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USAF PILOT TRAINING CLASS
55-I ASSOCIATION
HOME PAGE

 

 

USAF PILOT TRAINING CLASS 55-INDIA

Welcome to the Official Web Page of USAF Pilot Training Class 55-India!

    We are a group of USAF veterans who went into pilot training in the 1950’s, ending our training on February 24, 1955.  The aircraft pictured here are some of the planes we flew during our primary and basic training.
    We all started in the Piper Super Cub, the PA-18.  After about 20 hours in the Super Cub, we progressed to the North American T-6G, a World War II vintage trainer. Our primary training was conducted by civilian flight schools, and we were based at several sites for this phase: Malden, Missouri; Marianna, Florida; and Columbus, Mississippi.
     Graduates from primary spread to several different bases for what was known as “Basic Training.”  Students were divided in those days into two groups: Single Engine Jet, and Multi-engine.  This was near the beginning of the Jet Age, and those of us assigned to Single Engine Jets went to Greenville AFB, Greenville, Mississippi; Webb AFB, Big Spring, Texas; and Williams AFB, Chandler (near Phoenix), Arizona.  6 Pilots went from Greenville to Laredo AFB, Texas to complete training.  The aircraft we flew were the piston-engine North American T-28A, followed by the venerable Lockheed T-33A. The “T Bird” was an outgrowth of the P/F-80 “Shooting Star,” the first operational jet fighter used by the USAF.
    Multi-engine students went to Vance AFB, Enid Oklahoma, and Goodfellow AFB, San Angelo, Texas.  Multi students also started basic in the T-28 then did their multi-engine training in the twin engine World War II medium Bomber, the North American B-25 Mitchell (the same airplane used by Doolittle’s Raiders).
    After primary and basic training, the class scattered to the winds and the four corners of the world. We did not meet again as a group until October of 1998, when we held our first reunion, attended by nearly 90 members of the original class.
    In the intervening years, our members flew just about every aircraft in the USAF inventory, not to mention some Navy and NATO types. A large percentage of the class stayed in the service as a career, and most served at least one tour in Vietnam. We lost many members over the years in airplane crashes; eight of our members were KIA in Vietnam, two were POWs, and four attained the rank of General (2 one- star, 1 two-stars, and 1 four-stars). Our numbers diminish now due to the ravages of time, but we get together now and then to relive those days of youth and glory.
    The period of training was definitive in most of our lives: it was a turning point, a place where we started on a great lifetime adventure that now has faded into distant but distinct and cherished memories. We have a bond that cannot be broken; we are well into the “Golden Years” but all that falls away at our reunions, when we are once again young, brave, handsome, and “The Best Damned Pilots In The World.”

PiperCub

In Primary Pilot Training
All Pilots began with the Piper Super Cub PA-18 above

We then tested our skill in the T-6 Texan



Those who graduated from Primary Pilot Training advanced to Basic Flight Training
Pilots chose either single-engine or multi-engine training.

Both single-engine and multi-engine pilots flew the T-28 in Basic Flight Training

We learned the basics of formation flying in the T-28

Multi-engine pilots then flew the B-25 shown below


 


 
 
 

The pilots who chose single-engine training first flew the T-28 and then
the T-33 aircraft shown below


 
 

Four beautiful T-33s on a beautiful day


 



Missing:  Status Unknown
USAF PILOT TRAINING CLASS 55-INDIA

USAF Pilot Training Class 55-India was one of the larger classes trained in the 1950's.  Our research has come up with a total over 600 names, gleaned from class yearbooks, Preflight group pictures, and various official orders. Of these,  more than 100 are known to be deceased, and close to 250 have been located. The names on this list represent the "missing," not all of whom were members of the USAF Pilot Training Class 55-India.
    Preflight at Lackland AFB,Texas, included pilot candidates and navigator candidates. Anyone who entered Preflight for the purpose of becoming a pilot, whether he SIEd (Self initiated elimination) or washed out, was, is, and will always be a member of Class 55-India.
    We solicit anyone who knows of the whereabouts of any of these men.  Either contact us with their address, or, if you prefer, contact the individual and ask him to get in touch with his old classmates.  Also, if you recognize that a name on our missing list was a navigator candidate, send me that information and I'll remove that name from the list.

