I have just come into more info regarding my Dad,s enlistment into the RCAF. He enlisted in January 1942, and was sent to No 1 Manning depot, in Toronto Ontario. The RCAF had taken over the Canadian Nation Exhibition grounds on the Toronto waterfront. It was an agricultural and livestock exhibition grounds taken over for the duration. The livestock was evicted, and the grounds quickly converted for billeting the trainees. In honour of the previous inhabitants, it quickly was nicknamed The Horse Palace. For 2 months they did basic training, and he was selected for pilot training, who were given a small white flash to wear on the front of their caps. They thought this would impress the fair maidens of the land, but it backfired when someone ( presumably some nefarious Army type) spread the rumour that the white flash indicated the wearer was infected with VD! Needless to say, the flashes were reluctantly, but quickly, removed.
Things were just ramping up, but there were problems; they were not ready to accept the next batch of pilot trainees, but another intake for the Horse Palace was coming. The solution was 6 weeks of guard duty to a newly constructed station housing RCAF cooks. There were no billets, so they had to stay in the Grand Hotel in Exeter. Dad did make the observation that security seemed to be inversely proportion to the distance from the action. This station was surrounded by barbed wire, only one gate in and out. Kirmington, on the other hand, could be accessed at will by foot, bike or even cow traffic. Then it was on to No 5 Initial Training School in Belleville, for 8 weeks. It was at the School for the Blind, taken over again by the RCAF for the duration. From there he went to Elementary Flying Training School in Goderich, Ontario. There he washed out after writing off a Tiger Moth following an engine failure while solo. From there he was sent to Trenton, Ontario for remustering, and was selected as a bombardier.
I have already outlined his activities from there, with one exception: he arrived in Liverpool, then sent to Bournemouth. While waiting to be posted, again things were a bit slow catching up, so he was sent to the South Staffordshire Regiment, a commando outfit, for 10 days, before being posted to #81 OTU.