RAF Wings Over Florida: Memories of World War II British Air Cadets
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Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Purdue University Press Books Purdue University Press Fall 9-15-2000 RAF Wings Over Florida: Memories of World War II British Air Cadets Willard Largent Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_ebooks Part of the European History Commons, and the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Largent, Willard, "RAF Wings Over Florida: Memories of World War II British Air Cadets" (2000). Purdue University Press Books. 9. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_ebooks/9 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. RAF Wings over Florida RAF Wings over Florida Memories of World War II British Air Cadets DE Will Largent Edited by Tod Roberts Purdue University Press West Lafayette, Indiana Copyright q 2000 by Purdue University. First printing in paperback, 2020. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America Paperback ISBN: 978-1-55753-992-2 Epub ISBN: 978-1-55753-993-9 Epdf ISBN: 978-1-61249-138-7 The Library of Congress has cataloged the earlier hardcover edition as follows: Largent, Willard. RAF wings over Florida : memories of World War II British air cadets / Will Largent. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-55753-203-6 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Largent, Willard. 2. World War, 1939±1945ÐAerial operations, British. 3. World War, 1939±1945ÐAerial operations, American. 4. Riddle Field (Fla.) 5. Carlstrom Field (Fla.) 6. World War, 1939±1945ÐPersonal narratives, British. 7. Great Britain. Royal Air ForceÐBiography. I. Title. D786.L355 2000 940.548494l809759Ðdc21 99-059577 D Contents E Acknowledgments vii Editor's Note ix Introduction 1 Carlstrom Field, Arcadia, Florida 5 Riddle Field, Clewiston, Florida 61 The Yanks 143 The Instructors 171 Community Friendships 207 L'Envoi: The Terrible Cost of War 237 Appendix: Watch Your Language 245 Bibliography 249 Index 251 v D Acknowledgments E The help I received during the two years of gathering these ac- counts of Royal Air Force (RAF) cadets trained in Florida during World War II was nothing less than kind, understanding, and gen- erous. Most of the material was submitted to me after lengthy correspondence with former RAF cadets who now live in many sections of the world. To them I am most grateful to have been entrusted with their recollections of the most important event of their lives. They made this book possible. There were many persons of in®nite patience available whenever I had a question. First to offer the key to tracking down British cadets who trained in Florida was Blaine Schultz, a former U.S. Army Air Corps cadet who was in Course 12 with British Royal Air Force cadets at Riddle Field, Clewiston, Florida. Memories of these RAF training days in Florida, and at other sites in the United States, are kept alive year after year in Great Britain. Riddle Field graduates have formed the 5BFTS (British ¯ying training school) Association. Carlstrom Field graduates are bonded in the Arnold Scheme Register, which main- tains information on British cadets who took their pilot training under the program developed jointly by Major General Henry H. (Hap) Ar- nold, Chief of the U.S. Army Air Corps, and the British Air Ministry. Many helpful hands stretched out to me from Britain. John Potter, president, and Ray Searle, secretary, of the 5BFTS Association gave me a boost by mentioning in their group's publication my need for information. Norman Bate, MBE, registrar of the Arnold Scheme Register, was always quick to take to his word processor and dash off answers to my questions. Ben Travers, tireless researcher at the Royal Air Force Museum, always knew how to put his ®nger on obscure facts. Old newspaper clips were made available by Helen Riger, director of public relations at the prestigious Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida, the nation's oldest institution devoted to aviation training. Ron Page, an extraordinary combination of talented writer, veteran vii viii E Will Largent pilot, and world traveler, was involved from the start with important data, facts, and ®gures. Vic Hewes, retired airlines captain and former RAF cadet, was unstinting in sharing his wealth of informa- tion, as were George Cordes, director of the Clewiston Royal Air Force Museum; Howard Melton, historian, Arcadia, Florida; and Bob Johnson of the Arcadia Rotary Club. The day-to-day activities at Rid- dle Field were extremely well documented by Jim Cousins, the highly respected former