No. 11 Elementary Flying Training School RAAF

No. 11 Elementary Flying Training School RAAF
Student pilot preparing to board a Wackett Trainer at No. 11 Elementary Flying Training School in Benalla, Victoria, c. 1942
Active	1941–46
Country	Australia
Branch	Royal Australian Air Force
Role	Introductory flying training
Part of	Southern Area Command
Garrison/HQ	Benalla, Victoria
Engagements	World War II
Aircraft flown
Trainer	Tiger Moth Wackett Trainer

No. 11 Elementary Flying Training School (No. 11 EFTS) was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) pilot training unit that operated during World War II. It was one of twelve elementary flying training schools employed by the RAAF to provide introductory flight instruction to new pilots as part of Australia's contribution to the Empire Air Training Scheme. No. 11 EFTS was established in June 1941 at Benalla, Victoria, and operated Tiger Moths and Wackett Trainers during the war. It ceased training in July 1945 after almost 3,000 students had passed through, and was re-formed as Care and Maintenance Unit (CMU) Benalla in February 1946. CMU Benalla was disbanded in October 1948.

Flying instruction in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) underwent major changes following the outbreak of World War II, in response to a vast increase in the number of aircrew volunteers and the commencement of Australia's participation in the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). The Air Force's pre-war pilot training facility, No. 1 Flying Training School at RAAF Station Point Cook, Victoria, was supplanted in 1940–41 by twelve elementary flying training schools (EFTS) and eight service flying training schools (SFTS). The EFTS provided a twelve-week introductory flying course to personnel who had graduated from one of the RAAF's initial training schools. Flying training was undertaken in two stages: the first involved four weeks of instruction (including ten hours of flying) to determine trainees' suitability to become pilots. Those that passed this grading process then received a further eight weeks of training (including sixty-five hours of flying) at the EFTS. Pilots who successfully completed this course were posted to an SFTS in either Australia or Canada for the next stage of their instruction as military aviators.

No. 11 Elementary Flying Training School (No. 11 EFTS) was formed at Benalla, Victoria, on 26 June 1941, and came under the control of Southern Area Command. Its inaugural commanding officer was Squadron Leader I.C.C. Thomson. Before being taken over by the RAAF, Benalla was an emergency runway for civil aircraft on the journey between Sydney and Melbourne. No. 11 EFTS's infrastructure, which included medical facilities and two satellite airstrips, had been budgeted at some £85,000, primarily for buildings and engineering works. When the school opened, however, only stores depots and living quarters for the 100-odd staff were completed; instructional courses, which commenced on 24 July, were initially held in tents near the main airstrip. No hangars were constructed for the de Havilland Tiger Moth training aircraft until towards the end of the year.