February 6, 2012

The Walnut Ridge Army Flying School, one of seven U.S. Army Air Forces pilot training schools located in Arkansas, was activated on August 15, 1942. Training for the first cadets began in October. By the time the last class graduated in 1944, a total of 4,641 cadets had completed the program. When the facility was decommissioned on March 15, 1945, many of the airplanes, like the ones shown here, were sold for scrap. In September 1946, the Texas Railway Equipment Company bought 4,871 of the aircraft for this purpose.