The Royal Air Force in Texas:
Training British Pilots in Terrell During World War II
During World War II thousands of British pilots learned to fly at six civilian training schools in the United States. The first and largest of the schools was in Terrell, Texas. After the United States entered the war, American Aviation Cadets also trained at the school. More than 2,000 Royal Air Force and American Army Air Force pilots earned their wings over North Texas between 1941 and 1945. Terrell’s citizens welcomed the student pilots to their community and many life-long bonds were forged.
While training because of the size of the USA they were able to practice cross country flight and distance calculations simulating flights to locations in occupied Europe.
After someone told me about this, unknown to me, chapter in US flying school history I found this neat little online utility that allows you to see relative distances using Google maps.
Looks like by air to mimic the flight from London to Paris (344km/214 miles) it would roughly be from Terrell Airport to Houston Texas. London to Berlin (932km/579 miles) I can’t find a way to save the search to post a link.
Now I need to find out if the local library has the book.
Wheels
