One of the more persistent bees that buzz in my bonnet concerns the loss ("washout") rates of RAF Cadets training in the U.S. Army Air Corps "Arnold" Flight Schools during '41 to '43 in WWII. I quote from:
[A] "The Official Website of - Arnold Scheme
www.arnold-scheme.org/The%20Arnold%20Register.htm?CachedSimilar"
and from:
"The Official Website of "The Arnold Scheme (1941-1943) Register™ "
"Unfortunately nearly 50% of British cadets did not successfully complete pilot training under the scheme, being eliminated ("washed out"), usually without the right of appeal. Between 1941 and 1943, some 7,885 cadets entered the scheme and of the 4493 who survived training, most were returned to the UK as Sergeant Pilots, with many being posted to Bomber Command". However, 577 of the graduates were retained for a period of approximately one year as Instructors." (nearly all for the BFTS; we had one P/O MacMillan posted to us at USAAC Advanced School, Craig Field, Selma in early '42; he must have been on 42A Course, graduating in the New Year, and cannot have had more than 8 weeks Instructor's School)
(All entries in italics are from the official websites: all my comments in plain text).
[A] Stats & Facts
______________
Total RAF Intake...............7885 Note [#1]
RAF cadets Eliminated at:
_____________________
Acclimatization Centres...........9
Primary Schools................2687
Basic Schools.....................526
Advanced Schools...............170
Cadets Killed in Training.........81
_______________________________So losses 3313, of which 3232 (97.6%)
......................................................were "washouts".
[Highest Rank achieved by RAF Graduate: Marshall (sic) of the Royal Air Force]
[Highest British Decoration Awarded: Victoria Cross]
Summary Stats by Class
____________________
Class Net Intake Graduated
42A........549........302...............(Reg Levy's Class)
42B........555........327
42C........632........405...............(my Class)
42D........651........399
_____________________________1433 Graduates from 2387 [#2] Net Intake, so 954 losses; 931 assumed "washouts" , (954 x 0.976). (39% of the intake).
42E........749........746
42F........753........747
42G........749..... ..738
42H........758........748
42I.........519........507
42K........507........493
43A........518........504
43B........518........503
_____________________________4497 Graduates from
...................................................5071.[#3] Net Intake,
..................................................so 574 losses; 560
...................................................assumed "washouts".
...................................................(11% of the intake).
Source: Dr Gilbert S Guinn
================
Note [#2] + [#3] = 7458, contrasts with [#1] (7885), a difference of 427 ?
* * *
How is the difference between the overall washout rates from Classes 42A - 42D (39%) and Classes 42E - 43B (11%) to be accounted for ? Any suggestions as to how this circle could be squared ? And even supposing it could, how can this possibly be ? Even with the introduction of a Grading school in the UK before transit to the US, you could hardly expect an improvement of this size. After all, 252 Losses in 42D and only 3 in 42E ? - Come on !!
For the proposal which was put forard was that a Grading School System be introduced in November '41, in which all LACs for Pilot training would do 15 hours dual (probably on a TM) in UK. Here the small proportion of no-hopers could be identified and weeded-out, and the "naturals" passed through at 2-3 hours as soon as their talents had been recognised. In this way a huge wastage of travel time, berth space and costs could be avoided. Good idea, but wouldn't this amount to re-activating the EFTS in wartime in the UK (which the Empire and US training schemes were specifically introduced to avoid ?
In any event, I never met anyone who had been through one of these Grading Courses, and think the idea was quietly dropped,
Some very top brass was concerned with the excessive failure rates in the US. Google-up, and select:
"#5 British Flying Training School, Clewiston, Florida":
"The following article gives a short history of the BFTSs in the USA and, in particular 5 BFTS. If you are interested in the full history of all BFTS please click here * for a full article taken from "Air 41" History of the BFTSs in the USA. This is held in the Public Records Office, Kew Gardens, London".
* Click ! Look for:
"Summary of RAF training facilities in America as by June 1941". Although this is naturally focussed on the BFTS, there is a useful bit about the "Arnold" Schoools at the end.
I've seen figures for the BFTS (but cannot trace the source again) which shows an overall washout rate of around 3% # and believe this was the ballpark figure for the Empire Flying Training Scheme.
harrym, if you're on frequency, how about Canada ? How about Rhodesia ? (Anyone ?)
[B]
# EDIT: Further grubbing around in Google turns up a single individual's estimate of 30% at his BFTS, and of course, from our point of view in tne "Arnold" Scheme: "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence". D.
If we ignore the gross discrepancy between 42A-D and 42E-43B washout rates, a pat answer might be that the USAAC imposed higher standards and consequently had higher failure rates. That would imply that the successful candidates would be of a noticeably higher quality than the rest. As indeed they should be, as we all had 200 hours before "Wings", whereas the others had around 140 (this figure is extraordinarily difficult to tie down, as it varied from place to place and from time to time. I can only record that I never heard any such claim being made after I came back: we were all lumped in together and shared out for the next (OTU) stage of our training.
Danny42C
