Naval History by Country : ROYAL NAVY US NAVY GERMAN NAVY FRENCH NAVY MORE PAGES

ALWAYS GREAT OFFERS : 20% FURTHER PRICE REDUCTIONS ON HUNDREDS OF LIMITED EDITION ART PRINTS BUY ONE GET ONE HALF PRICE ON THOUSANDS OF PAINTINGS AND PRINTS FOR MORE OFFERS SIGN UP TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

1FTS

Name : 1FTS Founded : 29th July 1919 Disbanded : 1st February 1931 Re - founded : 1st April 1935 Country : UK

The ‘Trenchard memorandum’ on the future organization of the Royal Air Force, which was presented to Parliament in December 1919, included a requirement to establish 6 ‘training wings’ by 1922-23. The first of these, then known as the Netheravon Flying School, had already been formed on 29 July 1919 at Netheravon on Salisbury Plain. It was this unit which, appropriately, was renamed No 1 Flying Training School on 23 December 1919. It was not until March 1921 that the first ab-initio course of short-service RAF officers assembled at Netheravon for a course lasting around a year. During the ‘junior term’, pupils received instruction on the rotary-engined Avro 504K, moving on to ‘Service types’ such as the DH9A and Bristol Fighter during the ‘senior term’. No 1 Naval Pilots Course, comprising 51 Naval and 9 Royal Marine officers, assembled on 16 June 1924. This course lasted 6 months, after which the trainees moved to Gosport or Leuchars to complete advanced training on aircraft types used by the Fleet Air Arm. Thereafter, training of RAF officers and airman pilots continued alongside the Naval Pilots Courses. In early 1928, training of pilots for the Fleet Air Arm was transferred to RAF Training Base Leuchars. Also in 1928, the old Avro 504Ks were replaced by the improved Avro 504N, and the DH9As were replaced by new Armstrong Whitworth Atlas aircraft. However, the British Government’s policy of disarmament and retrenchment in public expenditure led to the disbanding of No 1 Flying Training School with effect from 1 February 1931. On 1 April 1935, No 1 Flying Training School again came into existence by the simple expedient of re-naming RAF Training Base Leuchars. The School continued to provide ab-initio pilot training for Naval and Royal Marine officers and also for small numbers of Army officers who were destined for the RAF’s army co-operation squadrons, using the Avro 504N, soon replaced by the Avro Tutor, and the Hawker Hart, Osprey and Nimrod. Training was also given in deck-landing and launching by catapult. The School also provided short conversion courses to RAF pilots who were posted to the Fleet Air Arm. In August 1938, the School moved back to its original home of Netheravon. In summer 1939, the School was partly re-equipped with the Harvard and, on the outbreak of war, was re-titled ‘No 1 Service Flying Training School’. During 1940, the Battle ‘Trainer’, a two-seat adaptation of the basic Battle light bomber, replaced the Harvard for training the fighter pilots required by the Fleet Air Arm. The School was progressively expanded until, in October 1940, the student establishment reached 200, generating a flying task of around 4000 hours per month. In July 1941, the Unit started to re-equip with the Miles Master III. However, time was running out for the School’s tenure of Netheravon. The vast majority of flying training was being moved to safer skies overseas, and Netheravon was needed for airborne forces units. Thus the training task at Netheravon was wound down and the School disbanded on 7 March 1942. No 1 Flying Training School made a brief reappearance in 1947, when No 17 Flying Training School at Spitalgate, equipped with the Harvard T2, was renamed. The first course to graduate comprised 21 Dutch cadets, who received their wings from HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands at a Passing-Out Parade on 24 September 1947. However, due to changes in policy, the School was disbanded again in February 1948. No 1 Flying Training School was reformed on 1 December 1950 at Oakington, near Cambridge and equipped with the Harvard T2 to provide refresher courses to re-entrant pilots. It subsequently also trained ex-UAS cadets, as well as RAFVR and National Service pilots. By July 1951, the pupil population had grown to around 140. However, Oakington was needed for a jet advanced flying school, so No 1 Flying Training School moved to Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire in October1951. In 1952 the unit became responsible for ‘all through’ training of regular direct-entrant pupil pilots using the Percival Prentice T1 and the Harvard T2. This came to an end when the School was disbanded on 20 April 1955. However, No 1 Flying Training School was reformed only 10 days later on 1 May 1955 when No 22 Flying Training School at Syerston in Nottinghamshire was re-numbered. The new No 1 Flying Training School was equipped with the Percival Provost T1 and was responsible for the basic stage of flying training for Royal Navy and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) pilots. The successful pupils proceeded to No 7 Flying Training School at Valley for advanced training on jets. The training of RNVR pilots was terminated in January 1957. In October 1957, No 1 Flying Training School moved to Linton-on-Ouse, where it was joined in January 1958 by a squadron of Vampires from Valley to provide ‘all-through’ training of Naval fixed-wing pilots to ‘wings’ standard. The Provost T1 was replaced from October 1960 by the Jet Provost T3 and, later, the Jet Provost T4. A squadron of Chipmunk T10 was added to provide elementary training of Navy helicopter pilots. Latterly, the Vampires were used for training RAF and Foreign & Commonwealth students, before being transferred to No 7 Flying Training School at Church Fenton in 1966. Following the cancellation in 1966 of the Navy’s replacement fixed-wing carriers, Naval fixed-wing pilot training was run down and in November 1967 No 1 Flying Training School once again started to provide basic flying training for RAF pilots. The last Naval fixed-wing course graduated in July 1969. Later that year, the Chipmunk training was also transferred to Church Fenton. The ab-initio training of Naval fixed-wing pilots did not recommence until 1976, when three Royal Navy students completed the Jet Provost course at No 1 FTS and received their ‘wings’. The Jet Provost T5 replaced the Jet Provost T4 from 1970. In 1984, control of the Royal Navy Elementary Flying Training Squadron at Topcliffe, equipped with the Bulldog T1, was transferred to No1 Flying Training School. In 1985, Messrs Airwork Ltd took over responsibility for engineering and supply functions at Linton-on-Ouse in place of RAF personnel; this contract is currently held by Babcock. The first Tucano course started the flying phase in January 1993 and the last Jet Provost course graduated in June of that year. In July 1993, the Royal Navy Elementary Flying Training Squadron at Topcliffe closed, its task transferred to the contractor-run Joint Elementary Flying Training Squadron. However, from 1995 the Government’s Defence Cost Study ‘Front Line First’ led to substantial changes. The Joint Elementary Flying Training Squadron moved from Topcliffe to Barkston Heath in April 1995, while later that year, the Tucano elements of the Central Flying School from Scampton and No 6 Flying Training School from Finningley were transferred to No 1 Flying Training School. From 1996, the basic pilot training task hitherto carried out on the Tucano at Cranwell and Linton-on-Ouse was amalgamated at No 1 Flying Training School, which thus became the sole RAF operator of the Tucano. In 2002, the two basic pilot training squadrons at Linton-on-Ouse were awarded reserve squadron status as No 72 (Reserve) Squadron and No 207 (Reserve) Squadron. In 2007, the Tucano Air Navigation Squadron followed suit to become No 76 (Reserve) Squadron. In the early part of 2008, No 1 FTS played host to HRH Prince William, who undertook a period of flying on the Tucano with No 227 Course as part of a tailored course leading to the award of his ‘wings’. (text by MOD)

