Originally Posted by
nipva
Was it the trainer for fiture heavy bombers pilots (Vulcan, Victor, Valiant, Canberra...) or were they selected from the fast jet pipeline?
By the mid 60s, when I went through the system, streaming from BFTS was done as follows:
Fast jet (Lightning, Hunter and occasional Canberra) to AFTS at Valley primarily on the Gnat or the Hunter if you couldn't fit into a Gnat.
Heavies (V force, Maritime & Transport/AAR) to Oakington on the Varsity
Rotary to Shawbury on the Whirlwind? - not sure after so many years!
At the end of the 60s Fast Jet also included Harrier, Buccaneer and Jaguar.
I don't believe that Shawbury had choppers during the 1960's, I was at Shawbury during 1976 at a time when RAF Tern Hill was closing and RAF records tend to agree that it was open upon the Tern Hill closure that choppers moved in to Shawbury
https://raf.mod.uk/our-organisation/.../raf-shawbury/