The Plot Thickens.
Thanks a lot, Dogle (#2343), and eaw (#2344). for the kind words. Keeps my spirits up no end!
Further to my Post #2335, (P117), I've been re-reading earlier Posts in this Thread (they read better every time). I came to andy1999's Post #460 (P23). Some way in there is a pic of what apppears to be a medal. I racked my brains for the dregs of my Latin and came up with "The sea divides us, the heavens join us" - only to find that someone had done it for me a few Posts further on and I needn't have bothered! In any case, it's very apt indeed.
But the meat in the sandwich is the bare table of statistics which follows This shows that from Class 42A (which must have been the July 41 entry - these would graduate in Jan 42) to Class 42D (which would have been the last entry before Pearl Harbor), only 60% graduated. From 42E onwards to the end of the record, the figure rose to 98% ! The answer is clear: only the Arnold schools must have had British students prior to Pearl Harbor; unless the Arnold leopard changed his spots, the BFTS must have taken over all, or nearly all our people from then on.
It looks as if my suspicion that the USAAC schools simply took on almost twice as many people as their Basic and Advanced schools could handle (and had to discard the rest) was well founded. In that sense, Primary School was more of a competitive examination than a fair test of flying skill, and a lot of potentially good material must have been wasted. None of this reflects badly on the Americans, we were only too grateful for any help, and as neutrals they were under no obligation to lift a finger on our behalf, and if they chose to do so, it was their right to organise it any way they wished.
Danny42C
Last edited by Danny42C; 25th Feb 2012 at 17:08.