HISTORY OF NO 1 FLYING TRAINING SCHOOL

'Terra Marique ad Caelum' - By Land and Sea to the Sky

Compiled by Peter Naylor

The first Royal Air Force Flying Training School (FTS) was established on 29 July 1919 at Netheravon, although it was known for a short period of time as the Netheravon Flying School, under the command of Wing Commander P H L Playfair MC. The object of the school was to train 'ab initio' pupils and 'Airmen Pilots'. The courses were divided into 2 periods of 6 months with 2 courses running concurrently, each with 36 pupils, known as the Junior and Senior courses. The first 6 months were spent in training on Avro 504Ks, the students then graduating to the senior courses where they were instructed for a further 6 months on Bristol Fighters and DH 9As.

Among the earliest students at Netheravon were Pilot Officers B Embry and J N Boothman, both of whom were destined to have very distinguished careers in the RAF, as was one of their instructors, Flight Lieutenant R H M S Saundby. In 1921, the Infante Don Alfonso of Spain joined Netheravon as a student, although he was already a qualified pilot, in order to gain experience in British methods of training; he became a very popular character at the school. During the widespread Transport Strike of 1921 detachments of aircraft were sent to Filton (Bristol) to help with mail deliveries, while some officers volunteered for work on the railways, one becoming a driver on the GWR!

June 1924 heralded the arrival of Fleet Air Arm and Royal Marines Officers at No 1 FTS where they remained at Netheravon until 1929 when the official training of Naval students was transferred to Leuchars. By 1930 the flying syllabus demanded 150 flying hours, 'ab initio' training being carried on Tutors and the advanced Course completed on Atlases.

Unhappily, owing to the Government's disarmament programme of the early thirties, No 1 FTS was disbanded for four years on 1 February 1931, when flying training was greatly curtailed.

On 1 April 1935 the Training Base at Leuchars was named No 1 FTS, the reformation taking place in accordance with the rearmament drive of the immediate pre-war years. The Leuchars training base had been formed originally in October 1917, but was not actually used as such until 1925. In 1935 No 1 FTS became a Training Base for Officers of the Fleet Air Arm and for Army Cooperation Squadrons and, on the 10 July 1936, the School was transferred from Coastal Command to No 23 Group, Training Command. During this period can be found the first recorded references to instrument flying and a one day Catapult Course. In the 1938 syllabus the normal pattern of Service training consisted of a 10 week 'ab initio' course of 50 hours at a civilian Elementary Flying Training School, followed by a period of drill at Uxbridge and then a 9 month course at FTS involving 100 hours flying on Hawker Harts. No 1 FTS differed, however, from all other schools in that the 'ab initio' training was carried out by the Unit itself. This, of course, was the forerunner of the 'All Through' training system adopted after the 1939-45 War. In March 1938, it was decided that the training of Naval and Army pupils at Leuchars should be brought into line with that of a normal Training School, and so elementary training was transferred to various civil FTSs. Shortly after this change in policy No 1 FTS moved south from Leuchars back to its original home at Netheravon on the 26 August 1938.

In 1939 the school was re-equipped with North American Harvards for intermediate training, and Harts, Hinds and later Fairey Battles for advanced training. Courses were about 50 strong and were composed mainly of Naval students. At the outbreak of war in September 1939 the school was renamed No 1 Service FTS, but remained at Netheravon. In these early days of the war the students encountered many difficulties after take-off owing to the 'blackout', and these problems led to the introduction of 'lead-in' and lead-out' lights which subsequently became a feature of all airfields. Also, late in 1939 Flight Lieutenant M F G Mill, DFM, the Squadron Engineering Officer, designed an Instrument Flying Hood for use in the Harvards, and in 1940 dummy deck landings at night were introduced into the syllabus.

On 1 April 1940 the original painting of the Unit badge, signed by HM King George VI, was received. The badge, consisting of crossed Naval and Military Swords, enfiladed by an astral or winged crown was designed to be representative of the 3 Services. The 'Winged Crown' was at that time a new introduction in heraldry and No 1 FTS was the first Unit to have it incorporated in its badge. The badge and motto ('Terra marique ad caelum') commemorate the fact that for many years the school trained Naval and Army officers for service with the Fleet Air Arm and Army Cooperation Squadrons.

In June 1940, on the completion of No 8 Course, officers were posted for the first time to RAF operational units instead of to Fleet Air Arm stations. This innovation was due to the extremely pressing needs for pilots in the RAF at that time. During 1941 night flying proved to be a most exciting exercise. In April, and again in May, while night flying training was being carried out at Shrewton relief landing ground, enemy aircraft bombed and machine-gunned the airfield dropping, in one raid, 31 bombs parallel to the flare path, but at 200 yards distance from it. On 7 March 1942 flying training ceased at Netheravon because the intensity of enemy activity necessitated the transfer of training schools to the Commonwealth and No 1 Service FTS (India) was reformed on 1 June 1942 at Ambala 110 miles north of Delhi, specifically for the training of Indian Air Force pilots. The instructors were however all serving RAF officers. No 1 Service FTS (India) continued until December 1946 when it was renamed Advanced Flying Training School (India) once more making available the title of No 1 FTS.

