Air Force pilots busy with exam

Kris Hill

Wednesday, May 30, 2001 | 8:52 a.m.

This won't be a typical final exam because there won't be pencils and test booklets.

Instead students in the Air Force Weapons School will be in planes or on the ground, working on a final exam that simulates combat.

Also participating in exercises will be the German Air Force.

It is the culmination of a six-month graduate-level series of courses taught at Nellis Air Force Base, where the Weapons School is headquartered.

Air Force officers come from all over the country to take part in the advanced weapons and tactics training. After graduating from the program, they return to their units as experts and instructors.

Beginning today and running through June 12, between 50 and 100 planes will be in the air at any given time during what Air Force officials call a "realistic, final high-intensity combat exam."

The school began in the late 1940s as an informal gathering of World War II veterans who wanted to pass on their experiences of air combat and survival techniques to other soldiers.

By 1954 it had evolved officially into the Fighter Weapons school and trained gunnery instructors for the Air Force.

Today the school teaches weapons instructor courses on a number of planes, as well as tactical classes such as intelligence and command and control operations.

Each year more than 120 officers graduate from the Weapons School.