Canadian training for RAAF aircrew

**dennis_burke** · 2nd May 2009, 15:23

I find Harry Caswell arriving on 15 May 1942 on the SS President Monroe from Sydney to California. He is RAAF and birth place is Coonamble. The ship sailed April 24th from Sydney.

I can;t sadly find any such relevent record for your father.

Nor do I beleive I found anything for Thomas Wilson.

Sorry about that

**Resmoroh** · 2nd May 2009, 17:24

Hello, All,
To all of you who have responded to my Post #6 on this thread thank you very much for the wealth of knowledge that has been made available. I never thought that such a "simple"(?) request would produce so much 'good stuff'. Just goes to show how good this Forum is!!
Tks
Peter Davies

**namrondooh** · 2nd May 2009, 18:54

Hello Dennis,
Reference your posting No 41, thank you very much for the information about Harry Caswell, most appreciated. Its helped me complete the research of one man in my Dads crew of 7.
Norman

**namrondooh** · 2nd May 2009, 19:00

Hello Col,
Reference your posting No 37 on this thread. Thank you very much for pointing this out, most appreciated. I've been gazing at Harry Caswells RAAF file for nearly three years now and never once did I realise I had mis-transcribed the embarkation dates.
Norman

**Ken MacLean** · 2nd May 2009, 19:34

Norman,

In a previous post on this thread you enquired about the feasability of an Australian airman returning home after graduation. It would appear this was not possible as there would be insufficient time to complete the voyage by sea and I must assume that air travel was normally out of the question for junior airmen proceeding to Australia on leave.

A handbook issued to Australian arrivals in Canada titled "Royal Australian Air Force General Information for Australian Trainees in Canada" dated August 1942 includes the following bulletin:

"Final leave in Canada for Australian trainees is limited to 7 days, this period being granted after graduation while the airman is on his way to the place of embarkation. The 7 days are in addition to travelling time from graduation school to place of embarkation."

The leave entitlement was doubled to 14 days in September 1942, however still not enough time for a trip to the Antipodes.

**Ken MacLean** · 2nd May 2009, 21:45

A somewhat wierd end for the ship "Klipfontein" mentioned earlier in this thread.

She was sunk by a German U-Boat on 8 January 1953 (yes 1953) off Mozambique. She struck the submerged wreckage of the U-Boat and sank in three hours. All aboard, 234 passengers and crew, were rescued by the liner Bloemfontein Castle.

**David Duxbury** · 2nd May 2009, 23:48

In case anybody is wondering, not all graduates of Canadian schools during WW2 were immediately embarked for the United Kingdom with almost indecent haste. From a certain point (1942?), many aircrew personnel were posted to 34 OTU RAF (Pennfield Ridge) for operational training as medium bomber crews prior to embarkation, and a fair number of graduates were also retained in Canada, either for training as flying instructors (for employment in the Candian, or RAF schools in Canada), or as staff pilots, or Observers (later navigators) or W/Opr A/Gs to help staff either the Canadian schools, or, later on, to help crew Canadian-built aircraft for trans-Atlantic delivery to the UK.
It is also not so well known that the contributing partners in the EATS/BCATP could also, by arrangement with the controlling body (committee?), request the return of specified trained personnel to their homelands in cases where this was though desirable and not to the detriment of the plan as a whole. This circumstance was most visible when Australia and New Zealand themselves felt under threat of possible Japanese invasion during 1942, when certain numbers of (in New Zealand's case) newly graduated navigators were returned to NZ in later months of 1942 to help the build up of the Hudson force (five squadrons) for local defence, and many more such aircrew were returned during 1943, along with numbers of W/Opr A/Gs, to build up the Catalina and Avenger squadrons then forming.
Under an entirely different impetus, from March 1944 onwards, over 150 single engine pilots (and apparently one lone multi-engine pilot), all newly graduated, were returned to New Zealand in groups of various sizes to ensure that the RNZAF's programme to complete the formation and maintenance of a force of twelve fighter squadrons and six bomber reconnaissance squadrons by the end of that year for continuous employment under American command in the South and Southwest Pacific theatres. Without the return of these pilots this plan would have had no chance of being realized, unless New Zealand increased the output of single-engine pilots at the expense of shipping multi-engine pilots to the United Kingdom for employment by Bomber and Coastal Commands. The United Kingdom government were very keen to receive these pilots at this time, during the build up of the Metropolitan air forces, as well as trained reserves in preparation for the opening up of the "second front". Thus the EATS/BCATP can be seen to be magnificent and powerful machine for the build up of Allied air power, whose output could be directed to wherever the need was greatest, just so long as the infrastructure remained secure and all staff and other participants were in good heart.
David D

**aestorm** · 3rd May 2009, 10:16

Regarding leave given to fully trained & operational airmen .I think, but am not sure ,that SAAF airmen ,based in Italy ,were given leave to fly home to to South Africa for a week or more, in certain circumstances, eg illness ? I suppose it's feasible ? But is it ??

Anne