017) · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, August 7, 1942, p. 1
by July 24, 1942 The Navy begins a temporary office building for the Pre-Flight School beside the campus tennis courts Excavation began for a one-story Colonial-style office building for the Naval Pre-Flight School, 135 by 38 feet with a four-column portico and brick-veneer walls, set back from the Country Club road across from the Forest Theatre. T. W. Poe & Son held the general contract and Archie Davis drew the design; the Weekly listed it with renovated dormitories, a new infirmary, an outdoor pool and a cleared athletic field in the Navy's building program. People: Archie Royal DavisThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 24, 1942, p. 1

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August 22, 1942 The Pre-Flight School graduates its first battalion with a review in Kenan Stadium The First Battalion finished its twelve weeks on August 22, 1942, and passed in review in Kenan Stadium in new white uniforms before leaving for flight bases such as Squantum and New Orleans. Rear Admiral William Glassford Jr., commandant of the Sixth Naval District, came for the graduation. The school's records showed the battalion's average physical fitness index rising from about 64 to 80 over the course.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 3, 1942, p. 5
August 27 to September 26, 1942 The Pre-Flight School holds its first indoctrination course for 135 new Navy athletic instructors A one-month course for 135 newly commissioned V-5 physical training instructors, the first held anywhere but the Naval Academy, ran at Chapel Hill and sent its graduates to Navy aviation bases across the country, with 21 kept on the Chapel Hill staff. The class included former Yale coach Raymond Pond and Stanford basketball star Hank Luisetti. Such courses then ran at Chapel Hill about once a month; the December 1942 class included UNC football coach Jim Tatum. People: Jim TatumCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), September 26, 1942, p. 1
August 30, 1942 The Pre-Flight School's Black Navy band gives its first public concert The band of Black North Carolina musicians enlisted for the Naval Pre-Flight School gave its first public concert on a Sunday evening in Kenan Stadium, open to everyone. The Weekly reported a good crowd and praised the playing; the band had come from training at Norfolk on July 31 and was quartered in the Negro Community Center.The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 4, 1942, p. 5
late August 1942 The Pre-Flight School bars its cadets from 17 Chapel Hill places in the milk dispute After the aldermen suspended the milk ordinance, the Naval Pre-Flight School ordered its cadets to stay out of 17 places that sold milk from Harward's Durham Road Dairy. When Harward's stopped taking milk from the degraded dairies, the school lifted the ban on three places that had shown they were not using it and said the order on the other 14 would stand a while longer.The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 28, 1942, p. 1
September 12 to November 28, 1942 The Pre-Flight Cloudbusters finish their first football season at 8-2-1 Coached by Lt. Comdr. Jim Crowley, the Pre-Flight School's varsity won eight games, lost two and tied one in its first season, beating Harvard, Syracuse, Temple, Georgetown and William & Mary, tying Georgia Pre-Flight and losing only to Boston College, 7 to 6, and Fordham. It outscored its opponents 162 to 43. Both home games, against Colgate and Iowa Pre-Flight, were cancelled for lack of transportation, so the varsity played every game away from Chapel Hill. Center Joe Kovach and back Len Eshmont made the United Press All-American service team.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), December 5, 1942, p. 5
September 19, 1942 The Pre-Flight School's weekly Cloudbuster begins publication The first issue of the Cloudbuster, the weekly paper of the Navy Pre-Flight School, appeared on September 19, 1942, put out by the school's public relations office with Ensign Leonard Eiserer as editor and Lt. (jg) Kidd Brewer as public relations officer. Its nameplate was drawn by a cadet, and from December 1942 it was printed by the Orange Printshop in Chapel Hill.Search the index · Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), September 19, 1942, p. 4
September 23, 1942 Dynamite blasts at the University's new athletic field shower stones on nearby homes Rock blasting at dusk where the new athletic field was being graded south of Fetzer Field threw stones onto the homes of P. C. Farrar, Fred McCall and John Couch, one of them as big as a man's head, and shook houses for a mile around. Residents protested to Controller W. D. Carmichael Jr.; when blasting resumed on October 7 he watched over it and promised to pay for damage, but stones fell on the same homes again.The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 25, 1942, p. 1
September 28 and 29, 1942 Former Senator Hiram Bingham tells Pre-Flight cadets that Navy fliers will win the Pacific war Hiram Bingham, former senator from Connecticut and a pilot in the First World War, spoke at the Pre-Flight School's Monday and Tuesday assemblies on a lecture tour of Navy schools made at the request of Secretary Frank Knox. He described the Pacific islands and predicted that Navy fliers working from carriers would win the war against Japan.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 3, 1942, p. 1
September 1942 Jack Dempsey spends four days at the Pre-Flight School Former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, then a Coast Guard lieutenant in charge of physical training at Manhattan Beach, spent four days at the school watching its program, talking with cadets and urging them to fight hard. Other visitors that week included Capt. Leland P. Lovette, head of Navy public relations, and Lt. Comdr. Tom Hamilton, who had planned the Pre-Flight program.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), September 19, 1942, p. 1
