Daily Diary

No. 33 Service Flying Training School,
Carberry, Manitoba

October 1941

This Transcription of the Operational Record Book of No. 33 Service Flying Training School that was Located at Carberry, Manitoba, Canada was created by the volunteers at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Brandon, Manitoba. You can visit their website by clicking this heading.

IMAGE 1545

CARBERRY

• 1.10.41.
  STRENGTH: PERSONNEL.

	Officers	Other Ranks	Civilians
RAF	77	986	–
Service Personnel other Than RAF
RCAF	4	65	–
RCASC	1	4	–
CDC	1	2	–
Civilians	–	–	8
Trainees
RAF	–	266	–

STRENGTH: AIRCRAFT

	Serviceable	Unserviceable
Ansons	57	15

IMAGE 1546

CARBERRY

• 1.10.41. On this first day of October, Daily Routine Orders were by Group Captain C.H. Brill, the Station’s new Commander; and the first order was to the effect that he assumed command of No. 33 Service Flying Training School, Carberry, vice Group Captain H.E. Walker, M.C., D.F.C.(posted) with effect from the 1st. October, 1941.
  Following up the mood of the Guest Night in the Officers’ Mess, when speeches were made by the President (Wing Commander T.C. Dickens) and both Group Captains, several Officers went down to the local railway station during the afternoon to bid farewell to Group Captain Walker and Mrs. Walker. Before leaving, the Group Captain handed to the Editor of the Station Newspaper (the first number of which was in course of preparation) a message of farewell in which he expressed gratitude for the support he had had “in those not easy days of forging ahead to attain the maximum of output combined with satisfactory conditions of living”.
• 2.10.41 The new Station Commander was posted from No. 33 A.N.S. Mount Hope, Hamilton. He lost no time in emphasising, by personal example, the necessity of keeping physically fit and appeared at outside-right in the Officers first tussle with the Sergeants at ‘Soccer’. Later in the evening, the Senior N.C.O’s were the guests of the Officers’ Mess for the first time; and, by dint of darts, table tennis, a sing-song, and appropriate refreshments, a very jolly evening ensued. The fun had already begun on the Sports Field at the close of play when the Padre presented a heavily guarded homemade cup of unusual appearance to the victorious Sergeants and homemade medals to the battered Officers.
  On the same day a long list of inter-hut fixtures for a Knock-Out tournament at Soccer proved that there was no intention of wasting the precious opportunities of field games before winter closed in.
• 3.10.41 Unfavourable weather for flying had for some days impaired the progress of Training. Course 24 was making every effort to complete its flying-hours by the 14th. of October. Course 26 was 267 hours behind schedule, but stood a sporting chance of catching up in time. Course 28 was so far behind that it was faced with the task of maintaining a

IMAGE 1547

CARBERRY

• 3.10.41(Cont’d) daily average of 90.5 hours. Meanwhile, Course 30, prematurely delivered, was flourishing on a diet of games and physical training. The hunger of Maintenance for cylinders had now become a positive lust.
• 4.10.41 By this time personnel of the Unit had acquired so large a number of Canadian friends who were anxious to penetrate into a Royal Air Force Camp that it became necessary to enforce cleaner cut regulations governing their visits. No undue obstacles, however, were put in their way.
• 5.10.41 After the seemly spiritual observances of the morning, the Station turned its mind to mundane pleasures. It fought a combined team of Australians and New Zealanders (at ‘Rugger’) to a standstill – the Anzacs subsequently scoring freely. And, in the evening, it gathered in large numbers in the Recreation Hall (or ‘Theatre’ as it had now become) to discover what degree of Thespian talent it possessed. The answer, in the form of three one-act plays was most encouraging – and a new form of Camp entertainment was successfully launched. The Brandon Concert Orchestra supported the programme.
• 6.10.41 On this day three Airmen were racking their brains for appropriate comments to make in their scripts for the approaching broadcast to the United Kingdom. They were not alone in their literary labours. A Committee was deeply engaged in editorial matters for the Station’s first issue of a fortnightly newspaper, and pausing at intervals to wonder if their offer to adopt Rita Hayworth as their honorary film-sister would bear fruit.
  The United States now seemed nearer and nearer: airmen were even instructed in the ways and means by which they could satisfy their ambition to cross the border; and the day seemed far distant when one of the airmen – owing to an error of mounting the wrong train – found himself incarcerated by an United States Chief of Police in his own house, and ejected on the first convenient return train after some hours of almost fantastic hospitality.
• 7.10.41 A notice in Daily Routine Orders to the effect that the response of airmen to an invitation to pay a sports subscription was so weak that it was not proposed to accept, from so few, help for so many, might appear depressing in view of the opportunities for recreations provided on the Camp. The large number of abstentions was mainly due, however, to the severe shock which Airmen received on this Pay Day, when the demands of Income Tax made grave inroads on the purchasing-power of personnel. The Station continued to raise a smile – but the smile was wan.

