The North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives is pleased to announce that a new finding aid is now available for the United States Navy Pre-Flight School (University of North Carolina) Photographic Collection (#P0027). This collection of nearly 6,000 images documents the day-to-day operations of the pre-flight school that operated on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. during the Second World War (1942-1945). The school was established to train naval pilots on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. The University hosted the second stage of a one-year training program for the servicemen. The collection includes a wide array of images that detail activities at the school, including instruction and training as well as social and recreational activities. There are numerous images of women (WAVES–Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and the US Navy’s B-1 Band, an African American military band assigned to campus to play at military and community events. In addition to capturing servicemen and servicewomen in their daily “official” roles at the pre-flight school, these images also document the recreational activities of attendees. They include attendees playing baseball, basketball, football, and swimming.
The finding aid can be viewed at: http://library.unc.edu/wilson/ncc/pcoll/inv/P0027/P0027.html
Those interested in learning more about the US Navy’s B-1 Band may want to take a look at some additional information related to the band that can be in an online offering called “North Carolina at Home and in Battle in World War II” presented by the North Carolina Museum of History:
http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/workshops/WWII/Band.htm