Interesting homecoming Ormeside! What explanation (or perhaps none?) were you given for the double helping of RAF Regiment, particularly in the first instance? Was the insatiable demand of Bomber Command for pilots now a thing of the past? After D-Day was the emphasis on tactical air power, and therefore the strong possibility of being in the battle area rather than merely being above it? Were you happy to be drilled and lectured on the 'tool entrenching for the use of', or were there mutterings? Horses for course perhaps, though harrym and hummingfrog snr might well have preferred the firing of mainline locos instead.
However, once the die was cast and you had all 'volunteered' for Army secondment and the GPR, such skills became matters of potential life and death of course. Could you please give some details of the training, both at BN and Hampstead Norris?
Was the BN course more a case of circuit work, ie learning your key points for height and speed cross wind, downwind, base leg, and approach for a chosen landing spot, and the second perhaps more realistic towed cross countries to calculated cast off points for tactical exercises with troops and payloads? Only a guess of course, so please correct and inform. How much was night work? What sort of penetration ratio did these aircraft have? One imagines something similar to a house brick, but presumably some were better than others. Were you current/checked out on all types, some, or just one?
Lots more questions no doubt, but I'll leave them for others. Suffice to say, it is a little known and discussed part of WW2 aviation, and so of great interest to this thread I'd suggest.