IMAGE 1548

CARBERRY

• 8.10.41 At Petrel, building operations were now well under way to change what had been merely an emergency landing-ground and relief ground for night-flying into a fully organised Sub-Station.
• 9.10.41 Representatives of the Unit attended a second meeting at No. 12. S.F.T.S. North Brandon for the formation of an Association of Service Units, in that City and in its neighbourhood, for sports Leagues to function during the late autumn, and winter. In the evening the Station Concert Party (the ‘Rip Chords’) also went to No. 12 S.F.T.S. to provide entertainment for that Unit.
  From the Flying Instructional point of view this was, however, a very unhappy period; although, by good fortune, no personal injuries resulted from a crop of misadventures. At Petrel, one Pupil-Pilot damaged his aircraft when landing (C.l.); and another, at night, failing to realise until too late that a single white light ahead was attached to an Anson, applied his brakes, but (the compressor only supplying 140 lbs per square inch) failed to avert a collision with the stationary aircraft. Damage of categories D.l and C.14 resulted. At Carberry, one Pupil-Pilot, before coming to a stop after landing, was unable, through lack of brake-pressure, to control his aircraft when it swung off the runway. He encountered another aircraft, stationary, with damage to both Ansons (C.21 and C.7) Another taxied into a compressor prior to taking off on a night-flying solo, damaging both engines (C.10). Yet another was forced to land at Brandon owing to bad vibration and loss of revolutions in his starboard engine – due, as it was later discovered, to a broken rocker standard. Finally, an Instructor, giving dual instruction in forced landing approaches, met with no response when opening the throttle, and his Anson grounded with the undercarriage retracted. After a dangerous passage over uneven ground and across a road, it came to rest with damage to propellers and frame (C.28).
• 10.10.41 Their popularity continuing undiminished, the members of the Station Dance Band were off again, after duty – this time to a township called Hart.

IMAGE 1549

CARBERRY

• 11.10.41 The Small Bore Rifle Club had now reached a pitch of popularity that merited the start of a Unit Individual Handicap. Many members had now qualified for Bronze Medals, quite a number for Silver, and the crack shot (no less than the non-combatant Station Chaplain) was hot on the trail of Silver Spoons.
• 12.10.41 This matter, however, was pushed to the back of his mind on this his last Sabbath with the Unit and with Carberry. At all Services there was an increased attendance, and, at the Sunday Evening Social – the main item of which was an address on Poland by a Polish Pupil Pilot born in Danzig – some words of thanks were said to the Padre for his help in a diversity of directions.
• 13.10.41 No. 24 Course received its Flying Emblems from Wing Commander R.C. Gordon, Commanding No. 12 F.T.S. The ceremony followed the, by now, quite familiar lines – but there were two notable changes. One was that the address of congratulation was given for the first time by the new Group Captain. The other was that he was able to say that this Course had passed through the Unit’s Training intact, every original member being on parade before him.
  In the evening the Course, conscious of justifiable merit, and pleased with their experiences in Camp, entertained chosen representatives of all Ranks to a convivial Party.
  The Dance Band was unable to play at the usual Tea-Dance following the ‘Wing Parade’, as – with the ‘Rip Chords’ – it was due to carry out an engagement to amuse No. 19 E.F.T.S. at Virden. The Concert Party produced so genial an atmosphere in the Virden Theatre that a young Canadian, remarking that if life could be like in the Air Force he wished to see more of it, packed his cases, freed himself from parental embraces and caught the first train for Winnipeg and enlistment.
• 14.10.41 This day was unique in the annals of the Station Diary in that no single event merited any comment whatsoever. The playing of normal Soccer Matches, and the normal activities of a Tuesday night’s Games Evening in the Drill Shed, no longer challenged report. But there was at this period an even greater demand for a Squash Court than ever before.
• 15.10.41 The fortnightly Airmen’s Dance was held in the Recreation Hall with girls exclusively from Carberry as dancing partners. It was even more cheerful an affair than usual.
  But a domestic event that dwarfed all others on this day was the publication of the first number of the Unit’s Newspaper. Copies simultaneously appeared on sale at

