Do you like ‘digging’ in newspapers to add details to your genealogy? That’s what I’ve been doing for the past couple of days as I’ve researched the military career of Joseph Alva Ogle. Not only did I find that he participated in the U.S. Army maneuvers where baseball bats were used to simulate artillery but I found that he was in the Civilian Pilot Training Program.

The first article I found identified Joseph Ogle as a participant but provided few details about the program.

3 at Purdue Solo First Under New Air Setup
Lafayette, Ind., March 5 – Three Purdue University student pilots being trained under the new civil aeronautics authority as part of the national defense program to rain 20,000 airmen, have the distinction of being the first in the United States to go aloft under the new program. The students are Lloyd Treece of Lafayette, Craig Miller of Chicago and Robert Buell of Omaha, Neb. All have soloed and are now taking advanced instruction. Eight other student pilots who also have soloed are Fred A. Arens of Chicago, E. F. Hamer of West Liberty, O.; Leonard M. Hauptich of Gary; Robert M. Moninger of Chicago, Joseph A. Ogle, of Sheridan, Clyde F. Reed of Boswell, Robert M. Streiby of Indianapolis and J. W. Mazur of Goodland.

“3 at Purdue Solo First Under New Air Setup,” The Edinburg Daily Courier (Edinburg, Indiana), 7 March 1939, page 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 4 December 2021).

An article in Lafayette, Indiana’s Journal and Courier provided more information about the program.

Flying school at Purdue Is Making Marked Progress
With eight student flyers already advanced to primary solo and three others to advanced solo status, the Civil Aeronautics Authority’s program of training 50 pilots at the Purdue airport, under the direction of Captain Lawrence I Aretz, port operations manager, and his corps of assistants, is making unusual progress. Even more progress could have been made if weather conditions had been more favorable since the program was inaugurated several day ago.
Captain Aretz expressed himself highly pleased with the results obtained thus far and felt that the program would be carried out to a successful conclusion on time, weather permitting.
The three pilots who are taking advanced solo instruction are Lloyd L. Treece, Lafayette; Craig Miller, Chicago, and Robert Buell, Omaha, Neb. They also hold the distinction of being the first three young men in the United States to go aloft under the CAA program, it is believed.
The eight students who are being given primary solo instruction are: Fred A. Arens, Chicago; Emmett F. Hamer, West Liberty, O.; Leonard M. Hauprich, Gary; Robert M. Moninger, Chicago; Joseph A. Ogle, Sheridan; Clyde F. Reed, Boswell; Robert M. Streiby, Indianapolis, and j. W. Mazur, R.R. 2, Goodland.

“Flying School at Purdue Is Making Marked Progress,” Journal and Courier (Lafayette, Indiana), 4 March 1939, page 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 5 December 2021).

Curious about this program, I found some websites that provide more information about the program.

• Civilian Pilot Training Program – Purdue Archives
• Civilian Pilot Training Program – Wikipedia
• Civilian Pilot Training Program – National Museum of the United States Air Force
• Civilian Pilot Training Program – U.S. Centennial Flight Commission
• Aviators Wanted: Training Those Willing to Fly to Fill the Sky – Library of Congress
• Purdue Flies into War: Transforming Trainees into Pilots