Boeing School of Aeronautics 1929 to 1943 

     The Air Commerce
Act of 1926 was amended February 1929 to regulate accredited flying
schools. There were 61 schools that applied and in 1929 only 20 were
approved but this increased to 44 in 1930. Boeing School of Aeronautics (BSA)
was accredited in October 1929. 
     In 1929 United Aircraft and Transport Corporation
Holding Company held Pacific Air Transport (PAT), Boeing Air Transport
(BAT), Boeing Airplane Company and various other aeronautical companies.
Boeing School was operated by BAT and retained that connection until 1934.
In 1934, Congress enacted the Air Mail Act which required United Aircraft
and Transport Corporation to change its management to United Air Lines Inc
(UAL). Boeing School became a part of UAL and United decided to retain the
Boeing School name. The Boeing School never had any direct connections
with the Boeing Airplane factory.
     The Oakland Municipal Airport opened in 1927 with
Colonel Charles A. Lindberg dedicating it on September 17, 1929. The
airport contained 850 acres, a runway 7,020 feet long, mild weather and an
A-1-A rating issued by the Department of Commerce. Boeing Air Transport
had a long-term lease on some hangar space and was not using hangar five
and only half of hangar four. Boeing School located in these hangars and
began operations September 16, 1929.
     In the original plan new classes were to start
every year, however, applications for enrollment were so numerous that it
required starting classes every three months. 
     On December 8, 1941, all flight operations
stopped and flight students were moved to Tracy, Calif., and fitted in
with the flight students already there under another UAL program. A few
weeks later by special military permission the school’s aircraft were
flown to Tracy. The school suspended all commercial courses on August 1,
1942, having graduated approximately 2,801 students. On January 8, 1943,
BSA was changed to United Airlines Training Center.

     In
1928, Theophus Lee, Jr., could see the aviation industry was developing
rapidly and trained personnel were going to be in short supply.
     Mr. T. Lee, Jr. A.B.: during World War I had been
a flying cadet, then instructor and then officer in charge of flying at
Ebert’s Field, Ark., was minister in San Francisco, a teacher in the
Hawaiian Islands and high school principal in Los Angeles. He became an
air mail pilot with Pacific Air Transport in 1928. 
     He sold the operations manager on his idea of a
flying school and then toured the flying schools and universities that had
aeronautical courses in the United States and ended up in  . . . . . .