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Mountbatten, near
Plymouth, due to bad weather. Evidently due to a navigational error, they found themselves over occupied France and were shot down near Landéda, Brittany, by anti-aircraft artillery and two Luftwaffe fighters. The first officer was killed outright, and the navigator wounded. Stafford succeeded in landing the aeroplane two miles offshore, still under fire. Three, including Stafford, were pulled from the water by French fisherman. The bodies of two other crewmen washed up two days later, and the third three weeks later. As a POW, Captain Stafford headed a team of Allied orderlies in a wing of the Hohemark hospital, in Hesse, which was dedicated to the care of Prisoners of War from the
19:
170:, DFC, who had served as a fighter pilot during the First World War. Between the wars, he had returned to Bermuda and became the Commanding Officer of the BVE, a position he would maintain throughout the Second World War. The chief flying instructor was an American, Captain Ed Stafford. The first class, of eighteen students, was in training by May 1940. On 4 June, Fenton Trimmingham became the first student to solo. Ten Bermudian companies agreed in June 1940, to defray the expenses of ten of the students. Those companies were the
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soldiers came to see the BFS as the easiest way of reaching sharper ends of the war. Although the local units were allowed to send drafts overseas in 1943, the preceding state of affairs meant that a disproportionately high number of aviators appears on the list of
Bermuda's war dead (ten out of thirty-five). In fact, the first Bermudian killed in the war was Flying Officer Grant Ede, DFC, a fighter pilot killed in the
182:
201:
By 1942, the Air
Ministry had a glut of trained pilots. This had resulted from the fear created by the Blitz, and the Battle of Britain, when the RAF had assumed pre-eminence in Britain's defence against a feared Axis invasion. Desperate for pilots, too many had been allowed to train, or had been
193:
The BFS only accepted applicants who were already serving in one of the part-time units, which had been mobilised for the duration of the war. Successful students were released from their units and allowed to proceed overseas. With the moratorium against sending drafts overseas, this meant local
229:
Flying instructor
Captain Stafford moved to RAF Transport Command, and was later shot down, becoming a prisoner-of-war in Germany. He was piloting a Catalina on a flight from Darrell's Island to Largs in Scotland, on 7 April 1943. Nearing Britain, the crew were advised by radio to divert to RAF
206:
due to a shortage of manpower. At the same time, the Air
Ministry had the equivalent of a division of civilians waiting aircrew training slots, and already had more aircrew than it had aircraft available for them to man. This would lead to pilots being transferred to the Army's
68:(RAF), as aviators and many others as groundcrew. Other than aircraft on visiting ships, there were no aircraft based in Bermuda 'til after the war, when returning military aviators, Majors Hal Kitchener (son of the late governor, Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick
178:, Trimmingham Bros., H.A. & E. Smith, Gosling Bros., Pearman Watlington & Company, the Bermuda Electric Light Company (BELCO), Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company, the Bermuda Telephone Company (TELCO), and Edmund Gibbons.
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In
Bermuda, the excess of pilots meant that the BFS was advised in 1942 that no further pilots were required. By then, eighty pilots had been sent to the RAF and Fleet Air Arm. THE BFS was included in the
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380:
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226:(RCAF), sending sixty aircrew candidates to that service before the War's end. Sixteen Bermudian women were also sent to the RCAF to perform roles including Air Traffic Controller.
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Although the school was closed, Bertram Work and Major
Montgomery-Moore oversaw the conversion of its administration into a recruiting arm, the Bermuda Flying Committee, for the
202:
placed on backlists to await slots for induction and training. This would continue to be a problem as late as 1944, when the
British Army was forced to disband a division after
147:, tasked with defending the various facilities of importance to the war effort. Although a contingent from the BVRC, with attachments from the other units, was sent to join the
151:
in
England in 1940, no further drafts were allowed to be sent for fear of weakening the defences. By 1943, this was no longer a concern and the moratorium was lifted.
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for flying boats), and
Canadian and American naval and airbases would be established during the war, the only local units were the part-time army units, the
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sea planes, paid for by an American resident of Bermuda, Mr Bertram Work, and a Canadian, Mr Duncan MacMartin. The school was under the command of Major
377:
100:
216:
73:
332:
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Salute to Bermudian war hero Geoffrey Osborn: He was taught at Bermuda Flying School and went on to fly many bombing raids with the RAF
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219:. Its graduates included eight Americans, who had volunteered for the RAF in the US, and had then been sent to the BFS for training.
211:, and to the lists of civilians reserved for aircrew training being cleared of men who were then able to be conscripted by the Army.
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St Bees Dead of World War II. Roll of Honour: Sergeant ALAN RODGERS, 650668, Royal Air Force, who died aged 21 on 7 April 1943.
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built an air station on Darrell's Island. This operated as a staging point on scheduled trans-Atlantic flights by
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508:
432:
282:
ISLANDERS IN THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS AND THE ROYAL AIR FORCE DURING THE GREAT WAR, and CANADIAN EQUIVALENTS
167:
140:
524:, by Major Cecil Montgomery-Moore, DFC, and Peter Kilduff. 1975. The Pequot Press, Chester, Connecticut.
