Australians in the Battle of Britain. 19 August 1940

Ken Holland received orders to go to Warmwell on 17 August. He arrived there late at night and, on reporting to the orderly office, found that there was ‘nothing doing’. He met a friend in Weymouth and stayed there overnight. It seems as if the ‘nothing doing’ extended to the 18th as, after breakfast at his hotel, he was off for a swim, then lunch and tea out. ‘Back late and slept at the Albany’. He returned to Warmwell on 19 August where he was introduced to Squadron Leader Devitt, the Commanding Officer of 152 Squadron. He was initially allocated to A Flight but later that day changed to B Flight. It was a grand day for the 20 year old Australian. 

At Brize Norton, Peter Moore was within days of completing his flying training and receiving his wings. 2 FTS was equipped with Harvards but Oxfords were added to its aircraft establishment soon after war broke out and, by this stage, had become the sole trainers. As well as advanced flying techniques such as spinning, glide landings, turns, take-offs and landings, forced landings, loops and slow rolls, low flying, night flying, formation flying and combat practice, Peter learned signalling, reconnaissance and maintenance. He was also assessed on the qualities of a non-commissioned officer. He had notched up approximately 100 flying hours on type, with about 50 hours solo. It wouldn’t be long before he, like Ken Holland, would be posted to an operational squadron.