Page 52 - Volume 15 Number 7

Hillaero Modifica- tion Cen- terSixth Page 4/C Adactually being allowed to salvage farm buildings, many of the families pulled up roots and moved to other Midwest farming states such as Missouri and Indiana.During the initial months while the Hutchinson NAS was under construction, the Navy made use of the fairgrounds, the municipal airport and auxiliary airstrips within the area. Although it’s rather astounding to consider how fast these Naval Air Stations were built while war was commencing overseas, organization sometimes stalled with a lack of direction from Washington and general material shortages. While the Hutchinson NAS was under construction, pilot training began in October 1942, about three months ahead of schedule. The new recruits, however, had to serve for about three months in civilian clothes, with mere slips of paper to identify them as sailors.By the summer of 1942, naval aviation training had been accelerated to the point where 2,500 cadets could begin instruction each month. No less than 20 new air stations had been commissioned, including the Hutchinson base and another NAS at Olathe, Kan., near the Kansas City area.“We were just 19 enlisted men at first,” Bontrager recalled, “but new recruits were coming in fast.”Initially, while the airfield construction was still going on, Bontrager was assigned to guard duty at the fairgrounds in Hutchinson, where he’d actually gone through boot camp a few weeks before. For most of 1942, the first platoon of Navy enlisted men assigned to the Hutchinson NAS were quartered in what was and is the 4-H Building at the state fairgrounds.“I didn’t like that guard duty at all,” he said. “There weren’t enough uniforms to go around, so we had to wear civilian clothes. And all we had for a weapon was a billy club.”While on guard duty one evening, the officer for the day came in to use the phone, and Bontrager happened to notice what seemed a strange insignia on the Navy officer’s arm.“I probably was out of order, but I just happened to ask him what that insignia was all about,” he said. “It turned out he was a really nice guy. He replied that he was the chief parachute rigger. Then right away he asked me if I wanted to become a chute rigger. When I sort of hesitated and replied ‘Well, I guess so.’ HeP2 Inc. Sixth Page 4/C AdThe Hutchinson, Kan., Naval Air Station as it looks today. Of the 3,396 cadets accepted for primary flight training, 2,555 earned their wings. Primary flight training peaked at Hutchinson in November 1943, when 774 cadets were in training.50 • TWIN & TURBINEJULY 2011