1954

Author David Ferman could not have picked a worse time to enter the U.S. Navy's Pilot Training Program at Pensacola, Florida. By March of 1954, those pre- World War II SNJ Texan basic pilot-training aircraft were dangerously worn out from the rigors of constant simulated and actual aircraft-carrier operations for far too long. Various parts such as engine nacelles were falling off SNJ fusillades in flight, flight-control cables were popping off the roller tracks, metal fatigue took its toll, and accidents were all too common. At least a dozen pilots¿students and instructors¿were killed during Dave¿s first year of pilot training. He actually saw four of those fatal crashes; two at a distance and two up close.

At that time, the student pilots in the U.S. Air Force Pilot Training Program were flying the new, much improved Beechcraft T-34 Mentor aircraft and suffered no fatalities. Until Beechcraft satisfied their USAF production contract and switched over to produce the Navy version of the T-34 in 1956, the Navy struggled to train student pilots in those sad, old, worn-out, dangerous SNJs.

Highlights include Dave¿s year as the Cadet Battalion Commander of the entire base with a temporary equivalent rank of major; glorious weekends of his searching for his ¿One True Love¿ on the famous white sands of Pensacola beach; finally ¿shooting down¿ his flight instructor after losing too many mock aerial dogfights with him; being the first Naval Cadet (NavCad) to fly the new T-34 Mentor basic training aircraft at Beechcraft while home for Christmas; knocking the loud mouthed Navy boxing instructor out in the first round of a three-round techniques demonstration bout (he called several Marines ¿girls: including Dave); and being honored as the only NavCad inducted into the Confederate Air Corps, which at that time was comprised of only southern born Marine and Navy fighter pilots who fought in WW II and the Korean War. At several of their monthly midnight steak and keg parties, it seemed that Dave was the only pilot present who had not shot down at least one Japanese aircraft.

After 14 months in the program, Dave was accidently assigned a badly damaged, unrepaired SNJ that was later declared, as Dave was flying it at 10,000 feet altitude, to be not only too dangerous to fly, but too dangerous to land. When Dave crashed in a swamp, the engine, both wings and the tail assembly were ripped off and the cockpit cage flipped inverted and on fire as he was submerged unconscious under the brackish water. Fortunately, a Navy Crash Crew arrived at the crash site almost as soon as Dave did, and Navy Corpsmen worked to resuscitate Dave until he began breathing again. Those injuries ended Dave¿s military flying career.

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