75th Flying Training Wing (World War II)

75th Flying Training Wing
Vultee BT-13s from Buckingham AAF flying in formation. BT-13s were used as target towing aircraft for flexible gunnery training.
Active	1943-1946
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Air Forces
Type	Command and Control
Role	Training
Part of	Army Air Forces Training Command
Engagements	World War II World War II American Theater

World War II

The 75th Flying Training Wing was a flying training wing of the United States Army Air Forces. At the time, a wing controlled several multi-squadron groups. It was last assigned to the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command, and was disbanded on 15 June 1946 at Buckingham Army Airfield, Florida.

There is no lineage between the United States Air Force 75th Air Base Wing, established on 5 February 1942 as the 75th Observation Group at Ellington Field, Texas and this organization.

The wing was a World War II Command and Control organization, initially part of Eastern Flying Training Command. The mission of the wing was to train aerial gunners. Fixed gunnery training for air cadet pilots was carried out at Eglin Army Airfield, while flexible gunnery training for enlisted gunners was carried out both at Tyndall Army Airfield in northern Florida and Buckingham Army Airfield in Southwest Florida. As the men graduated from flexible gunnery school, they were assigned to combat crews either forming in the United States or as replacements to overseas combat units.

As training requirements changed during the war, schools were activated and inactivated or transferred to meet those requirements.

The schools of the wing flew two types of aircraft. Gunnery trainers and gunnery targets.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.