late September 1942 The Navy and the university trustees approve a $932,729 building program for the Pre-Flight School The university announced a contract, approved by the Navy and the trustees, for $932,729 in new buildings and improvements for the Pre-Flight School. The Navy was to pay $768,523 and the university $164,106, the difference between temporary and permanent construction. The list included a $192,000 hospital, an outdoor swimming pool, an athletic field, an office building, a new wing on Woollen Gymnasium, a rifle range and work on Emerson Field and ten dormitories, with Navy rent expected to repay the university's share.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 3, 1942, p. 1
October 18, 1942 Bishop Eugene McGuinness celebrates Chapel Hill's first military field mass in Kenan Stadium A pontifical military field mass, the first in Chapel Hill's history according to the Cloudbuster, was celebrated in Kenan Stadium by Bishop Eugene J. McGuinness of Raleigh, after a procession of Catholic officers and cadets from the field house to an altar on the field. Msgr. Dennis Lynch preached, and the Catholic officers gave the bishop a dinner at the Carolina Inn with Frank P. Graham and Dean R. B. House among the guests. People: Frank Porter Graham, R. B. HouseSearch the index · Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 24, 1942, p. 6
October 1942 to May 1943 Lt. (jg) Gerald R. Ford becomes a battalion officer at the Pre-Flight School Gerald R. Ford, later President of the United States, was named battalion officer of the Seventh Battalion when the school's military department gave each battalion its own officer and assistant in October 1942. He later took charge of the even-numbered battalions, was promoted to lieutenant in March 1943, and was detached to the Fourth Naval District at Philadelphia late in May 1943.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 17, 1942, p. 1
October 1942 The Navy Pre-Flight School's armory is completed near the campus tennis courts A semi-prefabricated armory and rifle range designed by Archie Royal Davis for the Pre-Flight School was finished near the tennis courts, a short walk from Navy Hall. It was a separate building from the NROTC Armory. People: Archie Royal DavisNC State Historic Preservation Office: Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Naval Armory at UNC-Chapel Hill, National Register nomination (OR1541), p. 44
October 1942 The Pre-Flight School begins cockpit instruction in a wingless Navy biplane beside Alexander Hall A new course gave every cadet time in the cockpit of a Vought-Sikorsky O3U-3 biplane, delivered to the Navy in 1933 and set up without wings next to Alexander Hall, so that cadets would know the instruments and controls before reaching flight bases where they now flew within days of arrival. Lt. Richard King ran the course, and a building behind Caldwell Hall was planned to house the plane.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 24, 1942, p. 1
November 21, 1942 Assistant Secretary of the Navy Ralph A. Bard inspects the Pre-Flight School Ralph A. Bard, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, toured the Pre-Flight School and watched cadets on the drill fields with his aide, Capt. E. P. Forrestel, Capt. W. S. Popham of the NROTC and the school's officers. The same evening he was scheduled to speak in Memorial Hall for the Carolina Political Union, introduced by Josephus Daniels. People: Josephus DanielsCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), November 28, 1942, p. 2
November 26, 1942 A regimental review in Kenan Stadium honors Commander Kessing as he leaves for the Pacific With Admiral Halsey asking for him in the southwest Pacific, Commander O. O. Kessing was ordered to sea duty, and the Pre-Flight School held a regimental review in his honor in Kenan Stadium. Lieutenant Commander John P. Graff succeeded him in command. People: R. B. House, John P. GraffSearch the index · Chapel Hill Weekly: "Kessing to Leave Here because He Is Wanted on Battle Front" (November 27, 1942), p. 1
November 1942 John P. Graff takes command of the Navy Pre-Flight School When Commander O. O. Kessing was ordered to sea in November 1942, his executive officer John P. Graff was named to succeed him in command; a regimental review in Kenan Stadium honored Kessing on November 26, and the Weekly reported Graff's promotion to commander in the first week of December. Graff, recalled from retirement, had been the first line officer to arrive in the spring of 1942. People: Oliver Owen Kessing, John P. GraffFrancis Laverne Johnson, With the Cloudbusters at the United States Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill (1943), scan p. 8 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, November 27, 1942, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 11, 1942, p. 1
by November 13, 1942 University improves the acoustics of Memorial Hall at the Navy's urging The University added loudspeakers, improved the amplifying system, put acoustical board on the walls and hung monk's-cloth curtains across the back of the balcony and the sides of the stage in Memorial Hall, on the advice of Robert Thompson, sound engineer of the Columbia Broadcasting System. The Weekly reported, as the story went, that Commander O. O. Kessing of the Pre-Flight School had pressed for the work after speakers could not be heard, and that a subsidy was mentioned. People: Oliver Owen KessingThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 13, 1942, p. 1
January 7 to February 6, 1943 Charlie Gehringer and Hal Schumacher take Navy officer training at the Pre-Flight School Detroit Tigers second baseman Charlie Gehringer and New York Giants pitcher Hal Schumacher were among about 130 coaches and athletes who began a month of Navy indoctrination at Chapel Hill, along with Washington Redskins players Dick Todd and Ed Cifers, Chicago Bears end Ray Bray and former Detroit Lions coach Bill Edwards. They finished on February 6, and twenty of the class stayed on as instructors at Chapel Hill.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), January 16, 1943, p. 1 · Also: Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), February 6, 1943, p. 1
