1942 Army Air Forces WWII Gulf Coast Training Center Jones Field Bonham, Texas

1942 Army Air Forces WWII Gulf Coast Training Center Jones Field Bonham, Texas. RARE military yearbook Published 1942 by the Army and Navy Publishing Company.

During World War II, Jones Field (located in Bonham, Texas) served as an important primary (level 1) pilot training airfield. It operated under the jurisdiction of the Gulf Coast Army Air Forces Training Center (which was later renamed the Central Flying Training Command). Civilian Contract School: Activated on October 4, 1941, Jones Field was operated as a civil contract flying school by the Bonham Aviation School. The civilian school provided the initial elementary flight instruction under the military oversight of the 302nd Army Air Forces Flying Training Detachment.

The Training Fleet: Cadets at Jones Field primarily trained using the Fairchild PT-19, a rugged monoplane used by the Army Air Forces to teach basic maneuvers and assess whether a cadet had the aptitude to move on to basic and advanced flight training. The "Dodo":Student pilots who had not yet made their first solo flight were commonly referred to as Dodos. In fact, the official World War II class books for the primary pilot classes at Jones Field were titled The Dodo. Military Unit Designation: The base unit overseeing operations at the field was eventually designated as the 2547th Army Air Force Base Unit.

The flight training program at Jones Field concluded in late 1944 as the Allied forces secured air superiority and the demand for new pilots decreased.

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