The history of the de Havilland School of Flying
1923 - The Present Day

This is the story of the original de Havilland School of Flying: its origins, its development, and its wartime achievements.

During the period of retrenchment in aviation which succeeded the years of stimulus brought about by the 1914-1918 War, independent manufacturing concerns such as the de Havilland Company had difficulty in finding enough business to sustain them. Every opportunity was explored, and in addition to designing, building and repairing aeroplanes, the Company began operating them commercially. One method of staying solvent at this time was to offer flying instruction, and in addition, a de Havilland "Aeroplane Hire Service" was also started.

Sir Sefton Branker was officially appointed as director of civil aviation, and it was largely due to his advocacy that arrangements were made for reputable aircraft concerns to operate schools at which Reservists of the Royal Air Force could put in their annual hours of flying. Originally four schools were formed in this way, each operated by a separate company: the de Havilland Aircraft Company Ltd in Edgware; Sir William Beardmore and Company Ltd in Renfrew; Sir W G Armstrong-Whitworth Aircraft Ltd in Witley (near Coventry) ; and The Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd in Filton.

The de Havilland School commenced its contract in April 1923 and had an initial allocation of 98 pupils. All were war-time pilots who had left the Service between 1918 and 1923, and were in need of 'refreshing' rather than teaching, with each enrolling for an initial period of five years. The aeroplanes used for training were of wartime origin with the Avro 548 being used for primary instruction and the DH9 used by the more advanced pilots.

During 1925 the original Moth came into existence and replaced the Avro 548. The DH9's also underwent considerable modification in order to accommodate the heavier and more powerful Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar engines in place of the well-tried Pumas. The School's colours also changed, with red fuselages and struts and gold finishes replacing the earlier battleship grey fuselages and red struts and undercarriages.
As the Reserve scheme developed, so changes were made. One such change was to allow for direct-entry to the School. Direct-entry candidates had to comply with the usual regulation relating to age, fitness and the willingness to serve in times of emergency. The RAF had been reconstituted after 1918 so as to allow for rapid expansion whenever the need should arise, and the Reserve were to play no small part in this. Thus the Schools received encouragement and practical support in those early days from Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force.

Concurrently with the Reserve training, the civil side of the School continued and flourished, attended by many notable people including Sir Henry Segrave, Sir Malcolm Campbell, J M Scott and Gordon Selfridge.

In the very early days of the School, before the Reserve Scheme was introduced, Mrs Atkey, as a pupil of the School, was probably the first woman to learn to fly after the 1914-1918 War. The Honorable Elsie Mackay followed soon after.

In June 1930, the School was relocated at Hatfield Aerodrome. For a time there was a somewhat limited ground service with lunches being served in a canvas lean-to in a corner of the main hangar. When building was completed however, the School boasted a dining room, lecture rooms and a lounge for the Reservists. Stag Lane ceased to function as an aerodrome in 1934, when all flying was transferred to Hatfield. Gradually the old airfield was taken over by housing developments and suburban gardens. In the autumn of 1934, from the last remaining strip of aerodrome, a Hornet Moth, piloted by Captain de Havilland, was the last machine to take off from the Stag Lane Aerodrome. Before the move to Hatfield, a further change was made in 1929, with the School's early Moths replaced by the Gypsy version. The 9J's were still in use for advanced training, not being finally scrapped until 1933 when Tiger Moths were introduced and used for all purposes.

To cope with increases in demand for Service training and facilities, new schools were opened all over the country. The de Havilland Company opened a second school at White Waltham near Maidenhead in Berkshire. It was at this time that the schools were given numbers by the Air Ministry, and in recognition of the fact that the de Havilland School had been the first to operate, it was designated No. 1 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School. The White Waltham school was in operation until 1941, when the aerodrome was taken over by MAP as a base for the Air Transport Auxiliary; 600 pilots had been trained there.

Just before the war, the hangar accommodation at Hatfield had been greatly increased in order to house the growing fleet of aircraft, although for a short period following the outbreak of hostilities, some stood partly empty as the Service types were dispersed elsewhere. The remaining fleet consisting only of Tiger Moths, which numbered 19 to begin with, but were augmented by additions from the reserve schools which had been closed, swelling the numbers to 54. Ten additional instructors were also based at Hatfield having been transferred from No 29 ERFTS.

Towards the end of 1939 the first two war courses began consisting of 45 pupils each, who remained with the School for no less than five months. By mid 1941 the School had 180 pupils and was one of the largest in the country. The duration of the courses was progressively reduced to five weeks, but this led to a dangerous loss of efficiency with the increased pilot output failing to compensate for the increased crash rate.

There were now 40 instructors and 108 aircraft at work and a relief airfield was required. A site at Holwell Heath to the north-east of Hatfield was chosen. During 1940, the School at Hatfield was temporary home to No 2 Squadron after evacuation from France. This, plus instructors, pupils and additional defence staff meant Hatfield was home to some 1000 Service personnel. Following the departure of No. 2 Squadron, the aerodrome continued to provide temporary shelter to various Companies throughout the war.

The threat of invasion led to the development of "Banquet Light Flights": a scheme to equip Tiger Moths with bombs, and two flights (flown by instructors and crewed by School maintenance engineers) stood by during periods of acute alert. Continuous air-raid warnings meant that pupils housed in huts on the aerodrome were subject to night visits to check their safety. Such disturbances and lack of sleep led to disruptions in training and resulted in local large houses in the vicinity being requisitioned as billets.

Although some dozen bombs fell by night, the site endured only one day time raid when buildings were hit.

Because of the urgent need for more pilots, the School took on 20% more pupils without increasing either staff numbers or aircraft. However, with the introduction of the Commonwealth Training Plan much of the RAF training was relocated overseas. The decision was also taken to begin production of the Mosquito aircraft, and it became necessary for the School to move from Hatfield altogether. It resumed operations at Holwell Hyde in September 1942, with ground instruction continuing at Hatfield until building completion in 1943.

In 1941 the School completed over 43,693 flying hours, training members of most allied nations and giving elementary training to the first complete Dutch fighter squadron to be formed after the over-running of Holland. In addition to the vast number of pupils who passed their courses as aircrew trainees, the School undertook many other branches of military training: courses were given to gunner officers for Air Observation Post duties; 67 Turkish officers received a full training course; and after the institution of the Link Trainer courses, several hundred glider pilots also passed through the School.

The fine spirit of the members of the School is reflected by the record of their wartime distinctions: they gained over 400 decorations, whilst the staff who taught them were awarded between them one MBE, six AFCs, one AFM and three Commendations for Valuable Service in the Air. These awards were recognition of the high importance of the elementary training schools, on whose work was based the whole structure of the RAF for its tremendous tasks.

In the six years of war No 1 EFTS trained over 3000 RAF and Army pilots; more than 1000 Link Trainer instructors were given flying courses; and some 550 overseas pilots received acclimatisation courses.

After 1945 the School continued operations at Panshangar (Holwell Hyde), first in its established role as No1 EFTS, and from June 1947 (upon transfer to Reserve Command) as No1 Reserve Flying School. At the end of June 1948 the School had 282 pilots and 32 navigators, with 8300 hours flown in the first year.