WW2 instructors' handbook: still valid?
 

Arthur Sandison trained in the US in 1942 and completed a tour of instruction there before returning home to fly Lancasters. His daughter has posted a mine of information in the Brevet thread, the latest being Hints for Instructors at post #12771 on page 639.

I thought the hard-won knowledge of 80 years ago is just as valid today: what do you think?

As there is a fundamental difference between the way instruction is carried out in the US compared to the UK, I would urge a degree of caution. 80 year old material may not have benefitted from the many lessons learned in the interveining 80 years to say nothing of the fundamentally different methods of instruction on either side of the Atlantic.

Primary training was 60 hours, with 100 hours basic training to follow in 10 weeks.
10 hours a week something for commercial schools to achieve to keep the customer happy.

Apart from the formation flying, basics are basics irrespective whether military or civil.

I had a wartime copy copy of AP1732a “ Instructors Handbook of Elementary Flying Training” when I first started instructing 34 years ago, so at the time it was only about forty years old. Most of the content was still relevant then, the AOPA syllabus lesson numbers were based on the RAF syllabus, and there is fundamentally no difference (except for take-off and landing) between teaching basic flying in a Tiger Moth and a Cessna 150. The most useful were the notes for instructors and common student errors at the end of each lesson, and If I remember correctly it covered the whole syllabus including basic I.F, night flying and aerobatics. Everything in it is available from other Instructor manuals, but as a handy ready reference for instructors and students it would still be of excellent value for basic flying instruction in simple aircraft.

Just look at some of the 1940's and 50's training films on youtube, what they say just as relevant now as then.
Got to remember they trained lawyers and farm hands to fly. And even the odd actor.