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No. 1 Initial Flying Training School RAAF

No. 1 Initial Flying Training School
Group portrait of uniformed staff in front of building
No. 1 Initial Flying Training School staff, 1953
Active 1951–55
Allegiance Australia
Branch Royal Australian Air Force
Role Initial flying training
Garrison/HQ RAAF Station Archerfield

No. 1 Initial Flying Training School (No. 1 IFTS) was a flying training school of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It was formed in 1951 as No. 1 Initial Training School, in response to increased demand for aircrew during the Korean War and Malayan Emergency. Headquartered at RAAF Station Archerfield, Queensland, and operating de Havilland Tiger Moths, the unit was renamed No. 1 Initial Flying Training School in 1952. Ground staff from the school won the Hewitt Trophy for small arms proficiency in 1953. Aircrew training requirements eased following the end of the Korean War, and No. IFTS merged with No. 1 Basic Flying Training School at RAAF Base Uranquinty, New South Wales, in 1955.

Prior to World War II, all aircrew training in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was conducted under the auspices of one unit, No. 1 Flying Training School (No. 1 FTS), at RAAF Point Cook, Victoria. With the dramatic expansion of pilot training under the wartime Empire Air Training Scheme, No. 1 FTS was supplanted in 1940–41 by twelve elementary flying training schools (EFTS) and eight service flying training schools (SFTS). Rationalisation as the war progressed and came to an end saw all the EFTSs and SFTSs disbanded. No. 1 FTS, re-formed using the personnel and equipment of No. 5 Service Flying Training School in Uranquinty, New South Wales, returned to Point Cook and again became the RAAF's sole facility for training new pilots.

In response to demands for more aircrew to fulfil Australia's commitments to the Korean War and Malayan Emergency, flying training in the RAAF was again expanded in 1951–52, with the functions of No. 1 FTS being split among three separately located units. On 28 November 1951, No. 1 Initial Training School (No. 1 ITS) was raised at RAAF Station Archerfield, Queensland, to impart students with general aeronautical and military knowledge, after which they received their flight grading during twelve hours on de Havilland Tiger Moths. Graduate pilots of No. 1 ITS went on to another new unit, No. 1 Basic Flying Training School (No. 1 BFTS) at RAAF Base Uranquinty, New South Wales, where they underwent further aerial instruction that included instrument, formation and night flying on Tiger Moths and CAC Wirraways. Successful students finally transferred to No. 1 FTS, which was renamed No. 1 Applied Flying Training School in March 1952, for advanced weapons and combat training on Wirraways, before graduating as sergeant pilots.


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