Flexible gunnery schools activated by the Army Air Forces had but one mission – training men to be flexible gunners on combat crews.

Photo with caption: Gunnery Students practice on gun turrets mounted on trucks. The turrets had been modified to fire shotgun shells. Flexible gunnery training caused the Army Air Forces more difficulties than any other flying specialty. The Army Air Forces had virtually no background experience in gunnery instruction. Compounding the problem were serious shortages in equipment and instructors, and no practical means of simulating aerial combat firing. The people at Tyndall Field encountered these problems and constantly worked to correct them. Before any gunners could be trained, however, their instructors had to be trained. A special short course for instructors was conducted in January and February 1942. With the instructors trained, the school was able to open on Feb. 23 and training included: .30-caliber machine gun, shot gun, sights and sighting, and aircraft recognition. Over the years, courses were added or dropped as the AAF became more experienced at training gunners.