UT began a School of Aviation under the direction of Professor W. R. Woolrich in 1929. It was one of five Curtis flying schools in the South. UT applied to the Guggenheim Fund Trustees to become the Guggenheim-funded school in the South. (They were not successful in the application, although Guggenheim representatives did visit the campus.)
In 1939 the federal government, recognizing the need for more pilots, passed the Civilian Training Pilot Act. The University of Tennessee, one of the first institutions to seek participation, was selected to offer instruction under the provisions of the act. The faculty approved (1939) two courses in aeronautics, each to carry three hours of elective credit. The College of Engineering, which assumed responsibility for the instruction, offered an accelerated eight-week course with 240 hours of ground-school instruction and 40 hours of flight training at the municipal airport. A two-year curriculum in airport operation and management was approved in 1944. By 1945 aviation offerings could be taken by UT students, high school graduates, college graduates who wanted professional training in aeronautics, or by any person 21 years old or older. In addition, the university’s research expertise was tapped for establishment of a research institute—an Institute of Aviation Psychology, established in 1943 and funded by the National Research Council. The federal government in 1945 terminated the contract.
Its position in training civilians was a major factor in UT being asked to provide training to Army Air Corps cadets during World War II. These programs were phased out after World War II, and UT abandoned aviation training until 1952.