calsfoundation@cals.org
October 12, 1942
Training officially began at Walnut Ridge Army Flying School with students training on the BT-13. In late September, the Southeast Training Command had clarified confusion over whether the site would become a glider school by announcing that twenty cadets from Camden (Ouachita County) and 102 cadets and three student officers from Decatur, Alabama, would be sent to Walnut Ridge for basic flight training, and the glider program was to be established at Stuttgart. In less than two years, 5,310 students entered training, and 4,641 graduated. Forty-two students and instructors died in training.