No. 3 Flying Training School is a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

military training school, which manages elementary flying training for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force and also for the training of all non-pilot aircrew for the RAF and is home to the

Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school. The school was based at ...

Tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in ...

Squadron. Although the school is nominally based at RAFC Cranwell, only the multi-engine pilots and students on 57 Squadron fly from this aerodrome, with the Navy elements based at the nearby

RAF Barkston Heath Royal Air Force Barkston Heath or RAF Barkston Heath is a Royal Air Force station near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. RAF Barkston Heath has the Naval Element of No. 3 Flying Training School RAF (No. 3 FTS) which, for a period between app ...

and the remaining trainee pilots based at

RAF Wittering Royal Air Force Wittering or more simply RAF Wittering is a Royal Air Force station within the unitary authority area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire. Although Stamford in Lincolnshire ...

History

First formation

No 3 FTS was first formed at Scopwick (later renamed

RAF Digby Royal Air Force Digby otherwise known as RAF Digby is a Royal Air Force station located near Scopwick and south east of Lincoln, in Lincolnshire, England. The station is home to the tri-service Joint Service Signals Organisation, part of the J ...

) on 26 April 1920 from No. 59 Training Squadron in No. 3 Group. That month

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

Arthur Harris, later AOC-in-C Bomber Command, was jointly appointed both station and school commander. It was transferred to No. 1 Group on 31 August 1921 but disbanded on 1 April 1922. The school reformed at RAF Spitalgate near Grantham on 1 April 1928, equipped with

Avro 504 The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...

Ns and

Armstrong Whitworth Siskin The Armstrong Whitworth Siskin was a biplane single-seat fighter aircraft developed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It was also the first all-metal fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RA ...

s, which were later replaced by Avro Tutors,

Armstrong Whitworth Atlas The Armstrong Whitworth Atlas was a British single-engine biplane designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It served as an army co-operation aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the first purpose-desi ...

es and

Hawker Hart The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircra ...

Second formation

On 16 August 1937 the school relocated to

RAF South Cerney Royal Air Force South Cerney or more simply RAF South Cerney is a former Royal Air Force station located in South Cerney near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England. It was built during the 1930s to conduct flying training. The airfield was tu ...

, becoming No. 3 Service Flying Training School on 3 September 1939, where it remained until being redesignated No. 3 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit on 1 March 1942. By the outbreak of war the school was operating Harts and

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Seco ...

s but on 24 June 1940 it became a No. 2 Group school, specialising on twin engined training using Oxfords. During this part of its life, the school used a number of relief landing grounds including RAF Stormy Down,

RAF Bibury Royal Air Force Bibury or more simply RAF Bibury is a former Royal Air Force satellite airfield located north east of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. History The airfield was built in 1939 for use as a relief landing ground for training a ...

RAF Long Newnton Royal Air Force Long Newnton or more simply RAF Long Newnton is a former Royal Air Force satellite airfield in north Wiltshire, England, close to the Gloucestershire village of Long Newnton. The following units were here at some point: * No. 3 ...

and RAF Wanborough. With the end of the war No. 3 (P) AFU was redesignated No. 3 SFTS again on 17 December 1945 and was now equipped with North American Harvards. On 24 April 1946 the school moved to

RAF Feltwell Royal Air Force Feltwell or more simply RAF Feltwell is a Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, East Anglia that is used by the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa. The station is located about 10 miles west of Thetford, and ...

and on 9 April 1947, its title reverted to No. 3 FTS and continued to operate from here until 31 May 1958 by which time it was using the

Percival Provost The Percival P.56 Provost is a basic trainer aircraft that was designed and manufactured by British aviation company Percival. During the 1950s, the Provost was developed for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a replacement for the Percival Prentic ...

T.1.

Third and Fourth formations

It entered the jet age when it was reformed at

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it ...

on 15 September 1961, equipped with the Hunting Aircraft Jet Provost T.3. In 1966 it took over the Vampire Advanced Training Unit from No. 7 FTS and in December of the same year became No. 3 (Basic) FTS. 1971 saw control transfer from No. 22 to No. 23 Group and in December 1973 it took over the School of Refresher Flying from RAF Manby. In November 1974 it took over another unit when the RN Elementary Flying Training School arrived from

RAF Church Fenton Royal Air Force Church Fenton or RAF Church Fenton was a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south east of Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England and north west of Selby, North Yorkshire, near the village of Church Fenton. The station wa ...

, but with the reduction in the demand for pilots and the RAF cut back, the school was disbanded at Leeming on 26 April 1984.

Fifth formation

The school's current incarnation began on 1 February 1989 when it became part of RAF Cranwell by redesignating the flying element of the Royal Air Force College and undertook the basic flying training of some graduates from Initial Officer Training at the co-located RAF College Cranwell, other graduates going to RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

Shorts Tucano The Short Tucano is a two-seat turboprop basic trainer built by Short Brothers in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a licence-built version of the Brazilian Embraer EMB 312 Tucano. On 14 February 1986, the prototype conducted its maiden fligh ...

s began arriving from December 1990 with the last flight of the Jet Provost on 29 October 1991. In 1992 the school took over the CFS Bulldog element, which was later replaced by the CFS Tutor element. Also in 1995 the Dominies and

British Aerospace Jetstream The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin- turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the Briti ...

s ( No. 45 (Reserve) Squadron) of 6 FTS were taken over on the closure of

RAF Finningley Royal Air Force Finningley or RAF Finningley was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station at Finningley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The station straddled the historic county boundaries of both ...

, with the Dominie element becoming No 55 (Reserve) Squadron on 1 November 1996. The Dominie was withdrawn from service when WSO and WSOp training ended on 20 January 2011. Crew training is now carried out in King Airs

Current units

Squadrons forming part of 3 FTS: *

RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which trai ...

** 45 Squadron ** 57 Squadron **

703 Naval Air Squadron 703 Naval Air Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy was formed as a long-range catapult squadron on 3 March 1942 at RNAS Lee-on-Solent. During the Cold War, it was reformed as an experimental trials unit, and then as a helicopter traini ...

** 16 Squadron Due to its proximity to, and because of, the busier circuit at RAF Cranwell, elementary flying training units use

for a significant amount of their operations. 674 Squadron AAC formed the Army Air Corps contingent of 3 FTS up until its standing down in April 2021.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Flying Training Schools
''Air of Authority''. {{RAF Training Education in Lincolnshire 03 Military units and formations established in 1920 North Kesteven District