January 1943 Swain Hall reopens as the University's student cafeteria With Lenoir Hall given over to the Navy Pre-Flight cadets and the Naval ROTC moved to its new armory, the University put Swain Hall back into use as its student eating house, now a cafeteria of 500 seats able to serve 1,500 at a meal, run by J. A. Gardner under Carolina Inn manager Leigh Skinner. A temporary student cafeteria had been opened in the Carolina Inn ballroom on October 29, 1942.The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 8, 1943, p. 5
by January 23, 1943 William C. Coker lends fourteen acres on the Raleigh Road for a Pre-Flight victory garden Dr. William C. Coker of the university faculty lent the Navy a fourteen-acre tract on the Raleigh Road near the school for the duration, and Commander Graff approved a victory garden to be worked by cadets on the labor crew. The labor engineering staff under Ensign Warren H. Chivers was to run it with advice from the university's federal farming project of the Soil Conservation Service, and the vegetables were meant for the cadets' mess. People: William Chambers Coker, John P. GraffCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), January 23, 1943, p. 1
February 18, 1943 Governor Broughton and the General Assembly tour the Pre-Flight School Governor J. Melville Broughton, the Council of State and about 140 members of the General Assembly came from Raleigh by bus as an honorary 20th Battalion, watched cadets on the obstacle course and at football, boxing, wrestling, swimming and other sports, saw hand-to-hand combat and mass drills in Woollen Gymnasium and dined with the school. On February 24 the legislature passed a joint resolution thanking Commander Graff and Orange County's representative, John W. Umstead Jr., who arranged the visit. People: J. Melville Broughton, Josephus Daniels, James P. Raugh, John W. Umstead Jr., John P. GraffCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), February 20, 1943, p. 1
February 19, 1943 The NROTC holds its annual dance to open the new armory The Naval ROTC dedicated its armory with its annual Navy dance on the drill deck, with the Navy B-1 Band, the Black enlisted musicians stationed with the Pre-Flight School, named as the band. The drill deck stayed a favorite dance floor through the war.Search the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Naval Armory at UNC-Chapel Hill, National Register nomination (OR1541), p. 34
by February 12, 1943 University breaks ground for two dormitories on Pittsboro Street Ground was broken for two two-story University dormitories facing each other on Pittsboro Street, up the hill from Whitehead Hall and just south of the old railroad line, to replace Carr dormitory, which the Navy Pre-Flight School was taking over. Built with a contractor's capital under a rental arrangement the University might later buy out, they were to hold 150 to 200 men and be finished by the end of March.The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 12, 1943, p. 1
by February 19, 1943 University turns Carr dormitory over to the Navy Pre-Flight School The University turned Carr dormitory over to the Navy Pre-Flight School, which needed more quarters for a larger enrollment, and rushed a renovation to ready it for a detachment of aviation cadets due on February 25.The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 19, 1943, p. 1
March 13, 1943 Navy Hall opens as the Pre-Flight School's visitors' entrance and cadet lounge Designed by Archie Royal Davis and first drawn as a temporary office and hostess building, Navy Hall opened on March 13, 1943 with offices for the Pre-Flight School and recreation rooms for cadets; the public was invited in on March 21. People: Archie Royal DavisNC State Historic Preservation Office: Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Naval Armory at UNC-Chapel Hill, National Register nomination (OR1541), p. 43 · Also: Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), April 17, 1943, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, March 19, 1943, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, March 26, 1943, p. 1
April 5, 1943 Pre-Flight cadets put out a forest fire near Horace Williams Airport A forest and brush fire spread over about a square mile and a half near the Chapel Hill airport on the evening of April 5, 1943, threatening university property where equipment was stored, two farmhouses and perhaps the hangars. Commander Graff called out the duty battalion, the 18th, and cadets with shovels, rakes and axes under Lt. (jg) Warren H. Chivers had it under control within two hours. Capt. W. S. Popham, the senior officer present, commended them. People: John P. GraffCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), April 10, 1943, p. 1
April 10, 1943 The Pre-Flight School is to open its Synthetic Devices Building A remodeled building behind Caldwell Hall, between Emerson Stadium and the tailor shop, was to open to cadets and personnel on Sunday, April 11, as a classroom and small museum of training devices: scale models of Allied and enemy planes, tanks and warships, gunnery aids, posters and an automatic rater for recognition drill. Lt. Richard King was in charge, and it was open to Navy personnel but not the public.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), April 10, 1943, p. 1
April 27, 1943 Danish minister Henrik de Kauffmann inspects the Pre-Flight School Henrik de Kauffmann, Denmark's minister to the United States, who spoke on the university campus that week, inspected the Pre-Flight training program and watched the opening round of the regimental wrestling tournament.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), May 1, 1943, p. 3
May 6, 1943 Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky and Johnny Sain report to the Pre-Flight School as aviation cadets Five major league players reported to the Navy Pre-Flight School as cadets of the 25th Battalion: Ted Williams and Johnny Pesky of the Boston Red Sox, Johnny Sain and Louis Gremp of the Boston Braves, and Joe Coleman of the Philadelphia Athletics. Besides the regular cadet course they played for the Cloudbusters baseball team, which by late June had won sixteen of its last eighteen games. People: Ted WilliamsCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), May 8, 1943, p. 1
