At some point during the training program, a small number of pilots were sent for training in lessor known type aircraft, such as gliders, helicopters, blimps, and reconnaissance-observer type airplanes.

Many of the reconnaissance airplanes were used as photo planes. The smaller Piper Cubs, and the Stinson L5 were used in a large variety of ways for reconnaissance and observer purposes. They were very rugged, very versatile, very small airplanes that were unarmed and could go where nothing else could. They could accomplished just about anything asked of them. In very remote areas, they were used to bring or drop food, medicine, ammunition, and supplies to both soldiers and civilians. Troops in Burma called the little observation planes "Jungle Angels." Many thousands of people, including military, civilians, and local natives, owed their welfare -- and many times their lives -- to the courageous men who flew those unarmored and unarmed airplanes.

Helicopters had very limited use in the second World War, due to the fact that they just had not been developed in time to be readily available. The Germans and English put them into slightly more use than the U.S.

Even though blimps played a very significant part in WWII, their role in the war has pretty much been forgotten. In truth, their contribution was probably never very well known, even during the war. When the war started, the U.S had a grand total of 10 blimps, all of which were training aircraft.

At the same time there were only 100 qualified pilots, and this included every retirees, student, and reserve personnel available. Crew members were not in plentiful numbers either, with only 100 enlisted aircrews members, 20 officers and 200 support personnel available. The only operational base was at Lakehurst, New Jersey. By the end of the war fifteen blimp squadrons were in use, utilizing 706 officers, 3,000 air crew members, 1,500 pilots and 7,200 support staff. There was one squadron at each of seven bases on the East Coast, three at bases on the West Coast, and five located at several overseas stations. Two were located in Brazil, one, each in Trinidad, Jamaica, and Port Lyautey, French Morocco. After the war, blimps gradually faded away; by the 1960s they had disappeared altogether.

Blimp squadrons had a very impressive war record. They patrolled about three million square miles of water on both coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico. They safely escorted some 89,000 ships to port. Not a single ship was ever lost when accompanied by a blimp. The Germans sank thousands of merchant ships during the war. In the first six months of 1942, alone, they sank 454 vessels. After U.S. blimps began to patrol the Atlantic in 1942, the number of ships sank went down dramatically -- only 65 in 1943, 8 in 1944, and 3 in 1945. In addition, only one blimp was destroyed during the entire war. It was shot down by a German U-boat while dropping food, water, medicine, and survival supplies to victims in the water. All the crew members but one were rescued.