No 24 Elementary Flying Training School
Course 92
Students Arrived: 17 October 1943
Start Date: 18 October 1943
Grad Dinner:
Graduation Parade: 20 December 1943
Graduation Date: 24 December 1943, also mentioned as 23 December 1943 in the daily diary.
Nominal Role
- F/O W.T. Merrick, DFM
- Posted from Rockcliffe, Ontario.
- See Comment Below, Michael DesMazes.
- LAC Selby Fred Taylor
- Killed in flying accident
Course Strength
| No of Personnel | |
|---|---|
| Original Intake | 51 |
| Transferred from previous course | 2 |
| Transferred to subsequent course | 4 |
| Wastage | 7 |
| Killed in Flying accident | 1 |
| Total graduates | 42 |
Commissions
| No of Personnel | |
|---|---|
| Total | N/A |
Postings
| No of Personnel | |
|---|---|
| No 15 Service Flying Training School Claresholm, Alberta | 16 |
| No 19 Service Flying Training School Vulcan, Alberta | 26 |
| Wastage | |
| Total |
Notes
- Students reported from:
- No 4 Initial Training School, Edmonton, Alberta – 50
- Rockcliffe, Ontario – 1
- Course was extended 2 weeks on 28 November 1943, this extension was done to allow the Service Flying Training Schools to completed some backlog in training.
- Graduation Speaker was Wing Commander R.E. Morrow, DFC, Commanding officer of Boundary Bay.
- Wastage remustered to:
- Wireless Air Gunner – 1
- Flight Engineer – 1
- Navigator – 2
- Navigator “B” – 2
- Basic Trade A.F.M. – 1
F/O W.T. Merrick, DFM, “Butch to his friends” was a Kentucky boy who joined the RCAF pre Dec 7th, 1941, he originally washed out of flying training and re-mustered an Air Gunner. After a tour of ops where he was awarded the DFM he was allowed to try once more for Pilot Training but, not until after he went across Canada DFC in hand to drum up money for the current War Bonds drive. Post war Butch settled in Abbotsford after marriage to a former Miss Abbotsford. Butch was one of the founding members of the Abbotsford Flying Club and founding directors of the now world famous Abbotsford International Airshow. As a young teenager in the Abbotsford Arrmy Cadets we would all have a hot chocolate in his café (after a cold Nov 11th parade), located in the ground floor of Branch 15 Royal Canadian legion.
Thank you for this insight and information.