May 20, 1943 Marine ace Joe Foss speaks to the Pre-Flight regiment two days after receiving the Medal of Honor Capt. Joseph J. Foss of the Marine Corps, credited with 26 enemy planes over Guadalcanal and the country's leading ace, spoke to the cadets, officers and V-5 instructors two days after President Roosevelt gave him the Medal of Honor. He stressed teamwork and hard training and answered questions about being forced down at sea.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), May 22, 1943, p. 1
May 23, 1943 The Pre-Flight School marks its first anniversary with a review in Kenan Stadium The school celebrated the first anniversary of its commissioning with a regimental review in Kenan Stadium. Commander Graff gave the Silver Star to Cadet Anthony E. Kujawinski for gallantry in combat, and Dean Francis F. Bradshaw brought the university's greetings. People: Francis Foster Bradshaw, John P. GraffFrancis Laverne Johnson, With the Cloudbusters at the United States Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill (1943), scan p. 34 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 21, 1943, p. 1
June 2, 1943 Governor Broughton speaks at a Pre-Flight School graduation in Kenan Stadium Broughton and UNC president Frank Porter Graham both spoke at Navy Pre-Flight School graduation exercises in Kenan Stadium on June 2, 1943. People: Frank Porter GrahamSearch the index · R.A. Fountain: Chronology (Navy Pre-Flight School)
June 25, 1943 Chapel Hill Red Cross Grey Ladies are capped for service at the Navy Pre-Flight hospital Twelve women of the Chapel Hill Red Cross Grey Ladies hospital unit and recreation corps received caps and certificates after 24 hours of probationary duty at the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight Hospital. Commander John P. Graff thanked them for serving the cadets, and Russell Grumman, the town's Red Cross chairman, presented the certificates. People: John P. GraffCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), July 3, 1943, p. 4 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 2, 1943, p. 1
late June 1943 The Pre-Flight School's victory garden begins feeding the cadets The Pre-Flight School's victory garden, worked for several months by its labor engineering crews, began producing in late June 1943. More than $200 worth of beets, cucumbers, kale and chard had been sold to Lenoir Dining Hall and served back to the cadets, with tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts and other crops still to come.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), July 3, 1943, p. 1
July 14, 1943 Chapel Hill aldermen let camera, bicycle and book shops open on Sunday afternoons At the request of Pre-Flight commander John P. Graff and Dean of Men Roland B. Parker, the board amended the Sunday ordinance for the duration so photograph studios, camera shops, bicycle-rental shops and bookshops could open from 1 to 6 p.m. for about 2,000 cadets free only on weekends. A substitute adding morning hours lost; the Weekly reported that the Merchants Association had opposed any change. People: John P. GraffThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 16, 1943, p. 1
August 20, 1943 Assistant Navy Secretary Artemus L. Gates addresses Pre-Flight graduates in Kenan Stadium Artemus L. Gates, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air, flew to Chapel Hill on his first visit and gave the main address to the graduating 27th Battalion in Kenan Stadium, then reviewed the regiment of cadets. Captain William S. Popham of the university's Naval Training Unit stood with him on the reviewing line. People: John P. GraffCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), August 21, 1943, p. 1
August 22-28, 1943 Tar Heel Boys' State delegates take a week of Pre-Flight training About 145 high school seniors at the fifth annual Tar Heel Boys' State, run by the American Legion with the Institute of Government, were housed at the Pre-Flight School for the week. They spent mornings in sessions on the campus and afternoons in drill, hand-to-hand fighting, boxing, wrestling, swimming and the obstacle course, closing at the Carolina Inn. People: James P. Raugh, John P. GraffCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), August 28, 1943, p. 3
mid-August 1943 Kessing Pool opens behind Woollen Gymnasium for Pre-Flight swimming training An outdoor pool behind Woollen Gymnasium opened in mid-August 1943 for the Navy Pre-Flight School's aquatic training and was named for Oliver Owen Kessing, the school's first commanding officer. Thousands of servicemen trained in it, among them Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush.Search the index · Carolina Story: Bowman Gray and Kessing Pools and Koury Natatorium · Also: Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), August 21, 1943, p. 3; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 20, 1943, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 13, 1943, p. 1
September 5, 1943 Bishop McGuinness offers a military pontifical field mass in Kenan Stadium Bishop Eugene J. McGuinness of Raleigh offered a military pontifical field mass in Kenan Stadium, with a procession of Catholic officers and cadets, the Navy Pre-Flight School Catholic choir and music by the Navy band. Rev. John Renehan of Newton Grove preached.The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 29, 1943, p. 4
September 11, 1943 The Craighead twins take 600 cadets into the woods to start "self-preservation" training Ensigns John and Frank Craighead, twin naturalists just back from writing a survival manual for the Pre-Flight Schools, and Lieut. George D. Kepler took some 600 cadets and visiting newspapermen about five miles out of Chapel Hill for the first lesson in the new self-preservation course. They showed how to draw water from grapevines, twist bark into fishing line and find food in the woods.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), September 18, 1943, p. 1
October 9, 1943 Pre-Flight and Duke football teams fly from Chapel Hill to a game by glider The Pre-Flight "B" football team and Duke's junior varsity flew from the Horace Williams Airport to Camp Mackall in three C-47 transports, each towing a CG-4A glider, and were said to be the first football teams ever carried to a game by glider. The 75-mile trip took 45 minutes; Duke won the game 7 to 6.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 16, 1943, p. 3
