United States Navy Pre-Flight School

Between 1942 and 1945, the Navy operated a Pre-Flight School on the University of Georgia campus. As one of only five such schools in the nation, the program trained approximately 20,000 cadets in the skills needed as combat pilots in the Pacific theater of World War II. The Navy utilized most of the existing campus and built numerous buildings and athletic facilities used by the college in later years. Additional Athens-area sites were also utilized and improvements were made to local streets and Ben Epps Airport. Few physical reminders of this large Naval presence remain.