William G. Skelly, a Tulsa oilman and owner of Spartan Aircraft Company, founded the Spartan School in 1928. Initially, the purpose of the school was to promote sales of aircraft manufactured by the company. The school was located initially across Apache Street from
Tulsa International Airport. During the early 1930s, Skelly pledged his share of Spartan Aircraft Company as collateral for a loan from
J. Paul Getty, but Skelly's finances became overextended during the Great Depression. As a result, Getty obtained control of Spartan Aircraft, including the Spartan School in 1935. In 1942, Getty personally took over management of Spartan Aircraft and its school. The Spartan School was activated as a U. S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) facility on August 1, 1939, as an advanced civilian pilot training school to supplement the Air Corps' few flying training schools. The Air Corps supplied students with training aircraft, flying clothes, textbooks, and equipment. The Air Corps also put a detachment at each school to supervise training. Flying training was performed with
Fairchild PT-19s as the primary trainer. The Air Force also supplied several
PT-17 Stearmans and a few
P-40 Warhawks. Spartan furnished instructors, training sites and facilities, aircraft maintenance, quarters, and mess halls. Students from the Royal Air Force entered the school on June 7, 1941. The U. S. Army Air Forces officially designated Spartan as a British Refresher School. In 1943, the school reorganized into a College of Aeronautical Engineering, School of Flight, School of Mechanics, School of Meteorology, School of Communications, and School of Instruments. In November 1943, the school was selected by the Department of State and the Civil Aeronautics Administration as a training facility for the Inter-American Aviation Mechanic Training program. The first class under this program included 67 students from 12 Latin American countries. Spartan Aircraft Company reorganized after World War II, renaming itself as Spartan Aero Repair in 1946. It ceased to produce aircraft, though it continued to operate the school. For the next 15 years the parent company made Spartan Trailers instead of aircraft. It closed the Tulsa manufacturing plant in 1961 and renamed Minnehoma Insurance Company. The Spartan tradename was sold to the Spartan School. In 1967, the former Spartan interests were bought by Automation Industries, Inc., who sold them to
National Education Corporation, the parent company of
National Education Center, Inc. in 1972. == Locations ==