April 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 7. UNITED STATES NAVY NEWS


personnel, with additional employees at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C.


U.S. Naval Test Pilot School Celebrates 70 Years


By Donna Cipolloni, Naval Air Station Patuxent River Public Affairs


PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (NNS) -- More than 300 staff, students and graduate “Tes- ters” of U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (US- NTPS) celebrated 70 years since the school was established at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River March 12.


One of four major test pilot schools in the world, USNTPS has trained many distinguished Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force and international aviators and engineers, including 87 U.S. astronauts. “This school has a rich tradition and a very bright future,” added Fortier. “May we continue to draw upon the energy in this han- gar to propel ourselves into the next phase of producing mission-relevant Testers.” It all started in 1943 when the Navy’s


fl ight test group, located at NAS Anacostia, Maryland, transferred to the newly-estab- lished NAS Patuxent River. Test Pilot School evolved from an ur- gent necessity recognized by Cmdr. Charles Thomas Booth, who got the ball rolling in 1944 after Cmdr. Sydney S. Sherby earned his graduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and fi rst reported to Pax River to fi ll a new billet - chief project engineer.


Booth, fl ight test offi cer at the then-Na-


val Air Test Center (NATC) Patuxent River, tasked Sherby with the job of getting to know the people and become familiar with how they were going about testing at that time. Sherby was given permission to do whatever was necessary to improve the process.


Early in January 1945, after months of studying the issue and numerous visits to Langley Field Laboratory, it was determined that if fl ight test was to continue to perform its mission effectively and keep pace with progress in aeronautics, the establishment of some formal program of education for test pilots and engineers would be essential. Cmdr. C.E. Giese, who by then had relieved Booth as fl ight test offi cer, agreed. The earliest classes


On February 21, Giese appointed Sherby to head a committee of three offi - cers and report back to him in seven days with recommendations. As a result of the extensive work Sherby had been doing, his proposal for an indoctrination course for Navy fl ight test pilots was ready for review by March 1.


The plan described the outline of the


program. The curriculum would cover the fundamentals of aerodynamics, procedures for aircraft performance testing, evaluation of aircraft stability and control characteris- tics, miscellaneous tests and trials, actual in-fl ight performance testing and fl ight test reporting in a standardized format. It was scheduled to fi t into 37 hours of classroom work, with nine hours of fl ight time spread over 10 weeks, meeting Monday, Wednes- day and Friday mornings. Giese approved Sherby’s recommenda- tions and appointed him as offi cer in charge of the fl ight test pilots training program. Sherby provided the classroom instruction while Lt. H.E. McNeely served as fl ight instructor. The fi rst aircraft used for training pur- poses were the F6F, FM-2, SBD, TBM and SNJ, which were borrowed from the fl ight test group on base. The fi rst class, consisting of 14 pilots


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and engineers, later designated as Class 0A, began March 12, 1945 and graduated May 30. NATC Commander Capt. A.D. Storrs gave each student a diploma and a slide rule for their accomplishment. Class 0B convened in October that year, but the enrollment was diversifi ed. It included stu- dents from other NATC activities. A formal curriculum is proposed In March 1946, newly-appointed com-


manding offi cer of the NATC, Capt. J.D. Barner wrote to the chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics stating the need for a formal test pilot school, suggesting it be established as a division of NATC. Barner recommended semi-annual classes of about 30 students with a duration of four to fi ve months. About the time Class 0C was in school in 1946, Capt. Frederick M. Trapnell, the man for which Pax River’s air fi eld is named, was ordered to the installation as the commanding offi cer of NATC. Trapnell had previously served as fl ight test offi cer when the fl ight test group was in Anacostia. His love and interest in test fl ying proved invaluable to the development for a formal naval test pilot school. Trapnell sat in on Sherby’s classes, and while he was impressed, it became clear to him that the training program being taught was inadequate, and he requested authori- zation and funding to establish a full-time course of about 30 students, with classes convening every nine months. His sugges- tion came from the detailed recommenda- tions submitted by Giese. The cost for the school’s fi rst year was estimated at $25,000. Then-Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz agreed to the request, and Trapnell began drafting a fi nal blueprint for the school. Trapnell submitted the fi nal draft to


the offi ce of the CNO on Oct. 20, 1947. On Jan. 22, 1948, Trapnell’s plan for a formal test pilot school being a division of the NATC was approved by Adm J.D. Price, deputy chief of Naval Operations. Sherby was relieved of his duties as chief project engineer in the fl ight test division to assume his new duties as director of the test pilot training division. From then to now


In 1957, the school’s name was for- mally changed to the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. It was listed in the Bureau of Naval Personnel’s Catalog of Naval Schools and was included in the offi cer special qualifi - cations listed in the Naval Register. Courses were continuously being revised to accommodate new technology which brought about faster and more so- phisticated aircraft. As time went on, courses became more complex. The curriculum now accommodates three different criteria: fi xed-wing, rotary-wing and airborne sys- tems.


The school moved four different times during its history until their present academ- ic facility, building 2168, was built in 1993. USNTPS is the only test pilot school in the U.S. military that offers academic courses on helicopters, and the only one in the world for airborne systems.


USNTPS has trained well-known avia- tors including many of the early astronauts who helped launch the U.S. space program. Today, USNTPS provides instruction


to Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force aviators, international aviators/engineers, and civil service engineers. Accepting 36 students at a time for courses lasting ap- proximately 48 weeks, a class convenes each


Continued on Page 20.


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