MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. --
Across the United States, this coming Friday, Americans are preparing host solemn ceremonies to honor the millions of men and women who have served in the American armed forces and sacrificed much in defending this country and freedom-loving people across the globe.
Veterans Day, known as Remembrance Day in Britain and Armistice Day in France, takes on additional meaning in Montgomery. On the Sunday closest to Veterans Day, officers of the Royal Air Force and the French Air Force attending courses at Maxwell Air Force Base honor the 78 British flight cadets and the 20 Free French flight cadets who died in training accidents during World War II and buried in a special section of Oakwood Cemetery.
This year, the ceremony is set to take place on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016, at 10:30 a.m. British and French air force officers, other officials, family members and guests will gather at the grave sites to lay wreaths that honor their ultimate sacrifice for their homelands, and the cause of freedom.
In 1940 and 1941, the RAF lacked the facilities, airfields and flight instructors to train new pilots because of ongoing combat operations against the Luftwaffe. In March 1941, Lt. Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold, chief of the Army Air Forces, offered to train up to 4,000 RAF flight cadets annually in flight schools of the Southeast Air Corps Training Center, headquartered at Maxwell Field. Between 1941 and 1943, the RAF sent 7,820 cadets to the AAF flight schools, 4,360 completing the phase three school and receiving aviator wings. Of those, 1,284 RAF cadets completed the phase-2 school at nearby Gunter Field, now Gunter Annex.
The RAF had 433 cadets complete the third and final phase of the AAF flight training program between June 1941 and August 1942, when the AAF closed Maxwell’s phase-3 school. In addition, 457 RAF phase-3 graduates completed the flight instructor’s school at Maxwell by February 1943 and served at AAF flight schools, including the one at Gunter Field, with RAF cadet contingents. During this period, 78 RAF cadets died in training accidents and were buried in Oakwood Cemetery.
Three months after the RAF program ended, the AAF began training Free French flight cadets at flight schools in the Southeast, including Gunter Field. Overall, the AAF received over 2,500 French cadets, and graduated over 1,200 between June 1943 and October 1945, when the U.S. government terminated this training program. The basic school at Gunter received 1,670 cadets and graduated 1,300 for entry into a Phase-3 school by the end of the program. During this period, 20 Free French cadets died in training accidents and were buried in Oakwood Ceremony alongside their British comrade-in-arms.
The RAF flight cadets had about the same elimination rate, accident rate and graduation rate as the American flight cadets. As a testament to their determination to succeed, given the language issues, the French cadets also had about the same performance rates as the American and RAF cadets.
The flight training of these British and French pilots significantly contributed to the war effort, positively impacted inter-Allied relations during the war, and foreshadowed the far more extensive flight training and education programs that the U.S. Air Force would conduct for allied air forces from 1947 to the present. These training programs have left their mark on Maxwell and Montgomery, as exemplified by the Veterans Day ceremonies at Oakwood Cemetery.