No. 1660 HCU May-June 1944, Stirling versus Lancaster

[CZ_RAF]

Hi all, I would like to ask if anybody can clear for me situation at No. 1660 HCU in May-June 1944. What I was able to find out so far the unit had both Stirlings and Lancasters.
It is possible to establish which type a particular crew used for retraining? My idea is that the crew passed retraining on particular type according to the type used by the squadron the crew was supposed to join afterwards?

TIA

Pavel

[Resmoroh]

Pavel,
Agree your idea! But I have to tell you that not all the decisions in the military are taken as a result of clear thinking, logical, and rational argument (LOL!). I could give several examples from my own experiences, but I would probably end up (a) in serious trouble, and/or (b) in Court!!!
HTH
Peter Davies

[bvs]

I would say that it would have been the ideal situation to be trained on the A/C you were being groomed for but the RAF was a very pragmatic force and also had only a finite number of each aircraft type.
I would say that a crew training on Stirlings at an HCU would find the conversion to the Lancaster very easy and straightforward.
But it would not be so easy going the other way round - the stirling was a much more complicated/difficult aircraft to operate for a variety of reasons.

GW Dagget flew Stirlings at 1660 HCU in 1944 and after completing that course he went to 5 Lancaster Finishing School before his posting to operational squadrons.

http://daggett.uk/page10.html

[PeteS]

A lot of crews posted to 630 Squadron (inc the Daggett crew) came via 1660 HCU and 5 LFS, a lot of them went from Stirlings to Lancasters.
cheers
PeteS
https://630squadron.wordpress.com/

[CZ_RAF]

Thank you all for your comments. As I ahve there several Canadians iny "my" crew I was able to check there postings and there is no record about 5 LFS in his service records.
BUT on the other hand aftwer ten days of leave after finishing 1660 HCU there is 20 days spell between return from leave and posting to 630 Sq - what seems to me should be sufficient time for course at 5 LFS...

Pavel