Thread: Empire Air Scheme

Just wanting to know if anyone had some good references that could be used in relation to the Empire Air Training Scheme that involved British, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian Airmen.

Wish i could help stubda, would be interested to hear what you already have thou..

Have found out that Britain required personell to fly their aircraft and sought assistance from the NZ, CAN and AUS governments to help out. Airmen from these countries were then trained in Canada and then posted to either Britain or South East Asia. It has been difficult to find out much and it has been very disheartening as these men returned to their countries but not necessarily with their squadron.
As an example my father was trained by the RAAF, sent to Canada and trained with the RCAF and then flew Liberators in 160 SQDN in Ceylon. Most of his crew are now dead but the skipper is still alive in Canada. The pilot and co-pilot were Canadian whilst the crew were Australian. The trainers in Canada I have been able to find out that they were also Canadian and had joined up so that they could join in the fight. Alas, most of the trainers ended up staying in Canada for the duration of the War.
Hope to get some more info as we go.

Good work tracing your dad's skipper. Is it possible maybe to open a dialogue with him ? Or what about websites like Forces Reunited, might be of some help.
Good luck.

Please do add information as you find it, personal stories always make the best reading.