Thunderbird College

White-haired, dignified Lieut. General Barton Kyll Yount (rhymes with bunt) was in effect president of the nation's largest technical school in World War II. As chief of the Army Air Forces Training Command, he bossed the training of two million flyers and technicians on 453 campuses. In June, at 62, after 43 years in the Army, Barton Yount retired.

Last week he was back at one of his old campuses, Thunderbird Field, near Phoenix, Ariz., "the country club of the Air Corps." He was also back in the education business, this time in a private way. Barton Yount was president of the American Institute for Foreign Trade, newly organized as a nontaxable, non-profit educational corporation.

In the pastel-tinted, rambling ranch houses and hangars of "Thunderbird One," the Institute planned to train a new kind of cadet, the young businessman or diplomat prepping for a Latin-American career. Yount's salary as president of "Thunderbird College": $1,000 a month.

As his right hand at the new Institute, President Yount had picked ex-Lieut. Colonel Finley Peter Dunne Jr., 42, son of "Mr. Dooley's" creator, and Yount's wartime chief of A.A.F.T.C. student personnel.

Students at "Thunderbird College" will be taught Spanish and Portuguese by Army speed-up techniques, learn to appreciate what Dunne calls "such splendid institutions as the siesta." By last week the Institute had accepted 119 applications, hoped to enroll 250 students before Oct. 1. Biggest source of prospects: such export-minded businesses as the Sperry Corp., Pan American Airways. Tuition: $1,450 (room and board included).

The U.S. had sunk $792,985 in the airfield, which has two swimming pools on its 180 acres. It was knocked down to the Institute for $407,000 less a "100% discount" (i.e., for nothing). The War Assets Administration has sold 60 war surplus properties this way. Samples: Willow Run Air Base to the University of Michigan, the Bendix Aviation Corp. plant in Philadelphia to Temple University.

The discount to "Thunderbird College" was being studied by the House Surplus Property Committee. Said Chairman Roger C. Slaughter (D., Mo.): "This may be a perfectly legitimate enterprise, but it is worth looking into." Among Thunderbird's backers: five Phoenix and New York banks, several U.S. firms doing business in Latin America.

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