No.2 Air Gunners School (RAF Dalcross)

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by Pieter F, Jul 29, 2017.

  1. Pieter F

    Pieter F Very Senior Member

    Has anyone got a copy of the No.2 AGS Operations Record Book? If so, does the ORB or its appendices contain lists of pupils and/or course/squad group photos?

    I am interested in the period August - October 1942. The two gunners in a 149 Squadron Stirling crew were both trained at No.2 AGS. That made me wonder if they took part in the same course or were members of the same squad and knew each other before they crewed up at the OTU.
     
  2. RCG

    RCG Senior Member, Deceased

    I would say yes they knew each other as each class finished their training at No.2 AGS. they would be moved to OTU, to crew up.
    The process of crewing up would be as
    “Once all the initial course had been finally completed, the recruits were sent to an Operational Training Unit, where they began their real preparation for bomber combat. It was at the OTUs that the individual trainees formed themselves into crews for the first time. After all the formality of the previous selection procedures and examinations, the nature of ‘crewing up’ seemed strangely haphazard, even anarchic.

    “There was no involvement from the senior commanders, no direction, no regimentation. Instead, the trainees were all taken to a large hangar or mess room, and just told to choose their colleagues to make up the 5 man crew: pilot, bomb-aimer, gunner, wireless operator and navigator. The engineer, who had to undergo specialised training, and the second gunner, would join at a later stage. Without any guidance or rules, the trainees had to rely entirely on their own gut instincts in selecting which group to join.”
    Self-Selecting teams – tales from WW2 Lancaster bomber crews | Luna Tractor

    Now knowing someone in the same training class and joining the same crew could be difficult to know.
    As there are so many factors to consider, did they come from the same part of the country, did they sit next to each other in class, share the same billit, go to the same pub etc.
    On crewing up, did they know the pilot or had the pilot already found his navigator and he knew them or one of them? Or were they the last two men left and the pilot said "Looks as if you two are mine". Unless you know the men or they have stated somewhere how they teamed up, I think it will be hard to find out how they became a crew.
     

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