instructor and wing commander on the Embry- Riddle team. Beryl Bowden, longtime editor of the Clewiston News and founder of the Clewiston Royal Air Force Museum; Lois Blount, a former employee at Riddle Field; and Burnadetta Johnson of Arcadia offered their memories of the 1940s ªwelcome invasionº of the Brit- ish. Old treasured copies of the Embry-Riddle publication Fly Paper proved of great value and were furnished by Eric Carlson, former instructor at both Carlstrom and Riddle ®elds. Generous words of encouragement came from Gilbert S. Guinn, professor emeritus in history, Lander University, Greenwood, South Carolina, an authority on British aircrew training in the United States. Always coming up with the real ªgenº when it came to interpreting British slang or RAFspeak was Alan Kelsey, former RAF sergeant air gunner and talented artist, now of Bradenton, Florida. Joe Terry, neighbor, friend, decorated World War II army veteran and history buff, called my attention to RAF Bomber Command Chief Arthur T. (Bomber) Harris's controversial policy of saturation bombing of both German military and civilian targets. Sarasota historian Jeff LaHurd was an authority on the ªold townº near and dear to his heart. I cannot give credit enough to my son-in-law, Tod Roberts, who edited, indexed, and ªcomputerizedº my original manuscript. Lovingly last on my list of ªthank you'sº is the person who has always been number one with me, my wife, Gertrude. She has cheered me on, scolded me for loa®ng, and jumped in with encour- agement when it was most needed. When I misplaced the dictio- nary, I could always call on her. What more can I say? As to the errors in this book that readers will inevitably ®nd, I, and I alone, am responsible. Will Largent Sarasota, Florida April 16, 1995 RAF Wings over Florida D ix Editor's Note I am sorry to report that Will Largent passed away in Sarasota, Florida on January 21, 1998. As his son-in-law and editor, I have tried to carry out his wishes to publish this work. I thank Brooksie Bergen, Reed Clary, Bridget Dillard, Vic Hewes, Joe McCrary, John Potter, and Blaine Schultz for their help in publicizing the book. I also express my gratitude to the staff of Purdue University Press and Huron Valley Graphics for their valuable assistance in publishing the current edition of the work. Tod Roberts Sarasota, Florida December 7, 1999 D Introduction E A small news story in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune started it all: Memorial services will be held Monday, 10:00 a.m., at Oak Ridge Ceme- tery in Arcadia, Florida, for the twenty-three British Royal Air Force cadets who died during ¯ight training at Arcadia and Clewiston in the 1940s. The fallen cadets were among the thousands of young British men who learned to ¯y in the United States during World War II. My wife and I traveled the forty miles or so from our new home in Sarasota to the old cattle town of Arcadia, where we followed signs directing us to a narrow sand road. The winding path took us under large oak trees to a back corner of the cemetery. A Union Jack was ¯apping over a neat plot with twenty-three identical stone grave markers in two orderly rows, twelve in one and eleven in the other. We had arrived early on that Memorial Day morning, well ahead of the service and (we learned later) an unusually large number of personsÐperhaps 600Ðto honor the ¯edgling airmen who lay in the shadow of a bronze plaque etched with the Rupert Brooke poem ªThe Soldier:º If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign ®eld That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her ¯owers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less 1 2 E Will Largent Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven. As we walked between the two rows, the leaves of the towering oaks rustled and stiff breezes whipped the ropes around the ¯ag- pole in a rhythmic slapping sound. Nature was producing perfect counterpoint to a mournful yet stirring dirge that came to us on the early morning air. We turned toward the sound of the familiar bag- pipe tune ªThe Lament.º About a hundred yards away a tall, kilted piper was practicing (we assumed for his contribution to the memo- rial program). Following ªThe Lament,º he pumped out ªThe Min- strel Boy to the War Has Gone.º We watched, listened, and gave thanks that so many other young cadets had been spared during those dangerous days in the Florida skies. A thought kept coming back to me during the Memorial Day service that was attended by of®cers of the Royal Air Force, mem- bers of British-related organizations, World War II ¯iers, and throngs of service groups.