        Please click on the shortcut below and view the list of "missing" classmates.  It's a big job to locate them.  Please choose some classmates to search for.  Click on the (Me) envelope icon below and send me an email with the name(s) of those you will attempt to find.   I will place an asterisk before the names of those who I have been told already have someone looking for them.  This should help avoid multiple attempts that could irritate people being contacted.  Thanks for all your help.

Missing 55-I Classmates


(Me)
Darrell Schmidt
Click on the Envelope above to send me an email

I’m always looking for more pictures to post to our site.  If you find it is too large to be sent by email,

if you know how you can Zip  many pictures into one large file.

Then you can go online to http://www.yousendit.com/ and load that zip file there.

Put dschmidt1@cox.net as the receiver. You can send zip files as large as 100 MB that way.

 

 

REUNIONS

 

We have had seven reunions to date, in 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011. They have been great get-togethers, swapping old stories and reviving old memories.

 

I previously loaded videos of our reunions but video files are so large it was taking over 15 minutes to load some of them. 

I don't think we have the patience to wait.

So I've deleted them and will add still pictures at a later date.   They load more quickly.

 

 

Our reunion at the Air Force Museum Area in Dayton, OH May 4th - 8th,  2011

went off splendidly.  Bob and Lucia Klimek did an excellent job. At our business meeting we

selected Branson, MO as the site of our next reunion in September of 2013.  "Kozy" Korzan

is the primary man to handle this reunion.   If any of you have ideas for him, contact

him email at Korzan@centurytel.net

 

T-shirts were handed out at the reunion.  If you would like one I will show you what they

look like and provide an order form for you to complete and mail in with your payment.

After looking at the shirt pictures, use the back arrow at top left to return to this page.

After printing the order form just close out that window to return to this page.

55-I t-shirt front

55-I t-shirt back

55-I t-shirt order form

 

 

55-I Reunion Attendees

(Dayton, OH)

 

Ronald O. Atwood  Priscilla E. Atwood   Ron

Donald Blair

George Bracke   Steve Bracke

Benjamin S. Brown  Basak Brown

John Burnett  Jetta Burnett  John B. Burnett  John C. Burnett

Pete Chinburg  Ellen Chinburg

Gene A. Cox  Bobbie G. Cox

Howard G. Crites  Margaret D. Crites

John P. Garbe  Donna M. Garbe  Tracey Garbe

Charles G. Harger  Shirley J. Harger

Hoyt D. Hook  Betty L. Hook

Glenn Janson  and Beverly

Harvey L. Kimsey  Elizabeth Kimsey

Robert A. Klimek, Jr.  Lucia Casale  Wally Conway  Connie Conway  Audrey Young

Darold J. Korzan  Holly K. Korzan

Gerald D. Larson

James G. Monk  Shirley M. Monk

Raymond Nasypany  ShiuvanNasypany

Gamaliel D. Phillips  Lois Kent

Robert C. Pyatt  Toni Pyatt

Russell H. Rickard  Mary Anne Rickard  David Rickard  Mark Richard  Sheila Cathey

Thomas W. Sawyer  Faith Sawyer

Darrell R. Schmidt

Oscar E. Unser  and Evelyn

Jesse A Wallick  Annette Wallick

Ronald Weinert 

Robert E. Willis  Ann L. Willis

Leland K. Wolfe  Janette E. Wolfe

Wayne F. Wooten

Peter Zuras  Jo Ann Zuras

 

 

USAF Museum

 

55-I Airplane Pictures

55-I People Pictures

[More reunion pictures are on links below.  Several of them are more than one page.

Look at the bottom left of the border and you can click on additional pages.

When you're finished use the back arrow at the top left to return to our web site.]

