While reading up on Hollywood's famous singing cowboy of the movies and radio, Gene Autry, I discovered that the AAC, and later the AAF had the rank of "flight officer" in it's officer's rank structure. I always thought that officer rank went from 2nd Lt on up just like the Army ranks. But no! Read on from what wiki has to say about it. U.S. Army Air Forces Flight officer rank insignia as used during World War II. Flight officer was a United States Army Air Forces rank used during World War II, from 1942 to 1945;the rank being created on Sep 10, 1942. On 5 November 1942 military glider pilots were commissioned flight officers after the completion of their training. The new rank insignia was nicknamed "the blue pickle". The rank is equivalent to Warrant Officer Junior Grade (WOJG) which is today's Warrant Officer (NATO grade: W-1). Enlisted and aviation cadet trainees who successfully passed air qualification training were appointed as Flight Officers and served as rated pilots, navigators, flight engineers, bombardiers and glider pilots. At the end of World War II, the Army Air Forces discontinued the use of the rank of flight officer. All of the service's flight officers had either been promoted to commissioned officer ranks during the course of the war or discharged. In the late 1940s, following the creation of the separate US Air Force in 1947, the United States Army required more pilots. However, congressionally-imposed commissioned officer strength levels prevented pilot expansion. The Army requested authority to establish the Flight Officer/Warrant Officer program. This proposal was rejected because the Army already had three groups of personnel – -enlisted, warrant officer and commissioned officer. As a fall back position, the Department of the Army decided that the grade of flight officer was in reality a Warrant Officer grade with a restriction to the Warrant Officer Junior Grade rank (WOJG). The Warrant Officer Flight Program was begun in 1949 and the first pilots graduated in 1951. Most of the Warrant Officers were trained to fly helicopters; the Army had begun a helicopter pilot training course for officers in 1948. Flight Warrant Officer Candidates had to be between the ages of 18 and 28 when they began training, though they could begin training if they were about to have their 18th or hadn't yet had their 29th birthday. Army commissioned- and warrant officer pilots were under the Transportation Corps from 1947 to 1983, after which Army Aviation had its own branch. They were only allowed artillery spotting, reconnaissance, and casualty evacuation roles, as the Air Force had a lock on everything else. I found all this out while reading up on Hollywood's own Gene Autry, the famous singing cowboy of the movies and radio, not to mention the #1 box office draw at the time of his enlistment. Anyway, Gene up and joined the AAC to the dismay of the studio heads as an enlisted man. He held a private pilots license before the war and wanted to fly for Uncle Sam. After finagling his way into flight school, he earned his pilot's wings along with the rank of Flight Officer. Later he was posted in the CBI flying cargo planes over the hump. Dang. Here's a chart with the rank structure. Flight Officer is down to the bottom left. I've seen this chart, but never noticed or heard of the Flight Officer rank before.