by November 5, 1943 The University votes degree credit for courses taken in the Navy Pre-Flight School After joint committees studied the Navy Pre-Flight School's instruction, the University faculty approved giving degree credit, about a quarter's work, for courses cadets completed there, mostly in mathematics and physics. Lieutenant Commander Howard Hamilton of the Navy school and Guy Phillips of the University War College led the work.The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 5, 1943, p. 1
mid-November 1943 Italian prisoners of war from Camp Butner go to work in Lenoir Hall Forty Italian prisoners of war began working in Lenoir Hall, the University dining hall used only by the Navy Pre-Flight School, coming each day from the camp at Camp Butner under a contract with the government. The women who had worked there were moved to other University dining halls at the same pay, as the Manpower Commission required.The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 19, 1943, p. 1
December 2, 1943 British Ambassador Lord Halifax reviews 3,500 cadets and students in Kenan Stadium Lord Halifax, the British Ambassador, came to Chapel Hill with Governor J. Melville Broughton and reviewed a combined parade of about 3,500 Pre-Flight cadets and Naval ROTC, V-12 and Army ASTP students in Kenan Stadium, then spoke to the units. University officials and the heads of the Army and Navy units greeted him. People: J. Melville Broughton, R. B. House, John P. GraffCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), December 4, 1943, p. 1
December 11, 1943 Vice President Henry A. Wallace visits the Pre-Flight School Vice President Henry A. Wallace toured the Pre-Flight School and stopped in Navy Hall to talk with cadets and their visitors. People: Henry A. (Henry Agard) WallaceCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), December 18, 1943, p. 1
December 27-28, 1943 The Pre-Flight School gives Christmas parties for Chapel Hill schoolchildren The Pre-Flight School gave Christmas parties for the community's elementary schoolchildren aged 6 to 12, separate by race: white children on December 27 in Navy Hall and Black children on December 28 at the Navy band's quarters in Carrboro. Each party had a tree or Santa, ice cream, cookies, fruit and gifts for every child. People: John P. GraffCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), January 1, 1944, p. 1
February 25, 1944 The Pre-Flight regiment parades for the university's first Naval ROTC graduates On Graduation Day for the first graduates of the university's Naval ROTC unit, the Pre-Flight cadet regiment and band held a dress parade in their honor. Captain William S. Popham, professor of naval science, wrote to thank the school for the tribute.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), March 4, 1944, p. 1
March 4, 1944 Ohio Governor John W. Bricker, a presidential hopeful, speaks in Memorial Hall Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, then seeking the Republican presidential nomination, spoke on a Saturday night in Memorial Hall to a large crowd of officers, cadets and university students. Earlier he called at Navy Hall to see Ohio acquaintances serving at the Pre-Flight School.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), March 11, 1944, p. 4
April 8, 1944 Commander Graff hands the Pre-Flight School to Lieut. Comdr. James P. Raugh at a Kenan Stadium review Before about 4,000 people in Kenan Stadium, Commander John P. Graff gave up command of the Pre-Flight School to his executive officer, Lieut. Comdr. James P. Raugh, and left for duty overseas. University president Frank P. Graham gave the main address and a scroll from the state and university, Governor Broughton and Josephus Daniels spoke, and Graham said 13,000 cadets had entered the school. People: Frank Porter Graham, J. Melville Broughton, Josephus Daniels, R. B. House, James P. Raugh, John P. GraffCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), April 15, 1944, p. 1
April 24, 1944 The Navy B-1 Band leaves Chapel Hill for service in Hawaii The B-1 Band, the first Black Navy unit whose members held a rating above messman, cook or steward, was sent from Chapel Hill to Hawaii after nearly two years of playing across the campus and town.NC State Historic Preservation Office: Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Naval Armory at UNC-Chapel Hill, National Register nomination (OR1541), p. 34 · Also: Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), April 29, 1944, p. 1
late April 1944 A new band of Black Navy musicians from Great Lakes takes over at the Pre-Flight School A new Navy band of about 40 Black musicians arrived from the Great Lakes training station under Chief Musician Chancey S. Seeley, a Navy man of more than twenty years, to replace the band that had served the school since 1942. Unlike the first band, recruited entirely in North Carolina, its men came from many parts of the country.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), April 29, 1944, p. 1
May 9, 1944 Eddie Rickenbacker speaks to cadets and townspeople at Fetzer Field Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, the leading American ace of the First World War, inspected the Pre-Flight program and spoke at Fetzer Field to 1,600 cadets in a crowd of about 5,000 that included university students and townspeople, urging physical fitness and teamwork. The school and the university's International Relations Club sponsored the visit, and Captain W. S. Popham introduced him.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), May 13, 1944, p. 1
early May 1944 Free French naval aviation cadets begin training at the Pre-Flight School A detail of 36 Free French naval aviation cadets under Lieut. (jg) Jean Polfrit came to Chapel Hill for physical and pre-flight training and English. Twelve of them, by their own account, had escaped occupied France and Spanish prisons to join the Free French in North Africa; they drilled in the school's reviews and the national headquarters of the French naval aviation training program was in Chapel Hill until August.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), May 13, 1944, p. 4
