Throughout April and into May 1941, my Grandfather continued training in D.H. 82 Tiger Moths, with endless circuits and 'bumps' (landing and take off), as well as a bewildering series of numbered activities. By now, these numbers were so mundane that my Grandfather no longer bothered to fill in what the numbers referred to in the "Duty" column. So following some investigation, I have found out the following 'Sequence of Instruction';
1. Air experience
1A. Familiarity with cockpit layout
2. Effect of controls
3. Taxying
4. Straight and level flying
5. Climbing, gliding and stalling (includes stall off steep turn. High speed stall)
6. Medium turns
7. Taking off into wind
8. Powered approach and landing
9. Gliding approach and landing
10. Spinning (with instructor only)
11. First solo
12. Sideslipping
13. Precautionary landing
14. Low flying (with instructor only)
15. Steep turns
16. Climbing turns
17. Forced landings
18. Action in event of fire (with instructor only) (including abandoning an aircraft to be given on the ground)
19. Instrument flying
20. Taking off and landing out of wind
21. Aerobatics
22. Air navigation
23. Air navigation test
24. Night flying (record number of landings)
25. Formation flying
I guess that the more often repeated activities were the ones that had not quite been mastered satisfactorily.
One of the strangest things to happen in the War occurred in May 1941. While the Luftwaffe was making one last effort to bomb London into submission, a lone Me 110 was flying to Scotland. The pilot baled out and upon being apprehended, announced himself as Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party. There is more about this on the World War 2 Today Website .
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