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VI
Equipment
No suitable base was available for women pilot training at the start of the program, the flying training program of the AAF being then at a high tempo. After checking various sites, the Municipal Airport at Houston, Texas was selected. As a substitute for barracks, several auto courts were taken over and transportation to and from the field was arranged by busses. The flying equipment was obtained from surplus or obsolete stock at various field and consisted of civilian aircraft with rarely two planes of the same type, which presented a burdensome maintenance problem, In view of transition time required for students on each type of plane, the program presented many difficulties during the first four months of training.
Early in 1943, decision was taken by the Flying Training Command to inactivate Avenger Field at Sweetwater, Texas, as a base for training cadets, and that field was made available for the women pilot training program. The first class entered at Avenger Field 21 February 1943, while part of the cadets were still there. By May 1943, the last class of cadets had graduated and the women trainees then at Houston were transferred to Sweetwater, which from then on until the termination of the program was the sole training base for women pilots.
The flying equipment at Avenger Field consisted of something over 200 airplanes of standard types, including Pt-17's, PT-19's, BT-13's, BT-15's, AT-6's, AT-17's, UC-78's, UC-43's, and UC-81's.

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6-1262,AF