June 6, 1944 The Pre-Flight School holds D-Day vespers in Emerson Stadium On the day of the Normandy landings, cadets, officers and crew gathered in Emerson Stadium for special vesper services, led in prayer by Chaplain George W. Cummins for the men in the invasion.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), June 10, 1944, p. 4
June 24, 1944 Pre-Flight cadets are told the Navy is cutting back pilot training The whole regiment of cadets met in Memorial Hall to hear that the Navy would substantially reduce its pilot training program because aerial losses had run a third below forecasts. Each cadet got a letter from Rear Admiral A. W. Radford, and Lieut. Comdr. James P. Raugh explained the choices, including combat aircrew duty for those who left. People: James P. RaughCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), July 1, 1944, p. 1
July 1, 1944 to February 15, 1945 Townswomen, students and Navy wives make 36,618 surgical dressings for the Pre-Flight medical department Women volunteers working with the local Red Cross, 26 Chapel Hill women, 21 university students and 59 Navy wives, made 36,618 surgical dressings for the station's medical department, giving about 1,157 hours, under the supervision of Mrs. Earle C. Waters.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), February 23, 1945, p. 3
by July 15, 1944 Twelve WAVES live on the third deck of Alexander Hall Twelve enlisted WAVES, eleven of them serving the Pre-Flight School as laboratory and dental technicians and storekeepers and one with the university's V-12 unit, were quartered together on the third floor of Alexander Hall. Two WAVES officers began teaching navigation to cadets that summer.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), July 15, 1944, p. 1
August 6, 1944 A Marine fighter plane crashes in a cornfield near the Chapel Hill airport A Marine Hellcat fighter from Cherry Point crashed in a cornfield about half a mile north of the Chapel Hill airport. The pilot, a Marine major, was critically hurt and died of his injuries in the Pre-Flight School's Naval Dispensary four days later.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), August 12, 1944, p. 1
August 1944 All-American Otto Graham reports to the Pre-Flight School as a cadet Otto Graham, Northwestern's All-American football and basketball player, arrived in Chapel Hill as a naval aviation cadet with the 58th Battalion and joined the Cloudbuster football squad, which opened practice under Lieut. Comdr. Glenn Killinger with Lieut. Paul Bryant coaching the line. People: Otto GrahamCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), August 19, 1944, p. 1
early August 1944 The French naval aviation training program moves its national headquarters out of Chapel Hill The national headquarters of the French Naval Aviation Training Program left Chapel Hill for Norfolk and Washington with Lieut. Comdr. Raymond L. Arnoud and Lieut. Louis LeCoz, while French cadets continued to train at the Pre-Flight School with liaison officers.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), August 5, 1944, p. 1
November 1944 The Pre-Flight School lengthens its course from 12 to 25 weeks Beginning with the 64th Battalion, which arrived in mid-November 1944, cadets at Chapel Hill trained on a 25-week syllabus instead of 12 weeks, so that new classes would stay into the summer of 1945. In July 1945 the course was cut back to 19 weeks.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 3, 1945, p. 3
by December 15, 1944 Otto Graham becomes the first Pre-Flight football player named to a national All-America service team Cadet Otto Graham, the Northwestern star who quarterbacked the 1944 Cloudbusters, was named to the Associated Press All-America service eleven, the first player from the Chapel Hill school so honored. Six other Cloudbusters got honorable mention. People: Otto GrahamCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), December 15, 1944, p. 4
February 4, 1945 Seven French journalists, among them Jean-Paul Sartre, visit the Pre-Flight School and its French cadets Seven journalists of the newly freed French press, on a U.S. tour run by the Office of War Information, flew into Chapel Hill on a Sunday morning, ate the noon meal with the school's French cadets in Lenoir Hall and toured Navy Hall, Graham Dormitory and Woollen Gym. They also stopped at the university's Institute for Research in Social Science and the University Press.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), February 9, 1945, p. 1
by February 2, 1945 Paul Bryant becomes head of football at the Navy Pre-Flight School When Glenn Killinger was detached for Florida, Lt. Comdr. Paul W. Bryant, the former Alabama end who had been line coach of the 1944 Cloudbusters, was named head of the school's football training course. He was to coach the 1945 varsity, whose season the Navy cancelled before it began.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), February 2, 1945, p. 1
March 1, 1945 The Marine detachment that taught Pre-Flight cadets small arms is disbanded The Marine Aviation Detachment, which had taught the cadets small arms and gunnery on the range and in class since 1942, was disbanded and its seven enlisted men sent to Camp Lejeune, with Navy gunnery specialists taking over. Its commander was Warrant Officer Faustin E. Wirkus, once known as the White King of La Gonave in Haiti.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), February 23, 1945, p. 1
April 14 or 15, 1945 More than 6,000 Navy men, students and townspeople mourn President Roosevelt in Kenan Stadium All Navy personnel in Chapel Hill, university students and faculty and townspeople, more than 6,000 in all, held a memorial service for President Roosevelt in Kenan Stadium. UNC president Frank P. Graham gave the eulogy, Pre-Flight chaplain George W. Cummins arranged it, the cadet choir sang and the Pre-Flight band's Black chorus sang Finlandia. People: Frank Porter GrahamCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), April 20, 1945, p. 1
May 8, 1945 The Pre-Flight School marks the German surrender with vesper services in Memorial Hall Instead of celebrating, the school observed victory in Europe with vesper services for all hands, their families and friends, the cadet choir singing, and Chaplain George W. Cummins preaching on 'Work and Worship'. The commanding officer and the chief of air primary training told the men to keep at work until Japan was beaten. People: James P. RaughCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), May 11, 1945, p. 1
