F-104 Starfighter

2008-10-11T16:49:00.001-07:00

B-25 Billy Mitchell

2008-10-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

AT-6 Texan SR-71 Blackbird T-33 Shooting Star

2008-10-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

52 Charlie (USAF Pilot Training Class)

2008-10-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is to familiarize visitors with
the meaning of "52-C", "52 Charlie", or "Fifty Two
Charlie", depending on how you choose to write it. They
all mean the same thing. Once I explain the meaning of
the names, I will direct you to a magnificent website
which contains the history (aircraft photos included)
of this fine group of young (they were young at one
time) pilots.

52-C (or Charlie) is the designation for the United
States Air Force Pilot Training Class that trained
during 1951 and part of 1952. The class graduated
on 10 May 1952. The term "Charlie" signifies the
third letter in the phonetic alphabet and is used
because this was the third class to graduate in 1952.
Hence, you will see it referred to as 52-C or 52
Charlie.

The exact number of embryo aviators that started
training in April 1951 is unknown but a close estimate
would put it around 600. That number included the
following. The majority were known as "Aviation
Cadets". Aviation Cadets were young men (no women
allowed back in those days)who had at least two years
of college, had passed a battery of mental and physical
tests and had enlisted in the Air Force. The next largest
group were known as "Student Officers". These men
were already commissioned as officers through Officer's
Candidate School (OCS), Reserve Officer's Training Corp
(ROTC) from universities around the country. Most of
them were Second or First Lieutenants with a few Captains
mixed in. The third group was made up of foreign students
from France, Belgium and Norway.

The class was dispersed to six "Basic" training bases
located in Texas, Mississippi and Alabama where they
all learned to fly the AT-6 "Texan" trainer. Well......
not quite "all" learned how to fly. The attrition
(failure) rate was high and many "washed out" which
means they were eliminated from the program. Those
who passed were sent to five "Advanced" training bases
which were located in Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona.
They trained in AT-6, T-28, T-33 and B-25 aircraft.
Those aircraft provided familiarization training
leading to assignments into multi-engine, single engine,
jet and reciprocating aircraft. On 10 May 1952,
approximately 450 students graduated and received their
silver wings. The Aviation Cadets also received their
commissions as Second Lieutenants.

Training then took on a more serious note as the class
was dispersed to "Combat Readiness Training" bases
throughout the country to prepare them for flying combat
in the skies over North Korea. The assignments varied
between "air to air" day fighters, "air to ground" fighter
bombers, "all weather interceptors", bombers, transport,
tankers, etc.. You name it and our guys would do the job.
Some of the graduates were dispersed to bases through-
out the states but the majority headed straight to Korea
as soon as they completed combat readiness training.

Members of 52-C represented themselves extremely well
in Korea (and later in Vietnam) and developed a high
degree of camaraderie and mutual respect for one another.
Many returned to civilian life following the Korean
"conflict" (remember, the politicians did not call it a
war) but a sizable number remained in the Air Force and
served another 25 to 30 years. Although the members of
52-C were widely dispersed geographically and pursued
widely diverse occupations following the Korean
experience, the camaraderie and close friendships
continued.

It was during the early 1980's when a couple of our guys
were overcome with nostalgia and decided they had to
renew old acquaintances. They got together, contacted
others who also got together, those contacted more and
the next thing we knew, we were having reunions every
two years. And, here we are today, 56 years since
graduating from pilot training, and we're having
reunions every year.

As of now (2008) we have 189 members on our roster.
There are 196 names on the "Honor Flight" (deceased)
list and 63 names on our missing list. We're working
hard to locate more guys on the missing list and hope
the "Honor Flight" list remains stagnate. However, at
our age (upper 70's and low 80's) the "Honor Flight"
will be the only list that can grow.

We now have a website which depicts our history, lists
all 448 names by category (roster, deceased, missing),
contains photos of the more than 50 types of U.S. Air
Force aircraft flown by 52-C members. Go to your
address bar on your computer and enter "52-C.org"
and you will see the "Public Home Page". Browse
through it to your heart's content. You must be a
member of 52-C to activate the "Member's Login". The
"Member's Home Page" contains more personal stuff
related to Members only. If you happen to be one of
our long lost members or have any questions regarding
the website or this blog, you can contact us by clicking
on the "Contact Us" link on the website.

We have enjoyed living life to the fullest and will continue
to do so until called away. May you have the same good
fortune.

Warren Hunt

FiftyTwoCharlie

F-104 Starfighter

B-25 Billy Mitchell

AT-6 Texan SR-71 Blackbird T-33 Shooting Star

52 Charlie (USAF Pilot Training Class)