IMAGE 1550

Carberry

• 15.10.41 (Cont’d) Brandon, Carberry, and Winnipeg, as well as in the Camp – and the blithe and imaginative nature of the periodical produced a very handsome sale. A striking picture of the Film Actress, Miss Rita Hayworth, proclaimed the good news that the Editorial Committee’s ambition (as recorded on 6.10.41) had been charmingly satisfied.
• 16.10.41 The Station played its part in the Manitoba Cavalcade of Music (in aid of the Lord Mayor’s Fund for the relief of the distressed) by sending a section of the Concert Party to provide a popular item – and it was clear from its reception that it contributed no small share towards the entertainment.
  Flight Lieutenant C. Clarke, R.C.A.F. Chaplain, now took over the spiritual cares of the Camp from Squadron Leader E.L. May, posted to Patricia Bay.
• 17.10.41 The seventy Graduate Pilots of Course No. 24, posted to Fairview N.S., now left the Station, all agog for the future despite the Station Commander’s warning that it would not be easy. They took with them a fine reputation, and possibly the autographed picture of the Station’s Film Star.
  As compensation, one of the Unit’s Officers returned from a long and arduous Astral Navigation Course.
• 18.10.41 The Station was now paying special attention to clothing parades, and every effort was being made to impress upon Airmen the urgency of taking care of their kit – especially in view of the shortage in Canadian supplies of renewals. This stimulation to improve personal appearance was not adversely affected by the announcement that the First Station Dance common to all Ranks was to be held in the Drill Hall on All Saints Day, the day following Halloween – a festival observed apparently with great gusto in the Dominion.
  In the evening the Officers threw a cocktail party – this being one of the few ways in which they could attempt to return the continued hospitality of Manitoba Canadians.

IMAGE 1551

CARBERRY

• 19.10.41 Personnel of the Unit – especially those ‘old-timers’ who had now lived in Carberry for ever ten months – were quite certain of Canadian hospitality, but were a little uncertain about Canadian veracity in weather matters. The Winter, they were told, was quite unusual: and the blizzard was the worst for a quarter of a century. The Summer, according to a nonagenarian, was disappointing beyond his experience. And what had happened to the Indian Summer no one could tell. Actually, this Sabbath bid fair to be the first day of a good spell of what night have been better termed the ‘English Summer’. Flying conditions were perfect, the sky seemed full of Ansons with hearty cylinders, and the Chief Instructor beamed on all and sundry.
• 20.10.41 Nevertheless, preparations for Winter were not forgotten; and these extended not only to the ‘winterising’ of aircraft, the provision of appropriate clothing, the listing of comforts required from various generous organisations, the construction of ice-rinks et cetera. It included, also, plans for the quieter leisure hours to be spent in Camp. A Signals Course was now announced as commencing on the 1st. November and ending on the 31st. Marsh. At the same time the necessary exercise and text books arrived for the study of Mathematics, short-hand and typewriting; and permission was awaited for the purchase of books bearing on civilian trades and professions.
• 21.10.41 The revised schedule for Instruction, whereby the old system of completing a Course in seventy-two days with seventy-five flying hours was supplanted by one of eighty- four days with ninety flying hours, came into operation. Course No. 26. had a hard row to hoe to finish its work by the appointed time. Course No. 28 was a foul way out. But Course No. 30 was in an easier position, being merely 160 hours behind schedule.
• 22.10.41 The evening of this day was not devoted to Night-Flying only. The first Station Whist Drive was held experimentally in the Reading and Writing Room, and twenty tables were required. In the Recreation Hall there were cheerful sounds produced by the Dress Rehearsal of the Rip Chords, 2nd. Edition. And later there issued the somewhat different strains of the Classical Music Gramophone Concert. It is worth recording that the following programme brought together more than one hundred Airmen, with a sprinkling of Officers, on a normal night where there were other attractions: – Orpheus in Hades: Songs of the Flea and of the Volga Boatmen (Chaliapin): The Moonlight Sonata: Chopin’s Waltzes in A Flat and E Flat: The Nutcracker Suites: The Rheingold Preludes: and the Ride of the Valkyries.

