No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School RAAF

Trainee Frank Meyer in a de Haviland Tiger Moth. He was executed by the Japanes on Ambon in Feb 1942. - AWM P07175.008

Brief History

No. 2 Flying Training School was formed at Melbourne on 6 Nov 1939 and, during the month, moved to newly prepared facilities at Parafield, South Australia. An advance party on 6 Dec 1939, The main body arrived on 13 December. On 16 December, the unit received 1ts first Gipsy Moth aircraft and on 2 January 1940 the name of the unit was changed to No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School. The first course of one officer and 22 cadets commenced training on 8 Jan 1940. By the end of 1942, 81 air cadets and 1043 Empire A1r Training Scheme students had received training and at the end of 1943 the total figure had risen to 1628.

Training was not without fatalities. On 19 March 1940, an instructor and a trainee pilot were killed in an a1rcraft accidnet. The unit remained at Paraficld until March 1944, when it was transferred to Tamworth, New South Wales. However, it was May before the personnel moved location, with 25 aircraft flying in on 27 May. An additional 30 aircraft arrived on 28 May. Training at Tamworth was marred by a fatal acc1dent when a trainee's Tiger Moth crashed and exploded 30 kilometres south of Tamworth on 10 Sep 1944. When No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School disbanded on 12 Dec 1944, 1990 trainees had passed through the School.

Squadron Personnel

• Alfred Ensor Hand 16 Sep 1942 - 19 Feb 1943 (Ground crew)

Trainees

• Edward Harry Tasker 10 May - 30 Jul 1943