No l FTS did not reform again until the 18 June 1947 when, at Spitalgate, No 17 FTS was renamed No 1 FTS. The aeroplanes used for training at this time were Tiger Moths and Harvards, and the students were RAF and members of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. But the school was destined to have a very short lease of life, being disbanded again on the 18 February 1948. However, the short 8 months were enlivened notably by visits from HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands who, on 2 occasions, presented Wings at Passing-Out Parades.

After 2 years of complete inactivity No 1 FTS re-emerged on the 1 December 1950, at Oakington, where the policy was to run 3 courses concurrently with an overall total of 160 cadets. The idea behind the reformation was the post-war expansion of RAF training for re-entrant, refresher. and National Service pilots on Harvards. Early in 1951 these courses were augmented by the VR pilots who were called up for 3 months service under the new Auxiliary and Reserve Forces Act.

But this school was not to be permanent either, for in October 1951 No 1 FTS was on the move once more, this time to Moreton-in-Marsh, in order to make way for a Jet school at Oakington.

During the periods at Oakington and Moreton-in-Marsh No 1 FTS came in for its full share of change. At one time no fewer than 5 different syllabi were being covered concurrently, and the Unit expanded from the 2 original flights and 20 aircraft to 6 flights and 60 aircraft, and the monthly flying task was in the region of 3,500 hours.

No I FTS remained in the Cotswolds at Moreton-in-Marsh until the 20 April 1955, when it was disbanded. But it was reopened at Syerston in Nottinghamshire 10 days later, when No 22 FTS was renamed No 1 FTS. The task was to provide initial training for members of the Royal Navy using Piston Provost aircraft.

The school moved north from Syerston to Linton-on-Ouse near York on 28 September 1957 when it provided 'ab initio' to 'Wings: flying training for Royal Navy fixed wing pilots using Piston Provost and Vampire Mks 5 and 9 and T Mk 11 aircraft.

The Jet Provost T Mk 3 was introduced for 'ab initio' students in June 1960, and later the T Mk 4 aircraft, to replace the piston/jet aircraft mix. In March 1961 some Chipmunk aircraft were provided to give experience to Royal Navy students who were destined for rotary wing flying although the full time commitment of No 1 FTS at RAF Linton-on-Ouse to the Navy ceased on 31 July 1969 when No 142 course graduated. The task was transferred to Church Fenton.

Linton-on-Ouse then turned to training Royal Air Force pilots to Wings standard prior to selection for Fast Jet, Helicopter or Multi-Engine specialisation. The increased task necessitated taking on Topcliffe as a Relief Landing Ground (RLG) in 1974 and Dishforth in 1983.

The use of Topcliffe airfield as an RLG made available technical facilities for the Bulldog T Mk 1 of the Royal Navy Elementary Flying Training Squadron (RNEFTS) in 1984. The students, who included German naval pilots, were those who had no previous flying experience. They were accommodated at Linton-on-Ouse because the remainder of the Topcliffe site had by then been taken over by the Army.

The engineering work on the RNEFTS aircraft was carried out by Hunting Aircraft Services, and this trend was continued in 1985 by the award of a servicing contract to Airwork for the engineering support of the Linton-on-Ouse aircraft which were, by then, Jet Provost T MK 3A (with upgraded avionics) and MK 5A (with pressurised cockpits and the latest avionics).

History was made on 10 May 1990 when the first women pilots, Flight Lieutenants Sally Cox and Julie Gibson, flew their first solos, and the Jet Provost era came to an end when No 125 course graduated on 4 July 1993. The Jet Provost had served No 1 FTS well. Over 630 thousand flying hours had been amassed on the aircraft by pupils from the United Kingdom, Australia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

The first Tucano T Mk 1 arrived on 1 Apr 92 to replace the Jet Provost and the change over was completed in mid 1993. Also in June 1993 the RNEFTS was disbanded on the formation of the Tri-service Joint Elementary Flying Training Squadron (JEFTS), which moved to Barkston Heath in 1995. This last move made way at Topcliffe for both the Central Flying School (CFS) Tucano Squadron from Scampton and the low level element of navigator training from Cranwell, effectively locating all Tucano flying at No 1 FTS.

Reduced course sizes in 1996/7 gave space at Linton-on-Ouse for the CFS Tucano Squadron. However, the Church Fenton RLG build up entailed major work to reactivate the airfield site which culminated in the return of JEFTS to Yorkshire, to relieve congestion near Cranwell, in January 1999.

The need for a very large increase in 'Fast Jet' pilots, identified in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, to fly the European Fighter prompted a significant increase in student numbers so the millennium ends with No 1 FTS operating approximately 79 Tucano aircraft from its base at RAF Linton-on-Ouse with Relief Landing Grounds at Church Fenton, Dishforth and Topcliffe.