No.34 Service Flying Training School

No.34 Service Flying Training School was at Medicine Hat, Alberta and was equipped with Harvards and Oxfords. Trainees spent eight weeks with an intermediate training squadron then six weeks with an advanced training squadron and two weeks at the Bombing and Gunnery School.

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Those known to have served with
No.34 Service Flying Training School
during the Second World War 1939-1945.

Bardill John Arthur. LAC.
Bowker C. Frank. F/O
Camera Joseph Andrea. LAC.
Saltmarsh DFC and bar. Leonard James. Sqd.Ldr.

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There are:1999 items tagged No.34 Service Flying Training School available in our Library

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F/O C. Frank Bowker instructor 34 SFTS

My father, C. Frank Bowker, was an instructor at #34 SFTS with the rank of Flying Officer sometime during the period 1942-1944. He had broken his back as a young man and so was not allowed active duty, but somehow joined the RAF anyway. I was a baby at the time, and so I know nothing of what he taught, indeed I don't recall him being absent from home, and he never talked about his role in the RCAF. He lived at home in Medicine Hat, and had a full-time job with a local flour company, so he may have been a part-time instructor.

Perry Bowker

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LAC. John Arthur Bardill No 34 Service Flying Training School

I noted with great interest the book of David Carter "Wings on the Pararie" about the Service Flying Training School in Canada during the war years. According to his service record which I have my father John Arthur Bardill was at the base from 24.2.1941 till about 9.1.1944 as an LAC. Does anyone have any records or photographs of ground crews who serviced the training aircraft? In addition Dad was apparently a noted goalkeeper in the base soccer team who I think were called the "Red Stars" or something like that. The team were apparently were undefeated champions either locally or as my mother always used to tell me of Alberta. There were numerous photos and newspaper references to this segment of my father's stay in Canada, but these were lost in the many moves both in the UK and eventually to Australia. I have tried unsuccessfully to research the sporting achievements of dad without success, but beginning I would be very interested if anyone has any information/photos of the ground crews? Or if anyone may be able to advise me in what direction I could take to research the base and its history.

John W. Bardill

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LAC. Joseph Andrea Camera 34 Service Flying Training School

My grandfather, Joseph Camera, was originally in a reserved occupation being a skilled craftsman making eye glasses. I'm unsure of his full history but do know he ended up at 34 SFTS as an airman - whether this was by volunteering or by a change in the draft rules I know not. During his time at Medicine Hat he met the woman who would become my grandmother, Olive Nesbit whose family were local horse ranchers (I believe). They went on to marry while my grandfather was still stationed in Medicine Hat.
Family history has it that my grandfather was being held in a transit camp prior to a posting overseas. He was confined to camp because they were expected to move at any moment, but my grandad and his pal broke out of camp to go to the pub, only to find that on return their draft had been sent overseas. By all accounts this caused some embarasement all around as a head count was taken at the time and numbers were counted as correct. Another draft in the same camp that was sent out later that same day had two people on sick call when the time came so my grandad and his pal were switched into this one to avoid any awkward questions. By good fortune the second draft was going to Canada and my grandfather's original draft was sent to Burma! So the story goes - if he hadn't been such a lush our whole family history would have been completely different. I do remember his stories of being placed on burial detail as a punishment for some infringement and being told he would not be allowed off until an entire row of 20 was full. He tried to argue that he couldn't be on the firing detail as he was left handed but the Air Force being far too smart for that told him he would carry the wreaths instead. He did say that a full row of 20 was never filled in his time at Medicine Hat.
Another story (backed up by photo evidence) was that his hut used to keep a live rattlesnake tethered to a post by rope outside their barrack block. I am unsure of his full history in the Air Force but do know that at some point he was posted to Northern Ireland as a guard in a German POW camp.
He also told a story of being at RAF Middle Wallop in the middle of an air raid. He and a pilot ran into a bunker type area to shelter and shared a smoke while the raid was on. When the all clear sounded they walked out of their shelter to find they had been seeking refuge in a petrol dump!
My grandmother eventually moved back to wartime London, travelling by one of the first convoys that had Canadian wives moving to the UK. My grandmother told us as children about being in the middle of the convoy and watching other ships in the convoy being torpedoed at night. My grandfather was eventually demobbed only to be re-enlisted straight away into the Army joining the South Stafffordshire Regiment. He told us that they went into one room and where released from the RAF and as they walked out of the door at the other end they were then re-enlisted into the Army. His request to be put into a Southern or London Regiment in typical Army fashion saw him into the South Staffs. He told me that one of the conditions of his enlistment into the Army was that he was allowed to keep his LAC salary as an enlisted man which meant that the Air Force guys who were transferred into the South Staffs were paid more than their Army enlisted men colleagues, a big bone of contention at the time.
As you may have gathered - my grandad was a bit of a rogue and remained so until the day he died. If anyone knew him or my grandmother then I would be thrilled to hear from them.

