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As you will see in following pictures, Ellis was one of thousands of little boys who had romantic ideas, and dreamed of being Hero Pilots. The tradition carried through much of my life, but seems to have degraded today to aspirations of high paying airline jobs. Now, I am very enamored of aspirations, but I do find this older generation a bit more inspirational.

The  Civilian Pilot Training Program started in 1939. In 1940, the CPTP had graduated 9,885 pilots, and in the 18 months before the United States entered the war, the number of pilots in the country rose from 31,000 to over 100,000, primarily through the CPTP.

EDW born 15Jan1922, got his license quite young, but I don't think part of CPTP - so Jan. 1941, he was 19 years old and on his way to Canada and the RCAF, where he trained again, and went to England flying all manner of their craft, including (I believe from pictures) the Spitfire and Hurricane. When USA finally joined the fight, Ellis transferred to US Army Air Corps.
 He flew throughout the War and around the world, and from China, over the Hump, to India.