Gypsy
There might have been one or two bods missing but that was the complete flight with the Corporal and F/Sgt Choular, of Egyptian descent, a disciplarian with a heart of gold who , by coincidence was also Cliff's F/Sgt. at his ITW a bit later. We were possibly about thirty but I know that everyone on that Photo went to Albany Ga. There were, of course, other schools in the South East Training Center ( American spelling ) that had British Cadets joining them and were also given the 42A classification (First Class to graduate in 1942..) American College system and a very good one as you could tell straight away the year that a person took the course and when he finished and tell whether he was earlier or later than you.. It is still widely in use. The course at Primary had about fifty of
whom around 50% got their wings in the States..A lot of those people were washed out for purely "disciplinary reasons" and were posted up to Canada where they were often trained up to Wings standard and many of them were dead before we got back to England. Quite a few of these unfortunates were re-mustered Sergeants and Corporals who had been stationed at places like Biggin Hill and had felt the full fury of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. To be told by some young American College Boy to "be an aeroplane, Mister, and fly out of my sight " and then be expected to put his arms out, make a whirring sound and run off , was too much and the result of telling the "Upper Classman " what to do with his aeroplane , beside being physically impossible , would result in the immediate shipping back to Canada of the probably, relieved unfortunate. All the best Reg