List of British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities in Southern Rhodesia

This article contains a list of the Southern Rhodesian facilities forming part of Joint Air Training Scheme which was a major programme for training South African Air Force, Royal Air Force and Allied air crews during World War II. However, RAF Training units would still be based in this country until a decade after the war had finished

A war-time Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) gave a recruit 50 hours of basic aviation instruction on a simple trainer like the Tiger Moth. Pilots who showed promise went on to training at a Service Flying Training School (SFTS). The Service Flying Training School provided advanced training for pilots, including fighter and multi-engined aircraft. Other trainees went on to different specialties, such as wireless, navigation or bombing and air gunnery.

During WW II

These are the units that formed the Rhodesia Air Training Group.

Unit Name/No.	Base	Major types of aircraft	Role	Opened	Disbanded	Comments
No. 25	Belvedere, Salisbury	Tiger Moth, Cornell & Harvard	EFTS	24 May 1940	16 November 1945
No. 20	Cranborne, Salisbury	Harvard 1, 2, 2a, 3 and Oxford	SFTS	10 July 1940	7 September 1945
No. 27	Induna, Bulawayo	Tiger Moth & Cornell	EFTS	28 January 1940	21 September 1945
No. 23	Heany, Bulawayo	Oxford	SFTS	8 July 1941	30 September 1945
No. 21	Kumalo, Bulawayo	Oxford	SFTS	8 October 1940	18 May 1945
	Sauerdale, Bulawayo	Tiger Moth	EFTS			Planned, but base found to be unsuitable
No. 26	Guinea Fowl, Gwelo	Tiger Moth & Cornell	EFTS	August 1940	14 August 1945
No. 22	Thornhill, Gwelo	Harvard 1, 2, 2a, 3	SFTS	25 March 1941	30 September 1945
No. 24 Bombing, Gunnery and Navigation	Moffat, Gwelo	Battle, Oxford and Anson	BGTS	12 May 1943	13 April 1945
No. 24 Combined Air Observation School	Moffat, Gwelo	Battle, Oxford and Anson	BGTS	3 August 1941	12 May 1943	Split into 24 BGTS & 29 EANS
No. 29 Elementary Navigation School	Moffat, Gwelo	Battle, Oxford and Anson	ANS	12 May 1943	13 April 1945
No. 28	Mount Hampden	Tiger Moth, Cornell & Harvard	EFTS	1 April 1941	30 October 1945	Motto: Pana Maziñana ano Bururuka - Here Fledglings Take Wing
No. 31	Cranborne	Harvard (for Comms)	ARU	1 August 1941
No. 32	Heany	Harvard (for Comms)	ARU	1 August 1941
Rhodesian Central Flying School	Norton	All types used in Group	CFS	3 Sep 1941	20 May 1942	Renamed 33 FIS
No. 33	Norton	All types used in Group	FIS	20 May 1942	9 May 1944	Renamed CFS (SR)
Central Flying School (Southern Rhodesia)	Norton	All types used in Group	CFS	9 May 1944	9 October 1945
Communications Flight	Belvedere	Tiger Moths, Cornells & Harvards	Comms Flt	14 May 1940	1 January 1946	SRAF unit

Training aircraft

Glossary

After World War II

Unit Name/No.	Base	Major types of aircraft	Role	Opened	Disbanded	Comments
No. 4	RAF Heany	Tiger Moth, Harvard, Anson & Chipmunk	FTS	1 February 1947	26 January 1954
No. 5	RAF Thornhill	Tiger Moth, Harvard & Anson	FTS	23 April 1947	4 January 1948	Renamed 3 ANS
No. 5	RAF Thornhill	Tiger Moth & Chipmunk	FTS	22 January 1951	30 December 1953	Reformed, later reabsorbing 3 ANS
No. 3	RAF Thornhill	Anson	ANS	5 January 1948	28 September 1951
No. 394	RAF Heany		MU	1 September 1947	31 March 1954
No. 395	RAF Bulawayo		MU	1 September 1947	31 March 1954
RATG Communications Squadron	RAF Kumalo	Ansons, Chipmunks & Harvards	Comms	1 September 1947	31 March 1954

Training aircraft

Glossary

See also

• List of British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities in Australia
• List of British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities in Canada
• List of British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities in South Africa
• Aircrew brevet
• Ernest Lucas Guest
• Charles Warburton Meredith