Cornish Jack:
When I came out of flying training and was posted on to the Argosy, I would normally have gone to No.242 OCU which was based at Thorney Island which was already equipped with Hastings and Beverley aircraft.
However, the Argosy was a new bit of kit so the aircraft were actually at Benson.
But, and it was a large but, we had to do the Transport Command ground school at Thorney Island. My undying memory was of the Met lecturer who was a dour Scot called Mr. Cruikshank and he could bang on for a whole afternoon about how the Gregale wind could affect the northern Med in the winter. It would be fair to say that staying awake after lunch in the mess and after a few beers was quite impossible.
Anyway, the photograph above is of No. 101 Transport Command Course and you will see that we had a couple of Valetta guys on our course even then.
By the way, the rest of us became No.5 Argosy Course at Benson.