 

Albuquerque Pictures

(Most by Dick Arnold)  2 pages

 

Albuquerque Pictures (More)

These by Bev Janson) 3 pages

 

DCA Pictures (2009)

 

DCA Pictures(More)

 

Dayton Pictures (2011)

 

USAF Museum

(Interactive display.  Click on the MAP in the upper right hand corner to bring down a visual menu of the different sites within the museum, then click on a dot within that site to view the exhibits from that camera angle and then follow (click on) the arrows. You can run your mouse over the aircraft and it can tell you what it is and in some cases you can click it and find out even more on the plane. Clicking the button with 4 arrows coming in from the corners puts you into full screen mode. "Esc" will bring you back. WARNING: Time flies when you get immersed in this tour!)

  

 

 55-I Notam #7 (old but has good content)  

(Use back arrow to return)

 

 

NEW GUESTBOOK

(BOTH FOR SIGN-IN AND VIEWING)

(Note:  In the upper left corner there is a “Sign In” icon)

 (YOU CAN USE THE IE “BACK” ICON TO RETURN TO THIS PAGE)

Read Old Guestbook

 

[Most recent edit is 18 January, 2012]

 

My B-58 Hustler Web Site

(If you should visit this web site sign the Guest Book there, too)

Aviation Cadet Web Site

Air Force Ranks and Planes

 

 

55-I Pilots who attended the Laughlin, NV Reunion in 1998

 

55-I Pilots who attended the Colorado Springs Reunion in 2000

 

D2X_4242 55-I Pilots 10-2-09.jpg

                                                                                                       (Note: the rows are a little off due to the many steps that we’re standing on)

 

                                                                                                       Front Row: Howard Crites, Ben Brown, Jim Monk, Russ Rickard

                                                                                                      2nd Row: Warren Green, x, Ed Unser, Dick Wyatt, Darrell Schmidt

                                                                                                      3rd Row: John Burnett, Harvey Kimsey, Dick Blair, Bob Klimeck, x, Ron Weinert, Hans Terpstra

                                                                                                      4th Row: Ron Atwood, Pete Chinburg, Gene Cox, John Owens

                                                                                                      5th Row: Ray Nasypany, Joe Sperhac, Lee Wolfe, Kozy Korzan, Dale Dyson, Pete Zuras, Jim Hicks, Jay Hess

                                                                                                      6th Row: Dave Bidleman, Wayne Wootten 

 

Pilots at DCA, 2009


 

FORTWALTONBEACH 2003ATTENDEES 
(Note: No group picture was taken but we have a picture of our Hospitality “shack” below)

Dick and Susan Arnold, Edd and Linda Barnes, Eldon (Barney) and Joan Barnes, Merle and Yvonne Bechthold, Don and Nancy Blair, George Bracke, Ben and Basak Brown, John and Jetta Burnett, Whee and Ginny Cameron, Pete and Ellen Chinberg, Bill and Phyllis Edwards. Ron Frink. Don Gierard, Warren and Grace Green, Don and Carol Hamm, Chuck Hoggatt, Hoyt and Betty Hook, Glenn and Beverly Janson. Ralph (Bud) and Mae Jensen and Daughter, Merlyn (Bud)  Johnson, Ed Kane, Harvey Kimsey, Bob and Lucia Klimek, Darold (Kozy) and Holly Korzan, Armand (Skip) and   Jeanne LaRocque,  Ramon and Nona Lefevre, Bill and Suzie Lessard, Chuck and Pat Mielke, Jim and Shirley Monk,  Steve O’Brien, John and Gwen Owens, Phil Phillips and Evelyn, RasRastall, Chet Rawie, Russ and Mary Anne Rickard, George Rowcliffe, Tom and Faith Sawyer, Darrell Schmidt, Marvin Skeen, Joe Sperhac, Bill Sturts, Ed Unser, Ron Weinert and Ruth Jordan, John Whipple, Bob and Anne Willis, Lee and Jan Wolfe, Wayne and Doris Wootton, Pete and Jo Ann Zuras




 

IN MEMORY OF OUR CLASSMATES WHO HAVE MADE THE FINAL FLIGHT WEST

 

55-I Deceased Classmates


 

 Adkisson, Robert B. 