May 23, 1945 The Pre-Flight School marks three years with more than 15,000 cadets sent on to flight training On its third anniversary, kept as a regular work day, the school counted more than 15,000 cadets who had finished its course and gone on to primary flight training since the first battalion arrived in May 1942, and noted that for more than a year it had been the only Pre-Flight school training French cadets. People: James P. RaughCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), May 25, 1945, p. 1
June 11, 1945 The first class of French naval officers begins a Pre-Flight course at Chapel Hill An initial group of French naval officers reported for a four-week Pre-Flight course, the first officers of the French Navy trained at the school; they went on to Memphis in early July.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 3, 1945, p. 3
June 13, 1945 Bill Tilden and Vincent Richards play a tennis exhibition before 1,100 fans at Chapel Hill On a USO tour of service camps, tennis champions Bill Tilden, then 52, and Vincent Richards stopped at Chapel Hill and played for about 1,100 spectators; Tilden beat Richards 6-1, 6-1, and the pair then won a doubles match against a Pre-Flight instructor and a cadet.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), June 15, 1945, p. 4
June 22, 1945 The outdoor pool named for Commodore O. O. Kessing is formally dedicated The outdoor pool completed in 1943 and named by the university trustees for Commodore O. O. Kessing, the school's first commanding officer, was dedicated during the Pre-Flight sports finals. Chancellor Robert B. House presided, Comdr. James P. Raugh and President Frank P. Graham spoke, and a cypress plaque was unveiled in the pool's rock wall; the pool served the school, the university and the town. People: Oliver Owen Kessing, R. B. House, Frank Porter Graham, James P. RaughCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), June 29, 1945, p. 3
June 30, 1945 The Cruise Club for the Navy enlisted men of Chapel Hill opens in the American Legion Hut The ship's companies of the Pre-Flight School and the university's naval units opened the Cruise Club, their own social club, in the American Legion Hut on East Rosemary Street with a chicken buffet and dancing to the Cloudbuster swing band. The enlisted men had fitted up the building themselves.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), July 6, 1945, p. 3
July 9 to August 6, 1945 Philippe de Gaulle, son of General de Gaulle, trains at the Pre-Flight School with 29 other French naval officers A second class of 30 French naval officers, including Lt. (jg) Philippe de Gaulle, son of Gen. Charles de Gaulle, reported for a four-week Pre-Flight course; 13 of them held the Croix de Guerre. They finished and left for primary flight training at Memphis on August 6.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), July 13, 1945, p. 1 · Also: Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), August 10, 1945, p. 4
September 19, 1945 The Navy orders all Pre-Flight trainees out of Chapel Hill by October 1 and the school decommissioned Word reached the school that all trainees were to be transferred by October 1 and the school decommissioned soon after; about 1,000 of the 1,400 cadets were bound for separation centers. The commanding officer said the dormitories and other university buildings used since 1942 were being handed back as fast as possible for the university's postwar needs. People: James P. RaughCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), September 21, 1945, p. 1
September 27, 1945 UNC holds a farewell assembly for the Navy Pre-Flight School As the war ended the university held a formal assembly to say goodbye to the Pre-Flight School; Chancellor R. B. House had told the Navy that any peacetime Navy program should fold into the NROTC and the regular degree. People: R. B. HouseNC State Historic Preservation Office: Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Naval Armory at UNC-Chapel Hill, National Register nomination (OR1541), p. 35
September 28-29, 1945 The Pre-Flight area reopens to students and townspeople as the last cadets leave Station restrictions were lifted, the no-admittance signs, sentry huts and barriers came down, and the part of the campus the school had held since May 1942 was opened to university students and the town. The last cadets were transferred over the weekend, leaving staff to close the school by mid-October.Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 3, 1945, p. 1
October 3, 1945 The Cloudbuster prints its last issue, counting 18,700 cadets trained at Chapel Hill The Pre-Flight School's weekly closed with an eight-page special, its 156th issue since September 19, 1942. It counted 18,700 cadets received for training, 1,220 officers indoctrinated as instructors, 360 French cadets and 78 French officers, and printed farewells from Mayor Robert W. Madry, who named every man of the station an honorary citizen of Chapel Hill. People: Robert W. Madry, James P. RaughCloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 3, 1945, p. 1
Fall 1945 The Negro Community Center opens for community use After the Navy Pre-Flight School wound down, the community center returned to town control on October 24, 1945 and opened to Black residents of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. By December a nursery school filled the basement, and an all-Black board chaired by Hubert Roberson ran the building under the Town Recreation Commission.The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 7, 1945, p. 1 (Nursery School in Negro Center) · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 9, 1943, p. 1
November 1945 Navy officers move into the NROTC Armory as the V-12 program ends With the Pre-Flight and V-12 programs closed and remaining V-12 men absorbed into an enlarged NROTC, the Navy officers who had worked in Navy Hall moved their offices to the NROTC Armory.Search the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Naval Armory at UNC-Chapel Hill, National Register nomination (OR1541), p. 36

