![]() ![]() The process of forming a crew generally followed the pattern of one or two men who knew each other from training schools deciding to fly together then looking for other members from different trades to team up with. Aircrew memoirs repeatedly mention arriving at an OTU in large groups of mixed aircrew trades all assigned to the next course and being left to mingle in a large hall to form crews. The next phase of training was usually in Britain at one of the Operational Training Units (OTU). ![]() Following completion of training at a graduation ceremony aircrew were presented with their aircrew brevet and either handed their sergeant's stripes or commissioned as officers. No matter where they originated in Britain or the Commonwealth they could be shipped to the next available training course in any of those nations where pilots were trained to fly at "Elementary Flying Training Schools" and the other aircrew trades attended appropriate trade schools such as "Air Navigation Schools" or "Bombing and Gunnery Schools". On completion of basic military training aircrew candidates would wear a white flash on the front of their service issue "side caps" denoting their "aircrew under training" status. Multiple training schools also operated in the United States where bomber pilots, navigators and bomb aimers were trained. Under a parallel agreement, the Joint Air Training Scheme in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia operated training bases for aircrew. BCATP remains as one of the single largest aviation training programs in history and was responsible for training nearly half the pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, air gunners, wireless operators and flight engineers who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the war. It was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, during the Second World War. The risk of Luftwaffe attack on training bases in Great Britain coupled with the urgent need for larger numbers of well trained aircrew than the pre-war systems could produce brought about the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan ( BCATP), often referred to as simply "The Plan". Video RAF Bomber Command aircrew of World War II A memorial in Green Park in London was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 June 2012 to highlight the heavy casualties suffered by the aircrews during the war. Therefore, a total of 75,446 airmen (60 percent of operational airmen) were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Bomber Command aircrews suffered a high casualty rate: of a total of 125,000 aircrew, 57,205 were killed (a 46 percent death rate), a further 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war. ![]() In total 364,514 operational sorties were flown and 8,325 aircraft lost in action. (For more details, see "The ages of aircrew" section below.) ![]() Most aircrew were aged between 19 and 25, although some were as young as 16, and at least one was in his sixties. Of these, 32 of these were officially non-British units: 15 RCAF squadrons, eight RAAF squadrons, four Polish squadrons, two French squadrons, two RNZAF/"New Zealand" squadrons, and one Czechoslovakian squadron. Likewise many RAF personnel served in Article XV squadrons.Ī total of 126 squadrons served with Bomber Command. While it was intended that RCAF, RAAF, and RNZAF personnel would serve only with their respective "Article XV squadrons", in practice many were posted to units of the RAF or other air forces. Under Article XV of the 1939 Air Training Agreement, squadrons belonging officially to the RCAF, RAAF, and RNZAF were formed, equipped and financed by the RAF, for service in Europe. While the majority of Bomber Command personnel were members of the RAF, many belonged to other air forces - especially the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The crews were men from the United Kingdom, other Commonwealth countries, and occupied Europe, especially Poland, France, Czechoslovakia and Norway, as well as other foreign volunteers. The aircrews of RAF Bomber Command during World War II operated a fleet of bomber aircraft carried strategic bombing operations from September 1939 to May 1945, on behalf of the Allied powers. ![]()
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