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

In the chronology

Dated events connected with this event, earliest first. See these 17 dated events in the chronology →

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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, and the band lived there from that summer until the town regained it on October 24, 1945.DigitalNC: The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 13, 1942, p. 1 (open house at the Negro Community Center)
4. 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
5. July 1942–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)
6. 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
7. 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. HouseSearch the index · Chapel Hill Weekly: "Kessing to Leave Here because He Is Wanted on Battle Front" (November 27, 1942), p. 1
8. November 1942 John P. Graff takes command of the Navy Pre-Flight School When Commander O. O. Kessing was sent to sea in November 1942, his executive officer John P. Graff was placed in command and promoted to commander. Graff, recalled from retirement, had been the first line officer to arrive in the spring of 1942. People: Oliver Owen KessingFrancis Laverne Johnson, With the Cloudbusters at the United States Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill (1943), scan p. 8
9. 1943 Kessing Pool opens behind Woollen Gymnasium for Pre-Flight swimming training An outdoor pool behind Woollen Gymnasium opened in 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
10. 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
11. March 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 in March 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
12. 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 BradshawFrancis Laverne Johnson, With the Cloudbusters at the United States Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill (1943), scan p. 34
13. 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)
14. February 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
15. 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
16. 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.DigitalNC: The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 7, 1945, p. 1 (Nursery School in Negro Center)
17. 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