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Old 6th Aug 2014, 23:44
  #6039 (permalink)  
Danny42C
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ValMORNA,

Your: "The bare bones of this episode may appear uninteresting but could awake memories among some esteemed members". No, they're not uninteresting ! - and they awake memories among this member (esteemed ? - matter of opinion !).

Your man would have been in (Arnold) Class 42I, I reckon. They started with 519 and graduated 507 (2.4% scrubbed, killed, whatever *). The average losses for Courses 42A-42D was 40%, for 42E-43B (the end), 1.6%. So what happened about November '41 (when 42D started) - Pearl Harbor ?; Grading Schools introduced in UK ?

* "Losses" would include (mainly) "Washouts" for all reasons, plus a few (sadly) killed. Whether the 577 (total all Courses) "Creamed Off" Instructors (at the end) were included (as we didn't get them back - at least not until much later - in UK, I do not know). I did Carlstrom-Gunter like your relation, but then he went to Albany (Georgia), for the AT-9 (twins), I stayed on singles and got the AT-6A (Harvard) at Craig Field (Selma, Ala.).

All the USAAC Exercises he listed were given to me to do. I finished with 207.40 hrs and silver US wings, then the RAF (back in Canada gave me "drab silk" ones and a Sgts' stripes). Back in UK they gave me the Master and Spitfire (and a few hrs Hurricane).

Glad his story doesn't end there - let's have some more, please.

Cheers, Danny.