May 23, 1945 - Appointment as Flight Officer

Roger was honorably discharged from enlisted duty at Luke Field as an Aviation Student (Sergeant) on May 22, 1945 in order to accept an appointment as a Flight Officer.

On that same date he passed his flight physical at the base hospital at Luke Field.

On May 23, 1945 he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant and Flight Officer at Luke Field.  The Flight Officer was a Warrant Officer (Junior Grade) and wore silver wings.  His Flight Officer service number was T-12 870.  Also on this date Roger was transferred to active duty at Luke Field in the 3028th Army Air Force Base Unit.  His flight training records show that he had 233 total flight hours upon completion of Advanced Training.

The following photo of Georgia and Roger is undated, but certainly dates from this time period as Roger is wearing his wings.

The following information was taken from the U.S. Air Force Museum history:

"The successful completion of pilot training was a difficult and dangerous task.  During the period from January 1941 until August 1945, there were 191,654 cadets who were awarded pilot wings.  But there were also 132,993 who "washed out" or were killed during training, a loss rate of approximately 40 percent due to accidents, academic or physical problems, and other causes.

Those who graduated from flying school were usually assigned to the type of plane they were to fly in combat.  Some were assigned to specific squadrons already scheduled for overseas duty while others were assigned to replacement training units for subsequent assignment to squadrons already overseas.  Regardless, it required two months of additional training before a pilot was considered ready for combat".