position, the United States 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 began in 1949 and the first warrant officer Army Aviators graduated from it in 1951. The program was suspended in 1959 but reestablished in 1963, and as of January 2022 it has been in continuous operation ever since. Most of the warrant officers were initially 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 at age 17 if they were about to have their 18th birthday. From 1947 until creation of the United States Army Aviation Branch in 1983, Army commissioned officers rated as "Army Aviators" remained commissioned in their Army "basic branch," which included "armor," "Corps of Engineers," "infantry," "field artillery," "Medical Service Corps," "Military Intelligence Corps," and "Transportation Corps," and continued to wear that branch's insignia while assigned to aviation units, generally alternating between aviation assignments and "basic branch" assignments in successive tours of duty. Army Aviation warrant officers rated as Army Aviators wore the generic "Army Warrant Officer Branch" insignia (except for certain warrant officers assigned to "air cavalry" units, who like commissioned officers assigned to "cavalry" units, were authorized to wear "cavalry" insignia, while assigned to cavalry units), but were administratively managed by the Army "Warrant Officer Aviation Branch" in the Army Personnel Center, and, as today, continued to serve in successive aviation assignment tours. Army Aviators, both commissioned and warrant officers, piloted Army aircraft (both rotary-wing and fixed-wing) and performed missions including: artillery spotting, tactical observation, scouting, and reconnaissance, and casualty evacuation roles, as well as battlefield troop lift, cargo transport, armed/attack helicopter, electronic surveillance, and communications/electronic warfare missions. Under the provisions of the Key West Agreement of 1948, the Pace-Finletter MOU 1952, and the Johnson-McConnell agreement of 1966, the Army agreed with the Air Force that the Air Force would (1) provide all fixed-wing close air support for the Army, (2) permit the Army unlimited use of helicopters, (3) limit the Army's weight limit on fixed-wing aircraft, (4) provide most Army fixed-wing tactical airlift support, and (5) relinquish claims to most types of tactical helicopters.