Ian Camera

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Sqd.Ldr. Leonard James Saltmarsh DFC and bar. 7 Squadron

Leonard Saltmarsh served before and after the war in the Surrey Constabulary and I am working on the history of that force. In December 1942 he trained in a Tiger Moth and went on to fly Wellingtons and Lancasters with 7 Squadron, Pathfinders. He was awarded the DFC for actions on the 26th of August 1944 in a raid over Kiel. He flew 99 Operational sorties.
D.F.C. London Gazette 3 October 1944. The original recommendation states:
‘Flying Officer L. J. Saltmarsh has so far completed 17 successful sorties as Pilot and Captain of Lancaster aircraft, and has been most conspicuous at all times for his extremely high standard of courage and resoluteness. On two difficult occasions during daylight attacks on Vaires on 12 July 1944 and on Emieville on 18 August 1944, he observed a crippled bomber proceeding at a very reduced speed away from the target. On both occasions he dropped behind the main bomber stream in order to escort the damaged bomber safely back to England. On 15 August, during a daylight attack on the airfield at St. Trond, one of his engines became unserviceable on the way to the target and the propellor had to be feathered. But inspite of the fact that he was getting behind the main stream, owing to his reduced speed, he pressed on and bombed the target, and secured an aiming point photograph. On the way back from the target another engine became unserviceable but did not deter Flying Officer Saltmarsh from proceeding to and bombing an alternative airfield target with a bomb that had failed to be released over the primary target, and once more he secured an aiming point photograph. He eventually arrived safely over base and made a perfect two-engined landing. It was not until after he had landed that he reported the fact that two engines had become unserviceable during the sortie. This very gallant pilot is strongly recommended for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.’
Bar to D.F.C. London Gazette 16 November 1945. The original recommendation states:
‘This officer has completed 53 operational sorties, of which 28 have been carried out in the squadron, in the Path Finder Force, 18 of them as Captain of a Marker Crew. Flight Lieutenant Saltmarsh is an efficient and skilful pilot who has always shown a strong devotion to duty and a cheerful confidence which has always inspired a high standard of morale in his crew. He has always displayed exceptional fearlessness in the face of danger, complete disregard for personal safety and has pressed home his attacks against the enemy with the utmost determination.’
Leonard James Saltmarsh commenced pilot training at No. 31 E.F.T.S. at De Winton, Alberta in December 1942, and graduated from No. 34 E.F.S. at Medicine Hat in June 1943. Back in the U.K., he attended No. 11 A.F.U. at Shawbury, prior to joining No. 26 O.T.U. at Little Harwood in early January 1944, where he gained experience on Wellingtons, and then attended a conversion unit for Lancasters at Waterbeach, at which place he joined No. 514 Squadron that June.
Thus ensued his first tour of operations, commencing with a strike against L’Hey on the 23 June and ending with another against Emmerich on 7 October, the intervening period witnessing him attack numerous French targets in support of the Allied invasion, but also a number of heavily defended German targets, including Bremen, Dortmund, Saarbrucken, Stettin and Stuttgart. And as confirmed by the recommendation for his D.F.C. after 17 sorties, several of these trips were not without incident, his flying log book further stating that his Lancaster received flak damage during strikes against enemy panzers and transport at Villiers Bocage on 30 June and against a supply depot at Beauvoir on 2 July. Similarly, too, during a visit to Bremen on the night of 18-19 August.
In October 1944, Saltmarsh attended the Path Finder Force’s training centre at Warboys, as a result of which he was transferred to No. 7 (P.F.F.) Squadron at Oakington in the following month, flying his first such sortie on the night of the 11th-12th, against Dortmund. A daylight strike against enemy communications at Julich, in support of General Patton’s troops, followed on the 14th and a night operation to Sterkrade on the 21st, Saltmarsh’s flying log book again noting flak damage. Then on the 29th he flew as support aircraft to the Master Bomber on a raid to Dortmund, a role that he would fulfil with growing regularity over the coming months. Such heavily defended targets as Duisburg, Essen (twice) and Karlsruhe formed the backbone of his operational agenda in December, while January 1945 saw him attacking, among other locations, Hanover, Magdeburg, Munich and Stuttgart, his flying log book noting an encounter with a Ju. 88 on the Munich run. February witnessed his Lancaster carrying out strikes against Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Ludwigshaven and Pforzheim, in addition to participating in the famous “firestorm” raid on Dresden on the 13th, an action that Saltmarsh would robustly defend in years to come.
March saw him completing five more sorties to German targets, three of them in daylight, and April another four, two of these in daylight, including Bremen on the 21st, which latter operation marked the end of his operational tour. He did, however, fly three “Cook’s Tours” to the Rhur in May, and ended his career with an appointment in Transport Command in December 1945. Over and above all of this, however, it would appear that he flew 56 “unspecific” sorties of a secret nature, evidence for which is to be found in the following endorsement from “Bomber” Harris. He also flew: Diversions, experimentation of special equipment, including radar, photographic reconnaissance, these top secret sorties and others. In May 1945 he was selected and volunteered to form a new squadron for the continuation of hostilities against Japan.’
Any information on Mr Saltmarsh DFC and Bar would be appreciated

Robert Bartlett

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No.34 Service Flying Training School

Logbooks

Those known to have served with
No.34 Service Flying Training School
during the Second World War 1939-1945.

The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements

Want to know more about No.34 Service Flying Training School?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project - No.34 Service Flying Training School during the Second World War -

No.34 Service Flying Training School

Logbooks

Those known to have served with No.34 Service Flying Training Schoolduring the Second World War 1939-1945.

The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements

Want to know more about No.34 Service Flying Training School?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project
- No.34 Service Flying Training School during the Second World War -

Those known to have served with
No.34 Service Flying Training School
during the Second World War 1939-1945.