Danny42C
Re your 8012 about OTU training: Ah....sweet mystery of life! I don't have a clue about all that missed training. What I've described is just how it happened. I knew of 15 2-man crews like mine, some of whom were posted to 600 (City of London) Squadron or to 604 Sqn. both were equipped with Beaufighters, and no doubt there were other astonished COs who wondered why they were receiving untrained aircrew.
I always wondered why I didn't receive proper pilot training for action, either at night or later by day, when I was sent to 603 with the Desert Air Force.
Similarly I had no formal training in the aiming and dropping of bombs. It was "go out and try your luck on the wreck just outside Tobruk Harbour".
I do wonder how we managed in the end to win the war!
More to come, Danny.