DOC.400
Thanks for the tip about the pilots notes being available at White Waltham. I sent the info to a friend, Tommy Thompson, who flew Blenheims (plus several other types), and he had this to say:
'Thank your for your abridged info about the ATA Pilots Notes. It was a specially edited kneepad flip over book on all aircraft likely to be ferried and was laid out to give Start up, Taxi, Take off, Climb, (ATA) cruise figures, Descent , Landing and Shut Down information in a most condensed form. The pilots were sent to a primary traing school and checked out on Tigers or Magisters which then entitled them to fly light basic singles such as Prefects ,Tutors, Harts, and probably Lysanders.
Then to faster heavier singles at Thame to do 13 hrs on Harvards followed by 5 hrs on a Hurricane and finally 5 hrs on a Spit 5. (That was also my conversion after 500 hrs on heavy Twins back to fly Spits at Lyneham). The were then cleared to fly the foregoing a/c and fast single engine fighters like Defiants ,Fulmars, Mustangs, Typhoons, Merlin engined Spits, and with increased experience Griffon engined Spits. The twin training school was at White Waltham with Oxfords and Hudsons and finally for a limited few the 4+ category (I think that was the name) for 4 engined bombers (usually assisted by an engineer who was sometimes an ATC cadet with a good !Q). So often the positioning ride in the back of an Anson or Fairchild Argus was spent mugging up on a new type to be collected.
Joan Hughes was one of the elite 4+ qualified and Lettuce Curtis . Joan was also the pilot of the Demoiselle in the" Mag Men" when the firm building the machine for the film could not get it off the ground and on returning to the Paris home of the original discovered that Santos Dumont was only about 8 stone'.
I can also recall Monique Agazarian mentioning that there was at least one type where she was told to be prepared to exit quickly, because it was prone to catching fire on startup!
best regards,
p.s. am trying to get Tommy to write a book about his experiences both wartime and postwar at Hatfield.