John Dunbar DFC [RIP] (#9343 - speaking with the voice of Box Brownie),
...What put the kybosh on * instructing for me was an instruction that came out that 90% had to pass out regardless. The directive from the Air Ministry in'42/'43 was such that we could not wash out more than 10% regardless of standard. We were all very unhappy at this. The words cannon fodder spring to mind...
This stands in the starkest contrast with my experience with the US Army Air Corps ('41-'42).
...[B] "The Official Website of "The Arnold Scheme (1941-1943) Register™ "
"Unfortunately nearly 50% of British cadets [LACs actually] 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...
In plain terms 43% of the RAF intake were rejected ! This caused considerable concern at the time, and has been endlessly discussed ever since. No plausible explanation has ever been forthcoming, and it is ancient history now.
One reason which could have been offered was that the average standard of RAF trainees was markedly lower than that of the American Cadets that the US Flight Schools had been accustomed to. Simply, the RAF was prepared to graduate pilots of a lower standard (and you must admit that John Dunbar's experience adds colour to this).
In which case, the corollary is that the successful graduates of the "Arnold Scheme" (and there have been several (mostly RIP now, but including the writer) on this Thread, should have immediately been noted to be of of a higher calibre. All I can say is: the AFS and OTUs that had to take the training further onto operational level never found (
AFAIK) the slightest difference.
And it begs more questions:
What was the loss rate on the six British Flying Training Schools that the US had built for us ? These Schools had, initially, to have 10% of US Cadets in their intake (obviously to compare training methods). How did they get on ?
And over the whole Empire Flying Training Scheme - what was its loss rate on average ?
The statistics for these last two cases seem impossible to trace (or at least, I have never been able to find them - perhaps somebody else can). But there was a general impression that they were far lower than the "Arnold" 43% - a wild guess would be 10-15% overall.
It is impossible to doubt that hundreds (or even thousands) of usable (and badly needed) RAF trainees went to waste in this way. But this should not lead us to resentment at the U.S.A.A.C. (in the person of General "Hap" Arnold) for giving us this wonderful help on the grounds that it turned out to be less wonderful than we expected !
[Note * kibosh - Wiktionary
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kibosh
...kaibosh, kybosh, kyebosh, kiebosh ... From the Irish caidhp bháis, meaning death cap (the hood put on someone before they were hanged to death, or the "Black ....]
................
Chugalug (#9346),
...We owe them everything...
How blazingly true ! I ask all of you pilots this: What is/was the name of the Flying Instructor who comes to your mind ? (No, don't pick up the log book, answer off the top of your head !)... Your first, of course, who sent you off solo on that unforgettable day now so long ago.
I recall these verses (they were very widely known in WWII):
A FLYING INSTRUCTORS LAMENT
__________________________
(I first read this well known poem in "Punch" during the war)
Taken from "BBC 'Peoples' War", submitted by “WINGTIP”.
and incorporating additional verses: sourced as follows:
"A HISTORY OF HADDANHAM"
(Bucks - The site was originally "RAF Thame". [Wiki]).
"A copy of the poem on the right was found in George Cliff's logbook. It obviously struck a chord. The author was P/O O.C. Chave whose son tells his story here"
........................
"What did you do in the War Daddy? - How did you help us to win?
Circuits and bumps, and turns, Laddie - And how to get out of a spin".
"Woe and alack, misery me, I trundle around in the sky,
And instead of machine - gunning Nazis, I'm teaching young hopefuls to fly".
"Thus is my service rewarded, - my years of experience paid,
Never a Hun have I followed right down, nor ever gone out on a raid"
"They don't even let us go crazy, - we have to be safe and sedate,
So it's nix on inverted approaches, they stir up the C.F.I.’s hate".
"For it's 'Oh, such a naughty example, and what will the A.O.C think?'
But we never get posted to fighters - We just get a spell on the Link!"
"So it’s circuits and bumps from mornin ‘till noon, and instrument flying! till tea,
Hold her off, give her bank, put your undercart down, you’re skidding, you're slipping - that's me".
"And as soon as you've finished with one course, like a flash, up another one bobs,
And there's four more to show round the cockpit and four more to try out the knobs".
"But sometimes we read in the papers, of the deeds that old pupils have done,
And we're proud to have seen their beginnings, and shown them the way to the sun".
"So if you find the money and turn out the 'planes we'll give all we know to the men,
'Till they cluster the sky with their triumphs, and burn out the beast from his den".
Step forward, Bob Greer - I shall be ever in your debt, for:
You showed me the way to the sun. I hope you lived/are living well. D.
Rather long, sorry Mr Moderator.
Danny42C.