The Royal Air Force in American Skies: The Seven British Flight Schools in the United States during World War II by Tom Killebrew (review)

Tom Killebrew’s The Royal Air Force in American Skies is a much needed overview of the pilot training program of the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the United States during the Second World War. The book is an expansion of Killebrew’s first analysis of the subject, The Royal Air Force in Texas: Training British Pilots in Terrell during World War II (University of North Texas Press, 2003). Killebrew argues that the British flight training schools were a successful joint venture created by the two countries to provide for the training of RAF pilots that were unable to train in the United Kingdom.

Killebrew details the obstacles faced by RAF officials in developing and maintaining flight-training programs across the United States. In particular, the author notes that the distance between the bases in the United States and the RAF offices in the United Kingdom created problems in coordinating with civilian air fields for training, procuring the proper aircraft for the new schools, and outfitting the schools with the necessary personnel. He concludes that despite these initial problems, the American and British personnel were able to establish successful flight-training schools across the United States.

The strength of this book is its overview of the training process for RAF airmen from the long voyage over to the United States to their graduation and return home. Killebrew effectively uses questionnaires to demonstrate the difficulties young trainees faced when adapting to flight training and American culture. Despite these difficulties, he shows that most RAF pilots trained in the United States were able to move on to operational training and perform a variety of duties ranging from rescue missions to providing close air support for ground troops during the war.

While Killebrew’s book provides a good overview of the topic, his book suffers from several noticeable flaws. The author relies excessively upon student questionnaires administered by Gilbert S. Guinn, who wrote a similar book detailing RAF training in the American South, The Arnold Scheme: British Pilots, the American South and the Allies’ Daring Plan (History Press, 2007). Killebrew’s coverage of the journey to the United States from the United Kingdom is the most serious overuse of the questionnaires. While the questionnaires are heavily used in later chapters as well, they are balanced there by other primary sources collected by the author. Finally, this book could have been greatly improved by visiting additional archives in the United States. Killebrew relies primarily on newsletters, secondary sources, and memoirs to cover the American side.

Killebrew provides a good overview of RAF training in the United States. The author shows that despite the difficulties and complexities of the training program, the pilots were able to receive adequate primary flight instruction in the United States before returning to the United Kingdom. Overall, the book is a worthwhile and well-written volume on a topic that needs more coverage.