The 13th School Group was a unit of the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

. It was last assigned to the

24th School Wing The 24th School Wing is a disbanded United States Army Air Corps unit. It was last assigned to the Air Corps Advanced Flying School, and was disbanded on 1 October 1931 at Kelly Field, Texas. While active, the wing served as the headquarters f ...

, and was demobilized on 30 April 1931 at

March Field March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Ma ...

, California. The unit was an early United States Army Air Corps flying training group, and the first major unit assigned to March Field after its re-opening in 1927.

History

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, March Field was a major primary pilot training base for the Air Service, with its graduates being sent to advanced training schools before being deployed to the

American Expeditionary Force The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought alon ...

in France. The school was closed after the armistice in February 1919. In July 1919, Congress authorized resumption of enlistment of flying cadets on a limited basis, and the school at March Field was re-opened which offered a combined ground school and primary flight training using surplus

Curtiss JN-4 The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for th ...

Jennies. A shortage of money and failure of the training program to become as large as planned, prompted the closing of the primary school at March Field in 1921, and March became a storage depot. In 1922 it was decided to centralize all flying training in San Antonio, Texas.Maurer, Manning, The decision by the

Coolidge Administration Calvin Coolidge's tenure as the 30th president of the United States began on August 2, 1923, when Coolidge became president upon Warren G. Harding's death, and ended on March 4, 1929. A Republican from Massachusetts, Coolidge had been vice presi ...

in 1926 to expand the Air Corps found the facilities in San Antonio insufficient to accommodate the expanded number of cadets entering primary training. As a result, March Field was re-opened as a primary pilot training school in July 1927, and the 13th School Group was designated to perform duties as the headquarters for the new Air Corps Primary Flying School. Flight training was conducted in

Consolidated PT-1 The Consolidated PT-1 Trusty (company designation Model 1) was a biplane primary trainer used by the United States Army Air Service (USAAS). Design and development In 1921, Colonel Virginius Clark, chief designer of the Dayton-Wright Company ...

and PT-3s, which had taken over from the Curtiss Jennies. There were three school squadrons assigned, along with support squadrons. Even before the school at March opened, it was known it was a temporary unit, as plans were ongoing to expand the facilities in San Antonio. With the opening of

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 ...

in 1931, the primary pilot training at March ended in April 1931 and March Field became the home of the new

1st Bombardment Wing The 1st Bombardment Wing is a disbanded United States Army Air Force unit. It was initially formed in France in 1918 during World War I as a command and control organization for the Pursuit Groups of the First Army Air Service. Demobilized after ...

. The group was activated again in 1943, but Standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving not well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.Goss, p. 75 The 13th Technical School Group was disbanded a year later when all units at

Chanute Field Chanute may refer to: *Chanute, Kansas, United States **Chanute High School *Octave Chanute (1832–1910), American civil engineer and aviation pioneer *Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois, United States *Octave Chanute Award, awarded by the Western S ...

were replaced by the 3502d Army Air Forces Base Unit.Mueller, p. 82 (showing station and dates active at Chanute)

Lineage

* Constituted as the 13th Group (School) on 6 February 1923 : Redesignated 8 March 1929 as 13th School Group : Activated on 31 July 1927 : Disbanded on 30 April 1931Clay, * Reconstituted and redesignated 13th Technical School Group : Activated on 28 February 1943 : Disbanded on 30 April 1944

Assignments

, 8 July 1927 – 30 April 1931 * Central Technical Training Command, 28 February 194330 April 1944

Components

;; Flying Training Squadrons * 47th School Squadron, 31 July 1927 – 30 April 1931 * 53d School Squadron, 31 July 1927 – 30 April 1931 * 54th School Squadron, 31 July 1927 – 30 April 1931 ;; Support Squadrons * 69th Service Squadron, 31 July 1927 – 30 April 1931 * 70th Service Squadron, 31 July 1927 – 30 April 1931 * 23d Photo Section, 31 July 1927 – 30 April 1931

Stations

* March Field, California, 31 July 1927 – 30 April 1931 *

. Illinois, 28 February 1943 – 30 April 1944

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas * * * {{cite book, title=Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the First World War, url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/023/23-4/CMH_Pub_23-4.pdf, accessdate=November 1, 2015, edition=Reprint, volume=3, Part 2 Zone of the Interior: Territorial Departments; Tactical Divisions Organized in 1918; Posts, Camps and Stations, origyear=1949, year=1988, publisher=Center of Military History, location=Washington, DC, isbn=, archive-date=January 8, 2021, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108064157/https://history.army.mil/html/books/023/23-4/CMH_Pub_23-4.pdf, url-status=dead Groups of the Air Service, United States Army Military units and formations of the United States Army Air Corps Army flying training units and formations Military units and formations established in 1927 Military units and formations disestablished in 1931