 Alitz, Laverne W. 
 Alper, Zeki 

 Archer, Frances E.

 Armstrong, Edwin A
 Armstrong, Frank Alton III

 Augustus, Micheal 

 Ayudin, Umit 
 Bane, Robert L.

 Barnes, Eldon 
 Barry, William R. 
 Bartley, John P. 

 Bechtold, Merle A.
 Bell Jr., James A. 

 Belson, Joseph E.

 Biagioni, Guido
 Boatman, Tom 
 Bond, Jerome H. 
 Bose, Wesley C. 
 Bostrom, Frank (Pete) P. 
 Boutet, Edward 
 Breish, Harold A.

 Briley, James R. 
 Brooks, William L. 
 Brown, Robert A. 
 Buckley Jr., Paul R.

 Buckey, Richard B. 
 Cade, John Drew 
 Campbell, Stanley C.

 Cameron, Whee 
 Choquette, Clayton J. 
 Christensen, John A. 
 Ciccarelli, Quirino 
 Clark, William A.

 Clem, Sanford P. 
 Colburn Jr., Earl A.

 Colvin, Wayne

 Corcoran, Charles H. 

 Corbin, Neal H. 
 Cramer, Leonard W. 
 Cuccinello, James G.

 Dean, Scott E

 Devoe, Garner
 Echenique, Francis D. 
 Edson, Donald G. 
 Elliot, Robert M. 

 Ellwanger, Robert S.
 Flower Jr., Donald J. 
 Ford Jr., Charles F.

 Foster, Lemuel E. 
 Frisch, Jerome A.

 Gimenez, Manuel Jr.

 Glasheen, Daniel
 Goeltz, Francis S. 
 Goode, Thomas W.

 Goss, Richard D  
 Haff, David C.

 Hamm, Donald P. 

 Hansen, Tage Bolt 
 Hart, Edward 

 Hartley, Roger D.

 Hedeen, Robert L. 
 Heisley, Don W. 

Hitchcock, Center 

  Hoggatt, Charles V. 
 Jensen, Jens P. 

 Jensen, Orla Holm
 Johns, Paul F.

 Johnson, Merlyn (Bud)

 Kelley, Vernon B.

 Kjos  Jr., Neil A. 
 Kirkpatrick, Lowell R. 
 Koyn, Daniel W.

 Laguzzi,  Silvio

 Larsen, Ole Ronald
 Locke  Jr., Alexander 

 Loeffler, Fred

 Madsen, Erik S.
 Maxwell, Samuel C. 
 McBeth, Orrin L. 

 McHardy, Earl 
 Michaels, Donald L.

 Miller, Julian 

 Miller, Robert J.

 Mohrs, Paul A.  
 Monroe, Don R. 
 Moyer, Larry E. 
 Mueller, Don F.

 Nelson, Stanley F.

 Norris, Robert G. 
 Nuss, Charles H.

 Orban, Richard L. 
 Orth, Donald N. 
 Parker Jr., Dewey C. 

 Paoletti, Mario
 Pehrsson, Robert R. 
 Petersen, Richard S. 
 Petersen  Jr., George H. 

 Philipski, Robert F.
 Pitstick, William F. 
 Rowcliffe, George S.

 Saporito, Joseph W.  
 Schmitt, Charles G. 
 Schroeder, Aaron R

 Simpson, Richard O.

 Sligh, Charles H.

 Smead, Jerry S.

 Smith, Harold Victor 
 Snowden, Wendell 
 Stephens, Billy 
 Stuart, Virgil C.

 Terling, Christian

 Thompson, Wayne H.
 Topcu, Mehmet 
 Van Heusen, George 
 VanRee, Harold G. 
 Veschini, Oscar 
 Vesser, Samuel F. 
 Walker, William O.

 Ward, George T. 

 Weatherwax, John J.

 Whipple, John D.  
 Wickard, Jack D. 
 Willig, Eugene 

 Windom, Charles

 Womble, Floyd A.   
 Wood, Larry 
 Zell, Kenneth

 Zobrack, Marcel J.

REST IN PEACE!