Page 5 - Derek Braithet Holland

More information on this RAF station is at this very informative website.

RAF Clyffe Pypard

Here Derek would have undertaken a grading course flying the De Havilland Tiger Moth biplane
and the Miles Magister M.14 monoplane to assess his suitability for further pilot training, the
average time spent in the air on this course being 5 hours. The unit's Chief Flying Instructor,
Squadron Leader A.H Whitta AFC, passed Derek out as fit for further training along with 17 other
th
Leading Airmen and on 26 February Derek was posted back to the ACDW at Brighton to await
his posting on for further pilot training. On the 18 March Derek was then posted out of the country
th
to Canada, his port of exit was either Glasgow or Liverpool, these being the two main ports used
for the transport of servicemen overseas.

Canada, along with the rest of the British Empire, assisted the mother country by training up
aircrews to man the RAF squadrons and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was formed.
At the plan's peak, 94 schools operated at 231 sites across Canada, 10,840 aircraft were involved,
and the ground organization numbered 104,113 men and women, with three thousand trainees
graduated each month. At a cost of more than $1.6 billion, 131,553 pilots, navigators, bomb
aimers, wireless operators, air gunners, and flight engineers were graduated.

Derek, being part of draft No. 7364, arrived at either New York in the U.S.A. or the port of Halifax,
Nova Scotia in Canada on the 18 March 1943.
th
From here the servicemen were transported to No. 31 Personnel Depot (31 PD) at R.C.A.F (Royal
Canadian Air force) Moncton, New Brunswick. His stay at Moncton lasted until the 30 April, the
th
Draft being split into groups of 50 and posted to the various Elementary Flying Schools in Canada.
Derek was allocated a pilot training position with No.32 Elementary Flying Training School
(32 EFTS) at RCAF Bowden, Alberta. Here he would have undertaken flying lessons on the De
Havilland Tiger Moth biplane, the standard RAF duel seat trainer.

Details of this airfield are on this link

RCAF Bowden

On the 26 June 1943 Derek was posted to No. 37 Service Flying Training School (37 SFTS) at
th
RAF Calgary, Alberta. Graduates of the EFTS ‘learn-to-fly’ program went on a Service Flying
Training School course for 16 weeks. For the first 8 weeks the trainee was part of an intermediate
training squadron; for the next 6 weeks an advanced training squadron and for the final 2 weeks
training was conducted at a Bombing and Gunnery School. The Service schools were military
establishments run by the RCAF or the RAF, this station being operated by the RAF. Derek would
have learned to fly the North American Harvard. This type was used by the RAF for pilots who
would go on to fly multi engine bombers. In total 1178 pilots graduated from this unit.

This link takes you the RAF Calgary

RAF Calgary