349:, by Major Cecil Montgomery-Moore, DFC, and Peter Kilduff. 1975. The Pequot Press, Chester, Connecticut.
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253:. After the war they were used by the short-lived Bermuda Flying Club, created by returning pilots.
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It was decided to create a flying school on Darrell's Island to train local pilots for the
76:) and Hemming, created a small company offering local flights in sea planes operating from
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46:
26:
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92:. At the time, no land planes could operate from Bermuda, there being no airfields.
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The two Luscombe aircraft remained at Darrell's Island, being used by the RAF as
85:
22:
294:, by Colin A. Pomeroy. Printlink Ltd., P.O. Box 937, Hamilton, HMDX, Bermuda.
231:
553:
540:
311:
279:
425:
The Andrew And The Onions: The Story Of The Royal Navy In Bermuda, 1795–1975
239:
162:. The school was in operation by the summer of 1940. It operated a pair of
505:
Bermuda From Sail To Steam: The History Of The Island From 1784 to 1901
42:
400:
Defence, Not Defiance: A History Of The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
198:
in 1940 (although Ede had joined the RAF in England before the war).
593:
Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force in World War II
473:, The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The Bermuda Maritime Museum,
452:, The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The Bermuda Maritime Museum,
17:
336:. By Dr. Jack Garstang. The Bermuda Sun. Wednesday, 22 June, 2011
139:. These, along with a regular army detachment of infantry at
378:
Marshall Independent: Prisoner of War in Germany during WWII
463:
Bulwark Of Empire: Bermuda's Fortified Naval Base 1860–1920
613:
Military units and formations of Canada in World War II
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in Britain, which would assign them to the RAF or the
603:
Royal Air Force stations of World War II in Bermuda
588:Military units and formations established in 1940
435:, P.O. Box MA 133, Mangrove Bay, Bermuda MA BX.
608:Military history of Bermuda during World War II
583:Training establishments of the Royal Air Force
8:
323:The Bermudian, Hamilton, Bermuda. July 1940.
189:, the location of the Bermuda Flying School.
60:, roughly twenty Bermudians had entered the
115:in Bermuda (which included an air station,
431:, The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The
180:
494:, PO Box 937, Hamilton, Bermuda HM DX,
272:
103:took over Darrell's Island for use by
7:
14:
314:BERMUDA FLYING SCHOOL, 1940–1942
111:. Although the Royal Navy had a
117:RNAS Boaz Island (HMS Malabar)
72:, and nephew of Field Marshal
41:from 1940 to 1942. It trained
1:
125:Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
45:volunteers as pilots for the
292:The Flying Boats Of Bermuda
129:Bermuda Volunteer Engineers
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217:Empire Air Training Scheme
414:Ltd., Pembroke, Bermuda,
121:Bermuda Militia Artillery
224:Royal Canadian Air Force
176:Bank of N.T. Butterfield
133:Bermuda Militia Infantry
88:of Imperial Airways and
509:Oxford University Press
507:, Dr. Henry Wilkinson,
484:Flying Boats Of Bermuda
446:Bermuda Forts 1612–1957
433:Bermuda Maritime Museum
64:and its successor, the
29:visits the BFS in 1940.
522:That's My Bloody Plane
347:That's My Bloody Plane
190:
168:Cecil Montgomery-Moore
95:With the start of the
30:
238:(which was to become
209:Glider Pilot Regiment
184:
149:Lincolnshire Regiment
105:RAF Transport Command
35:Bermuda Flying School
21:
383:4 March 2016 at the
578:Aviation in Bermuda
554:32.2751°N 64.8203°W
550: /
262:Military of Bermuda
404:Jennifer M. Ingham
244:United States Army
204:Operation Overlord
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62:Royal Flying Corps
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559:32.2751; -64.8203
312:POTSI (archived):
109:RAF Ferry Command
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488:Colin A. Pomeroy
450:Edward C. Harris
427:, Lt. Commander
408:Jennifer M. Hind
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280:POTSI (archived)
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246:after the war).
196:Battle of Norway
187:Darrell's Island
145:Bermuda Garrison
97:Second World War
82:Imperial Airways
70:Walter Kitchener
39:Darrell's Island
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172:Bank of Bermuda
78:Hinson's Island
66:Royal Air Force
58:First World War
47:Royal Air Force
27:Duke of Windsor
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394:Bibliography
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234:POW Camp in
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156:Air Ministry
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90:Pan American
86:flying boats
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37:operated on
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465:, Lt.-Col.
135:(BMI), and
131:(BVE), the
80:. In 1936,
56:During the
572:Categories
545:64°49′13″W
542:32°16′30″N
267:References
232:Dulag Luft
137:Home Guard
492:Printlink
240:Camp King
43:Bermudian
381:Archived
257:See also
236:Oberusel
164:Luscombe
127:(BVRC),
113:dockyard
49:and the
410:), The
242:of the
123:(BMA),
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448:, Dr.
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174:, the
99:, the
23:Edward
406:(now
526:ISBN
513:ISBN
496:ISBN
475:ISBN
471:USMC
454:ISBN
437:ISBN
416:ISBN
351:ISBN
296:ISBN
185:RAF
107:and
33:The
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25:,
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