instructor at the Rhode Island State Airport Terminal for Navy cadets and the government sponsored “Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP)” during the war, teaching over 400 young men how to fly for the Air Corps. This was her old dream of the Betsy Ross Air Corps come true, as she helped train the men who would fly fighter aircraft in combat. An account from the time shows the work she was doing by saying: “Mrs. Kunz has been in Providence since January [1942] as a member of the staff of E. W. Wiggins Airways. She has a mother’s confidence in her ‘boys’ and they reciprocate with respect and enthusiasm. Nothing gives her greater joy than to see them solo, to know she has taken them one step nearer to Uncle Sam’s aerial defense line.” Later, at her home in California, she would recall her experiences with fondness. “I trained about 400 boys and it was easily the highlight of my career. I really became a sort of foster mother to them. You would be surprised how many of my boys brought their wives and children to see me after the war.” She also indicated in a letter that she had trained combat pilots. "...I was a flight instructor all during the war. Had over three hundred students who served as combat pilots in the war.” Several CPTP graduates, including Betty Tackaberry Blake, Florence Shutsy-Reynolds and Betty Jane Williams, went on to serve as a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP). See also Aviation Cadet Training Program (USAAF) British Commonwealth Air Training Plan German Air Sports Association (started 1933) V-5 Naval Aviation Cadet Program References Bibliography The excerpt page has a complete list (by state) of the educational institutions that participated in the Civilian Pilot training Program. This is a master's thesis. External links IU’s Civilian Pilot Training Program – Indiana University Bloomington The WTS Program – Flying Aviation history of the United States Flight training Training programs Civil aviation in the United States