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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2009.PDF
SEPTEMBER 24TH, 1942 FLIGHT' 339 at various times studied flying at C.F.S. Names of officers making his- ,tory to-day appear in the records as "\ither having taken a course at C.F.S. or having been on the staff of the school. Some of these are:—Mafshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Sal- mond ; Air Chief Marshal Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt; Air Chief Marshal Sir W. R. Freeman ; Air Chief Mar shal Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferte ; Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Long- more ; Air Vice-Marshal A. Coning- ham, and Air Vice-Marshal J. E. A. Baldwin, who went with his men to Cologne on the first of the 1,000-a- ijjghj raids. Air Chief Marshal Sir W. i^pfeeman and Air Vice-Marshal Bald win have both been Commandants of the C.F.S., and two of the most famous fighter pilots of this war, Wing Cdr. Bader and Group Capt. V. Beamish, were students there. In the old C.F.S. Mess at Upavon, photographs and trophies bore the names of pilots who have made flying history—men like Stainforth, Atcher- ley and Waghorn, and other members of the Schneider Trophy teams. There was the single gun from McCudden's machine with which he took so great a toll of German aircraft, and a wooden airscrew used by the Wright brothers in 1903. The airfield-at Upavon, with his hump back and short landing and take-off runs, provided just sufficient hazard to provide good training in old-type air craft. The scene now moves to the present day, when the train ing of air pilots for the Allied Nations has become such a world-wide organisation that C.F.S. has had the word Empire added, and its constitution changed for a kind of Air University or Training Staff College. Experienced instructors from Gt. Britain, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada and the United States come to E.C.F.S. to pool and gather knowledge of this all-important side of the war effort. Many have personal experience of war flying. Some wear decorations won in fighting above the Libyan and Abyssinian wildernesses or flying from the decks of ships Flying 1914. Typical E.C.F.S. group of 1942. (Left to Right) Force) ; Sqn. Ldr. Roxburgh, A.F.C. (R.A.F.) Arm) ; Major Boyle, D.F.C. (South African^ Canadian Air Force) ; Fit. Lt. RvSelO "Flight" photograph. A C.F.S. scene at Upavon, with two Maurice Farman Longhorns on the ground and a Henry Farman in the air. at sea, defending Malta or Greece. Bringing with them a knowledge of training and of war, and having access to the accumulated store of experience of stations in Great Britain, they meet to forge for the bomber and fighter pilot of the future an armoury of skill in operational flying, which will fit him to carry the battle to the enemy. School Organisation The commandant of the school is Air Commodore G. S. Oddie, who was C.F.I, at No. 3 F.T.S. from 1932 to 1936 and served for 14 months at the Air Ministry as Deputy- Director of Flying Training. He won the D.F.C. in the 1919 Afghan war, and the A.F.C. for experimental flying at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farn borough. The Chief Instructor, Wing Cdr. A. D. Selway, D.F.C., is an old C.F.S. man. He commanded No. 14 squadron in the East African campaign and has held staff appointments in the Middle East. To gather some idea of the magni tude of the present-day air training programme, of which this school is the hub, it should be remembered that there are at present several special ised establishments whose sole pur pose is to turn out flying instruc tors. It is self-evident that there is in existence a vast volume of data and experience of flying training methods and problems which have to be co ordinated. Added to this, also, is the need for , keeping flying training abreast of the times as new types and new devices come into operation. The organisation of the school is best thought of as a conference in perman ent session, with the members con tinually changing. It has been pro vided with the means to try-out in the ir the practicability of arfy of its findings. Unlike the situation at the ordinary Flying Training Schools, where the teaching of flying is the basis of the course, the students at the Empire Central Fying School are very experi enced pilots, and no question, there fore, arises of teaching them to fly. The ground work of this school forms
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