...Many U.S. Navy pilots who "washed out" did something called.
"for the good of the service transfer" to the U.S.Army to become helicopter pilots.
They were already excellent pilots but could not land on carriers so they could not fly
in the Navy. They entered the Army as Warrant Officer Candidates and went thru with
the rest of us untrained WOC's.
Hands down any carrier pilot is the "BEST"

Sorry to contradict you, but having been around Naval Aviation for the last 35 years I do not believe this was ever the case. First, the number of helos in the Navy has always been about 50% of the total aircraft the Navy owned. Second, there are a large number of non-carrier based aircraft in the Navy, at least 15% of the remaining aircraft. Third, the vast majority of Naval Aviators are commissioned officers. If they accept transfer to the Army as a Warrant Officer, they would be direct commissioned to that rank and not attend WOC. Fourth, until the late 1990s/early 2000s, Navy officers who failed to wing were redesignated into other Navy specialties (mostly surface warfare and intell) to meet the manning in those communities who had a harder time recruiting - this wasn't a choice. Since then, a select number are able to redesignate and the rest are separated from the Navy (the percent of each varies on the Navy's needs at that time).

There used to be a program called NAVCAD in the 1960s & 1970s where non-Academy, non-ROTC and non-college graduate candidates could train to be Naval Aviators. These guys attended Aviation OCS but were not commissioned until they completed flight training and received their wings. If a NAVCAD failed to wing he was separated from the Navy. Since this was the Viet Nam war era and the Army was hurting for helo pilots, I would not be surprised if many of these guys applied to and were accepted for Army flight training. They then would have to have attended WOC. But this would not have been an interservice transfer as they would have been totally separated from military service and applying just like anyone else off the street. This might be what you are thinking about.

Now the part about Nay pilots being the best in the world? Absolutely true!

Hands down any carrier pilot is the "BEST"

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