No. 1 Flying Training School RAAF

No. 1 Flying Training School RAAF
Crest of 1 Flying Training School, Royal Australian Air Force, featuring blue wings surrounding a flaming torch, and the motto "Cogito ergo sum"
No. 1 Flying Training School's crest, "a pair of elevated wings vol conjoined surmounted by the torch of learning inflamed"[1]
Active1921–1944
1946–1993
2019–current
CountryAustralia
BranchRoyal Australian Air Force
RoleFlying training
Part ofAir Force Training Group
Garrison/HQRAAF Point Cook (1921–1944)
RAAF Station Uranquinty (1946–1947)
RAAF Station Point Cook (1947–1958)
RAAF Base Pearce (1958–1969)
RAAF Base Point Cook (1969–1993)
RAAF Base East Sale (2019–current)
Motto(s)Cogito ergo sum
("I think, therefore I am")[2]
Commanders
Notable
commanders
William Anderson (1921, 1925–1926)
Frank McNamara (1922–1925, 1930–1933)
Adrian Cole (1926–1929)
Hippolyte De La Rue (1933–1937)
Frank Lukis (1938–1939)
John McCauley (1940–1941)
Roy King (1941)
Charles Read (1943–1944, 1947–1949)
Glen Cooper (1949–1951)
Aircraft flown
TrainerPilatus PC-21

No. 1 Flying Training School (No. 1 FTS) is a school of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It is one of the Air Force's original units, dating back to the service's formation in 1921, when it was established at RAAF Point Cook, Victoria. By the early 1930s, the school comprised training, fighter, and seaplane components. It was re-formed several times in the ensuing years, initially as No. 1 Service Flying Training School (No. 1 SFTS) in 1940, under the wartime Empire Air Training Scheme. After graduating nearly 3,000 pilots, No. 1 SFTS was disbanded in late 1944, when there was no further requirement to train Australian aircrew for service in Europe.

The school was re-established in 1946 as No. 1 FTS at RAAF Station Uranquinty, New South Wales, and transferred to Point Cook the following year. Under a restructure of flying training to cope with the demands of the Korean War and Malayan Emergency, No. 1 FTS was re-formed in 1952 as No. 1 Applied Flying Training School (No. 1 AFTS); it moved to RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia, in 1958. For much of this period the school was also responsible for training the RAAF's air traffic controllers. Its pilot trainees included Army, Navy, and foreign students as well as RAAF personnel. The RAAF's reorganisation of aircrew training in the early 1950s had led to the formation at Uranquinty of No. 1 Basic Flying Training School (No. 1 BFTS), which transferred to Point Cook in 1958. In 1969, No. 1 AFTS was re-formed as No. 2 Flying Training School and No. 1 BFTS was re-formed as No. 1 FTS. Rationalisation of RAAF flying training resulted in the disbandment of No. 1 FTS in 1993.

The school re-formed at RAAF Base East Sale in 2019, flying the Pilatus PC-21 and conducting ab initio flight training.

  1. ^ "Badges tell history". RAAF News. March 1962. p. 4.
  2. ^ RAAF Historical Section, Training Units, pp. 38–39