Blackouts and the Empire Flying Training Scheme.
Kookabat,
Thank you for your #2304. Yes, the blackout was all too real in wartime Britain. The Air-raid Warden's cry of "Put that light out!" rang round in every town and village in the land.
I cannot think that it ever came to be a fact in the Dominions, but I can quite see that it made sense to practice it. I would think that Sydney was a long way for the Japanese to attack by air - places like Darwin would be more likely.
There is a possibility. In the eastern coastal cities of the US, they had to institute a blackout because it was found that the U-boats were having a field day with coastal shipping, which was clearly silhouetted against the shore lights. Could a similar thing be a problem at Sydney? It's a long way for a U-boat, but I suppose they could lay on a refueller way out in the Southern Ocean.
All the best, Adam,
Danny.
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Millercourt, Greetings!,
Following my Post #2383, and seeing that nobody else is leaping into the ring to defend the US/Canada trainees, I should like to expand on my remark about "more and better particulars".
The two authors say "In the autumn of 1941". These two gentlemen will have kept their logbooks, so exact dates, please, and the number(s) of the Unit(s) involved in this "re-train" exercise. Perhaps you could contact them through their Publishers and try to get this information for us?
These units will all have had to keep up their Operational Record Book (F540) and then render the pages monthly to Flying Training Command. Now these will be stashed away somewhere in the Air Historical Records Branch. Although I don't have the computer skills to dig about at that rarified level, I know from reading past Posts, that many of our PPRuNers have; it should not be hard to get at the "nitty-gritty" in them about this business. Then we can all read the whole sad story (which I cannot find in Google or Wikipedia - can anyone else?)
From the authors' remarks, there seems to be some misapprehension:
First: "The SFTS's had been shipped out to Canada and the US for their flying training". I don't quite understand. Do they mean that trainees did their EFTS in the UK, and then went over for their SFTS? As far as I know, all the people who went overseas for training went straight from ITW, did their EFTS and SFTS out there, and returned to the UK for AFU and OTU. In the Arnold Scheme, we did our whole training in the States, then came back at the same point.
AFU - "ay, there's the rub!" (what did "AFU" stand for?) Even at the time, nobody seemed to know - a stamp in my logbook reads: " No.9 Flying Training School, RAF Hullavington". Someone had crossed out "Flying Training School", and written "(P) AFU". Nowhere was it written out in full.
However, our authors seem to know: "It was arranged that we should become (Pilot) Advanced Flying Units with the object of just brushing up these pilots' flying before shipping them off to their operational units". (They went to OTUs in fact, but let that pass).
I spent 25 days at No.9 AFU, 20 hours on the Master by day and night, two and a half on the Hurricane by day. Hardly SFTS! It was explained to us that the purpose of the Course was to familiarise us with the different British weather, the blackout (yes), the more congested British countryside (yes), Instrument panel layout and wheel braking systems - all eminently reasonable. Nowhere was "brushing up our flying" mentioned - and nobody tried! (on my departure, the CI certified that I was an "average" pilot and a competent pilot/navigator).
"..........fully trained pilots. This was the case with those trained in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa" - (S.Rhodesia?) - "but these were few in numbers". So what was it that they had been doing which differed from the practice at the US/Canadian Schools? Did nobody ask, so that the problem could be sorted out - the War has still four years to run? I was told that the UK EFTS-SFTS curriculum was followed unchanged at all Empire Flying Training Schools, wherever they were - and it would have been stupid if it had not been so.
I've asked more than enough questions. Let's wait for some answers to turn up.
Danny42C
I'm getting a bit worried about Cliff. Does anybody know?
Last edited by Danny42C; 7th Mar 2012 at 23:52.