Aircraft for : 1FTS
A list of all aircraft associated with 1FTS. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name.
Aircraft	Info
Avro 504N Click the name above to see prints featuring Avro 504N aircraft. Manufacturer : Avro Production Began : 1913 Retired : 1933 Number Built : 8970	Avro 504N Small numbers of early aircraft were purchased both by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) prior to the start of World War I, and were taken to France when the war started. One of the RFC aircraft was the first British aircraft to be shot down by the Germans, on 22 August 1914. The pilot was 2nd Lt. Vincent Waterfall and his navigator Lt Charles George Gordon Bayly (both of 5 Sqn RFC) The RNAS used four 504s to form a special flight in order to bomb the Zeppelin works at Friedrichshafen on the shores of Lake Constance. Three set out from Belfort in north-eastern France on 21 November 1914, carrying four 20 lb (9 kg) bombs each. While one aircraft was shot down, the raid was successful, with several direct hits on the airship sheds and the destruction of the hydrogen generating plant. n the winter of 1917–18 it was decided to use converted 504Js and 504Ks to equip Home Defence squadrons of the RFC, replacing ageing B.E.2cs, which had poor altitude performance. These aircraft were modified as single-seaters, armed with a Lewis gun above the wing on a Foster mounting, and powered by 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome or 110 hp (80 kW) Le Rhône engines. 274 converted Avro 504Js and Ks were issued to eight home defence squadrons in 1918, with 226 still being used as fighters at the end of World War I. Following the end of the war, while the type continued in service as the standard trainer of the RAF, large numbers of surplus aircraft were available for sale, both for civil and military use. More than 300 504Ks were placed on the civil register in Britain. Used for training, pleasure flying, banner towing and even barnstorming exhibitions (as was ongoing in North America following World War I with the similar-role, surplus Curtiss JN-4s and Standard J-1s); civil 504s continued flying in large numbers until well into the 1930s. Soon obsolete as a frontline aircraft, it came into its own as a trainer, with thousands being built during the war, with the major production types being the 504J and the mass production 504K, designed with modified engine bearers to accommodate a range of engines in order to cope with engine shortages. 8,340 Avro 504s had been produced by the end of 1918. The improved, redesigned and radial-engined 504N with a new undercarriage was produced by Avro in 1925. After evaluation of two prototypes, one powered by the Bristol Lucifer and the other by the Armstrong-Siddeley Lynx, the Lynx-powered aircraft was selected by the RAF to replace the 504K. 592 were built between 1925 and 1932, equipping the RAF's five flying training schools, while also being used as communication aircraft. The 504N was also exported to the armed forces of Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Greece, Thailand and South Africa, with licensed production taking place in Denmark, Belgium, Canada and Japan. The RAF's 504Ns were finally replaced in 1933 by the Avro Tutor, with small numbers continuing in civilian use until 1940, when seven were impressed into RAF service, where they were used for target- and glider-towing.

First created : 13:20, June 29, 2016
Created by : HMS

Return to Aviation Directory Search Home

Everything we obtain for this site is shown on the site, we do not have any more photos, crew lists or further information on any of the ships. COPYRIGHT NOTICE. ALL IMAGES DISPLAYED ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROTECTED BY  COPYRIGHT  LAW, AND ARE OWNED BY CRANSTON FINE ARTS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.  NO REPRODUCTION OR COPYING ALLOWED ON OTHER WEBSITES, BOOKS OR ARTICLES WITHOUT PRIOR AGREEMENT.