ICare9
St. Eval.
Whitley Squadrons were taken off Bomber operations in 1942, and many Squadrons were move to Coastal Command airfields. 51 Squadron (for example) was moved to Chivenor until the end of the year, then reformed with Halifaxes at Snaith in January 1943.
10 OTU Detachment was a "one-off" compromise by Bomber Command when Coastal Command were insisting on more 'heavy' crews. Other Whitley OTUs also supplied crews to 10 OTU (SD). We had finished all training and normally would have been posted immediately to Bomber Squadrons. The majority of OTU crews were on Squadrons at the same time as those seconded to St. Eval.
The second pilots were newly trained pilots straight from SFTS or PAFU(s). They were not experienced pilots, had not flown any other than training aircraft, and were there merely for the ride, or to relief the captain if he wanted to stretch his legs.
When I finished my stint and returned to Bomber Command I found many of my OTU friends, who had gone directly to Squadrons, already missing or dead. fredjhh