IMAGE 1552

CARBERRY

• 23.10.41 A motor-coach carried three swimming teams to Winnipeg to take part in an inter-services Relay Race sponsored by the Canadian Amateur Swimming Association
  (Manitoba Section). Sixteen Teams competed, including such formidable opponents as Australians, New Zealanders, Winnipeg Grenadiers, and the R.C.N.V.R. – most of them being well in practice. The Unit’s representatives, coming from Carberry, had no such opportunity, and were without practice. Their chances were considered to be negligeable, and voices were not lowered when this opinion was expressed amongst the teams before the race. However, the Unit’s first Team won the event.
• 24.10.41 A certain liveliness in postings continued to give a touch of adventure to the Station’s life. Amongst the Senior Officers, Squadron Leader H. Cartwright, who had been Senior Equipment Officer since the early days, followed the late Station Chaplain to Patricia Bay. The probability of further changes in personnel was indicated by the arrival of a new Establishment lowering the numerical strength of the Unit from R.A.F. to R.C.A.F. custom.
• 25.10.41 The instinct to play games on a fine Saturday afternoon transported two Soccer Teams and one Rugger Team to Winnipeg where three fine matches were played – two against the Australians and New Zealanders, with shared honours, and one against the previously unbeaten Western Team that had hoped to travel to Chicago with an unblemished season against it.
• 26.10.41 A Sunday of deep tranquility followed this effort, when a few odd games and the Sunday Evening Social alone provided relaxation from the primary work of the Camp. In this atmosphere, however, was a soft wind of expectancy in view of the morrow’s visit by the Inspector-General.
• 27.10.41 He arrived soon after breakfast, accompanied by the Air Officer Commanding, No.

IMAGE 1553

CARBERRY

• 27.10.41 (cont.) 2 Training Command and other Senior Officers. During the course of the afternoon he inspected the Camp with, so far as could be judged at the time, no marked dissatisfaction.
• 28.10.41 After various attempts in the past to institute a regular system of Physical Training for all Ranks, difficulties natural to a Service Flying Training School, seemed at last to be overcome; and the daily exercises were enjoyed by a number of personnel whose sedentary duties necessitated some such activity, while those who were keen enough to seek games welcomed the Classes as an additional physical fillip.
• 29.10.41 With the first appreciable snow-fall of the approaching Winter, another sixty-eight Pupil- Pilots arrived from the United Kingdom; and those survivors of the Unit’s First Echelon were reminded by the event that nearly a year had elapsed since they first set foot in the Carberry snows.
• 30.10.41 As an additional incentive to Airmen to maintain a neat appearance special arrangements were made whereby they could despatch uniforms for cleaning on any Tuesday, and receive them back on the following Thursday – at the very reasonable charge of sixty cents.
• 31.10.41 Amongst the more interesting activities of the day were the receipt of pay, the immediate purchase of the second number of the Station Periodical (the R.A.F., R.A.G.), the application for a double ticket for the Station Dance of the following day, and in the attempt to turn the Drill Shed into some not too-far distant resemblance of the Dorchester Hotel. Prominent among the ball-room architects was a recent head-waiter of that Hotel.

IMAGE 1554

CARBERRY.

• 31.10.41 STRENGTH: Personnel

	Officers	Other Ranks	Civilians
RAF	78	964	–
Service Personnel other Than RAF
RCAF	4	63	–
RCASC	1	4	–
CDC	1	2	–
Civilians	–	–	8
Trainees
RAF	–	264	–

STRENGTH: AIRCRAFT.

	Serviceable	Unserviceable
Ansons	60	30

C.H. Brill
Group Captain, Commanding,
No. 33 S.F.T.S R.A.F.