Places in this history

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 16 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

Navy Pre-Flight School University schools and programs · Chapel Hill · 74 events here
Kenan Stadium University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 10 events here
Alexander Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 5 events here
Memorial Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 4 events here
Navy Hall (later Jackson Hall) University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 4 events here
Hargraves Community Center Community centers and organizations · Chapel Hill · 3 events here
Horace Williams Airport University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 3 events here
Kessing Pool University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 2 events here
NROTC Naval Armory University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 2 events here
Swain Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 2 events here
Woollen Gymnasium University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 2 events here
Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House Houses, farms, parks and cemeteries · Chapel Hill · 1 event here

Show 6 more

Caldwell Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
Emerson Field University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
Fetzer Field University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
Institute of Government University schools and programs · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
Legion Hut (Chapel Hill) Community centers and organizations · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
Lenoir Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here

All places and the county map →

Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

Filter these works by material, period, or place. Counts refer to works, not individual copies. A work may appear under more than one period or place.

Material

Photographs & portraits 10 Histories 9 Postcards 5 Biography 3 Newspapers 2other types 4

Period

20th century 30 World War I era 1 World War II era 24

Place

Chapel Hill 34 North Carolina (statewide) 17 Orange County 14

The Cloudbuster Nine

Keene, Anne R. · 2018

Anne R. Keene's history of the Cloudbusters, the baseball team of the Navy Pre-Flight School at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill during the Second World War, on which Ted Williams played in 1943. The chapters move from a batboy's trunk of keepsakes through the pre-flight training program to the players' lives after the war, and Keene's own family is part of the story. Published by Sports Publishing in New York in 2018, 340 pages with sixteen pages of plates.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: United States Navy Pre-Flight School (Chapel Hill, N.C.).

UNC Durham Chapel Hill PL NC Cardinal Library of Congress CH Historical Society

The Forgotten First

Albright, Alex · 2013 · R.A. Fountain

Alex Albright's history of the B-1 band, the group of Black musicians drawn largely from students and graduates of North Carolina A&T who became the first Black sailors of the modern Navy to serve above the rank of messman, and the first of more than a hundred Black Navy bands in wartime. The band was posted to the Navy Pre-Flight School at Chapel Hill, the book's Orange County link. Published by R.A. Fountain in 2013, 194 pages with illustrations and portraits.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Library of Congress record: United States Navy Pre-Flight School (Chapel Hill, N.C.).

NC Cardinal UNC Durham Library of Congress

Football goes to war : the Army and Navy have chosen a tough sport to help prepare our fighting men for combat

Woodward, Stanley · 1942 · Look Inc

Stanley Woodward's illustrated article from Look magazine of October 20, 1942, on football as training for combat, detached from the issue. It centers on the men training at the Navy Pre-Flight School in Chapel Hill, whose team was called the Cloud Busters. Pages 62 to 67, chiefly illustrations and portraits, published by Look in Des Moines.