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Good morning everybody! If you remember this one, you're really an old-timer! On G. I. Memories I just linked to another U.S. military history site about James Connally AFB. James Connally Air Force Base, located seven miles northeast of Waco, Texas, was initially a basic pilot-training school. It opened as Waco Army Air Field on May 5, 1942, and became headquarters for the Army Air Forces Central Instructors' School in February 1945. Pilot training was discontinued in early 1952. Training for all-weather fighter radar observers, and upgrade training for navigators and bombardiers, began in 1951. The Instrument Pilot Instructors School was subsequently moved to the base and trained instructor pilots from many allied nations. The base was inactive from late 1945 to 1948, when it was reactivated as a basic pilot-training school. On June 10, 1949, the name was changed to Connally Air Force Base in memory of Col. James T. Connally, a local pilot killed in Japan in 1945. By 1951 the name had been changed to James Connally Air Force Base. The base also trained already-rated pilots as bombardiers and navigators to provide triple-rated crews for the rapidly growing fleet of B-47s. That program was discontinued in 1962. Undergraduate Nav Training (UNT) was conducted at Connally from the 1950's until May 1965.

While we're on the subject of the Merchant Marines (we couldn't have gotten along without them), I have two interesting Merchant Marine sites at http://www.gimemories.com/usallvet.com 'Merchant Marine.com' and 'Welcome Aboard'. These people have put some work into those two pages - they're crammed with data.

Thanks hardhead. Could you try again on your sub links to G.I.Memories? I can't get your 'Merchant Marine.com' and 'Welcome Aboard' links to work from your post.

Morning Hardhead.

Connally AFB is a new one to me. Thanks for the Merchant Marine link, I get a "page cannot be displayed", would you check it out?