Lane O. Ely, Professor Emeritus – Animal and Dairy Science
As we just celebrated Memorial Day and June is Dairy Month, it is a good time to remember the Naval Pre Flight School at the University of Georgia and the involvement of the Dairy Science in the decision to come to Athens.
When the United States entered WWII, the military knew that it needed to have an accelerated plan to the bring men into the services rapidly. One of the programs developed was the Naval Pre Flight School. Students would receive concentrated and intense training to become pilots. There was lots of competition to have these schools. The University of Georgia, like most universities, had lost large numbers of students to the war effort. By getting the Pre Flight School, UGA would gain income from the added students and operation of the school.
Strong political influence supported the location of one of the Pre Flight schools in Georgia. Many felt that it would be located in Atlanta at Georgia Tech but the decision was made to locate it in Athens. One of the deciding factors was that UGA promised to supply all of the milk and dairy products the Pre Flight School needed.
Dairy was part of the Animal Husbandry Department and a new dairy had been built in 1936. The creamery was located in the basement of Connor Hall and supplied milk to the campus and Athens.
UGA had hired Professor Herbert Henderson from Tennessee to start a new Dairy Science Department at UGA. Faculty from dairy production and dairy manufacturing were pulled together. A new building was opened on Ag Drive to house the new department. The creamery was moved from Connor Hall to the new Dairy Science building.
The Naval Pre Flight School was successful as large number of future pilots came through the program. Several campus buildings were used by the School and new buildings were constructed. Also roads were improved and additions were made to Ben Epps airport.
Prof Henderson remained as the Department Head of the Dairy Science Department for the rest of his career. When he retired in 1974, Dairy Science was merged with Animal Science to form the Animal and Dairy Science Department, the milk and Dairy products from the creamery remained a hit as it did for the Pre Flight School.