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Venugopal, Bandi Sriramulu (Leading Aircraftman)

Killed in Flying Accident 1944-01-02

Male Head

Age: 21

B. S. Naidu and Yasodamma, of Anand Bagh, Madras, India

Service
RIAF
Unit
41 SFTS- Service Flying Training School (RAF)
Base
Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada
Rank
Leading Aircraftman
Position
Pilot
Service Numbers
18022
CWGC LF Harvard An RCAF Press Release raised in India, 5 June 1943, reads as follows: “Twenty-five members of the Indian Air Force have sailed for Canada as cadet officers to be trained under the Commonwealth Air Training Plan, it was learned today. They are included in a batch of 60, the rest going to the United Kingdom, the first Indians to be trained under the Empire plan. “The group is composed of Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Parsees and Anglo-Indians. The average age is 19. Following their training in Canada they will be sent to operational schools in Britain to learn battle tactics. “Included among the cadet group were: Ian McGuire, 19, who was evacuated from Burma when the Japs walked in; A.S. Latiff, who in civilian life was a railway traffic officer, N.H. Jaffry, who after taking his bachelor of science degree was a medical student, and S. Balakumaren, who is a bachelor of engineering. “None of the group has ever been outside the limits of India and Burma before, and all looked forward to going exactly to the other side of the world.” I was only dimly aware of an RIAF presence in Canada, principally because the (for Commonwealth air force personnel killed in or near Canada and with no known graves) included one Bandi Sriramuli Venugopal, killed 2 January 1944 in Harvard AH190 of No. 41 Service Flying Training School.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Canada Primary Source Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Leading Aircraftman Bandi Sriramulu Venugopal has no known grave.

North American Harvard NA-26 NA-44

North American Harvard Mk. IV
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

The North American Harvard appeared in 1937, in response to a US Air Corps proposal for an advanced trainer. The first of 50 Harvard Mk. Is ordered by the Canadian Government were delivered to RCAF Sea Island, BC in July 1939. By early 1940, the Mk. II was being assembled in California with an all metal fuselage replacing the original tube and fabric structure. 1200 Mk. IIs were supplied from US sources, until Canadian built Harvards started being produced in 1941.

In August 1938, Noorduyn Aviation of Montreal farsightedly signed an agreement with North American, to build the Harvard under licence. When the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) came into being in December 1939, Noorduyn received its first orders and went on to produce nearly 2800 Harvard Mk. IIBs for the RCAF and the RAF, between 1940 and 1945. In Canada, Harvard Mk. IIBs were used as advanced trainers with the BCATP at fifteen Service Flying Training Schools across the nation. They helped pilots make to the transition from low powered primary trainers, like Fleet Finch or the de Havilland Tiger Moth, to high performance front line fighters such as the Spitfire.

At the end of WW II, although the RCAF retained the Harvard as a trainer, a large number of them were sold off to civilian operators. The RCAF soon regretted this, for by 1949 the Cold War with the Soviet Union was in full swing and the RCAF urgently needed trainers again. 100 T-6J Texans were leased temporarily from the USAF and a further 270 Harvards, the Mk. IV version, were ordered from Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay. The RCAF used the Harvard Mk. IV for a further fifteen years, before finally retiring it in 1966.

A total of 20,110 Harvards were built between 1938 and 1954, 3,370 of them in Canada. Countless numbers of privately owned Harvards are still flying today.

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Harvard Mk. IV was built by Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay, Ontario in late 1951. The aircraft saw service at four RCAF flying schools across the nation until it was sold to a civilian owner in 1965. It was the third aircraft to join the Museum after Dennis Bradley, Alan Ness and John Weir donated it in 1973. Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

YouTube Harvard Advanced Trainer

Wkikpedia Wikipedia Harvard Advanced Trainer

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

CASPIR Aircraft Groups:
RCAF On Strength (2196), RCAF 400 Squadron (1), Canadian Aircraft Losses (374), RCN On Strength (3)
last update: 2021-10-19 20:12:13

Harvard Mk. II AH190

Received from RAF in North America. Category C crash at Summerside, PEI on 10 June 1942. Used by No. 1 Operational Training Unit at RCAF Station Bagotville, Quebec.
1940-10-17 Taken on Strength 2019-08-20
1941-December-19 Accident: 9 Service Flying Training School Loc: Aerodrome Names: Baker | Parter | Plummer | Reid
1942-June-10 Accident: 9 Service Flying Training School Loc: Aerodrome Names: Johnson | Whitehead
1943-January-29 Accident: 41 Service Flying Training School Loc: Weyburn Names: Beardsall | Demades
1943-April-02 Accident: 41 Service Flying Training School Loc: Aerodrome Names: Vasey
1943-May-02 Accident: 41 Service Flying Training School Loc: Aerodrome Names: Scall
1944-January-02 Accident: 41 Service Flying Training School Loc: Hume Names: Venugopal
1944-01-28 Struck off Strength Struck off, broke up for spares 2019-08-20

41 SFTS- Service Flying Training School (RAF) (41 Service Flying Training School)

Graduates of the EFTS "learn-to-fly" program went on a Service Flying Training School (SFTS) for 16 weeks. For the first 8 weeks the trainee was part of an intermediate training squadron; for the next 6 weeks an advanced training squadron and for the final 2 weeks training was conducted at a Bombing & Gunnery School. The Service schools were military establishments run by the RCAF or the RAF.

There were two different types of Service Flying Training Schools. Trainees in the fighter pilot stream went to an SFTS like No. 14 Aylmer, where they trained in the North American Harvard or North American Yale. Trainees in the bomber, coastal or transport pilot stream went to an SFTS like No. 5 Brantford where they learned multi-engine technique in an Airspeed Oxford, Avro Anson or Cessna Crane.

Goldilocks Formation Harvards

For More Information on RCAF Station Weyburn see here

  • RCAF Roundel RCAF.Info - RCAF Station Weyburn SK

  • RCAF Roundel RCAF.Info - Relief Landing Field Halbrite SK

  • RCAF Roundel RCAF.Info - Relief Landing Field Ralph SK

  • Museum Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial - Base History

  • Museum Vintage Wings - Ghosts of Saskatchewan

  • Museum International Bomber Command Center - 41 SFTS Publication

  • 1942-01-05 Primary Location Weyburn SK Canada Current site of Weyburn Airport CJE3
    1942-01-05 Relief Field Halbrite SK Canada Abandoned returned to agriculture.
    1942-01-06 Relief Field Ralph SK Canada Abandoned returned to agriculture.

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