Initial Flying Course at RAF Luton, Bedfordshire: No. 24 EFTS from 13 November 1940  to 3 January 1941

 

Stationed in the Stable Quarters of Luton Hoo House 

Air Minister Sir Kingsley Wood officially opened Luton Airport on July 16, 1938:

 inspecting a line-up of the RAF's latest fighters - (Gloster) Gladiators. 

This  marked the end of a four-year project by Luton Corporation to convert 373 acres of farmland into an airport,

at a cost of £33,850 (A concrete runway was not laid until 1960.)

At the beginning of WW II all commercial flights were suspended and the airfield was used primarily as an RAF flight  training school.

There were no formal runways as the airfield was grass.

Flights were local, distance depending on the exercise and whether with Instructor or Solo.

Training Aircraft: Miles  Magister. 
The Miles M.14 Magister was designed as a trainer for the RAF.  The aircraft entered production in October 1937, and  in 1940 up to 15 Magisters were outfitted to carry 11.3 kg bombs. A total of 1,293 M.14s were built and saw service primarily in the RAF. 

17 Miles Magister Mk I were on Royal Naval charge between 1939-1945. The first 11 were delivered prior to WWII between 1937-1939, initially to 17 Group HQ at Ford in December 1937 (eg L5943). All the aircraft were delivered to 780 squadron at Eastleigh between September 1939-May 1941, except for 2 which were on Fleet Air Arm loan from the RAF in the Middle East to Dekheila (aircraft serials P2400 and R1948).

The last Magister on Fleet Air Arm charge was Magister L8204 which was paid off in January 1945.

 Miles  Magister in wartime colours

 Log Book: this details all the flying carried out during WW 11.

First entry is dated November 13 1940 with GMA's first training flight and the final description is on January 3 1946 

....continuing in similar vein until GMA's first solo flight of 15 minutes on 8 December...

....continuing with a two hour cross-country flight just before completion of this course....

.....finally the last day at Luton.

The full record of flying at Luton from GMA's Log book is shown in