No. 1 British Flying Training School

The field was a grass strip before it was a war school. Wikipedia says a local flying club first used it in fall 1940, and in June 1941 it was leased to Major William Long to house the first of seven British contract schools. Cadets flew Stearman PT-18 primary trainers, Vultee BT-13 basic trainers and AT-6 advanced trainers; after November 1943 the BT-13 was dropped. In 1943 the school grew from 200 to 300 students, and the Defense Plant Corporation built two 3,000-foot asphalt runways. Wikipedia dates the American cadets from November 1942 to June 1944.

What the plaque says

No. 1 British Flying Training School By 1939, the British government recognized that in the event of war with Germany, training facilities would need to be established overseas in commonwealth countries, or in the U.S. at civilian schools similar to those already utilized by the (then) U.S. Army Air Corps. In August 1941, prior to the U.S. entry into World War II, the No. 1 British Flying Training School (BFTS) of the Royal Air Force (RAF) was established with strong support from the citizenry of Terrell. Both the Terrell and Kaufman Chambers of Commerce assisted in locating a suitable location for the new training school. Following the naming of Major E. F. Long of Dallas as the operator of the school, a site was selected about one mile south of Terrell on the Bond and Patton Farms. Terrell Aviation School opened shortly thereafter. In addition to the main field at the No. 1 BFTS, to ease congestion the school had two auxiliary fields to the south of Terrell on the Boykin and Tarver Farms. Civilian instructors provided the cadets with 20 weeks of preparation that included both flight training and ground school classes that covered meteorology, airmanship, navigation, and 'link' trainers for instrument flying. During World War II the school trained approx. 2,200 cadets from the RAF and 138 U.S. Army Air Forces cadets. The motto of No. 1 BFTS was "the seas divide, but the skies unite". The people of Terrell welcomed cadets into their community and the cadets contributed their talents to the cultural life of the town. The war over, and their mission complete, on September 10, 1945, the final cadets left Terrell's Railroad Station with a contingent of local citizens waving them on. In 2002, the No. 1 BFTS Museum opened in Terrell to commemorate not only the wartime school, but the continuing cooperation between the British Commonwealth and the United States in war and peace. (2010)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum — steps away
  A free museum at Terrell's airport where about 2,200 RAF cadets learned to fly between 1941 and 1945, with logbooks, uniforms, letters and original training aircraft.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 18 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.

More markers nearby

• Major W.F. Long — 0.5 mi
• William Henry Burnett — 1.0 mi
• The American National Bank of Terrell — 1.4 mi
• Homesite of Gov. Oscar Branch Colquitt — 1.5 mi