WW2 Pilot training in the UK, continued
It seems that pupils in America had one instructor throughout the course.
I flew with five instructors, plus the CFI for the final check at EFTS.
With three other pupils I was allocated to Sgt. Barton, probably the best instructor at the school. A pre-war Regular Officer, he had objected to being transferred to the Fleet Air Arm and had resigned his commission. At that time the RAF would only admit him as a Sgt. but he got his commission back later on. After one week, Barton was Absent Sick and his pupils were left in limbo with no instructor. It was only after another week that other Instructors took pity on us and all four took us flying in turn, - but they each had to go over the exercises we had done before. At eight hours I was pronounced “fit for solo,” but the next instructor wanted to see “what I could do.” Barton returned and sent me Solo the following day.
At half way into the six week course his pupils had only 20 hours out of the 50 required, so we were put back “half a course.” We finished ground school on time and so managed to get extra hours in the air in the last three weeks. I finished EFTS with 35 hours dual and 33 hours Solo.
Two pupils flew in the morning while the other two had ground instruction. The following day this was reversed. In a lesson on navigation a young Danish officer, Sub Lieutenant Pedersen, appeared by my side. He watched me draw a line on my chart then took my pencil from me and drew a much fainter line. “Don’t press. Let the pencil do the work. Much easier to rub out without leaving a mess on your chart.”
I knew Pederson had flown a Hornet Moth from Denmark but it was many years before I found the full story.
Sub-Lieutenant Sneum had found the Moth stripped down in a barn in Denmark. The farmer agreed to sell, “provided it went West.” Sneum recruited Pedersen, and De Havilland’s agent in Denmark provided the plans to rebuild the Moth. They ran the engine once then prepared to take off at dawn. In flight Sneum refuelled the side tank by leaning out with a petrol can and a funnel. Pederson flew from the right hand seat while hanging onto Sneum with his left hand. Full stories are in Google.
Pedersen went on to fly Spitfires and Typhoons, but Sneum returned by parachute to Denmark to carry on his spying activities. Neither was decorated by Britain or Denmark. Fred
P.S How do I find a members' E-mail address?