There was a lot of that. The US Army Air Corps had Sergeant Pilots early on. Aviators were then seen as a sort of technician like the later Vietnam-era warrant officer helicopter pilots. Chuck Yeager, who never went to college, got his wings this way until the sergeant Pilots were all administratively made Lieutenants.
I had to look the program up and it was a three week course called the Direct Commission Officer program. Wow three weeks!