Ab Initio ('Creamy') Instructor Training Scheme
Hi Danny,
Have now done some homework, and although Marshalls trained order of 20,000 aircrew through the war (including 600-700 pilots prior to BoB), it was their 'Ab Initio' Instructor Training Scheme which was innovative and subsequently adopted by the RAF - as per this quote:
"Sir Arthur Marshall actually invoked a scheme to train instructors from scratch. The usual route was for senior pilots in the RAF to progress to become instructors regardless of their enthusiasm or aptitude for that task. Marshall decided to take trainees on from scratch - if they were good pilots and had the aptitude he'd teach them to become instructors.
"In 1941, his 'Ab Initio' Flying Instructor Scheme was adopted universally by the RAF and it still exists to this day, known as the 'Creamy' Flying Instructor Scheme.
"Air Marshall Sir John Day commented in recent years that had the Marshall scheme been introduced at the very beginning of the war, there would have been no shortage of pilots for the Battle of Britain."
They received their first Tiger Moths in 1938 and they've been teaching people to fly in them ever since (there are still two flying out of Marshalls, and you can still train for your PPL in them - might be a fun way to resume my aviating, one day).
So there you go - and with that I'll return to lurking in a corner of the crew room, mug of tea in hand, listening to the illustrious senior members with real tales to tell...