149541 PILOT OFFICER JOSEPH (JOE) ALOYSIUS SPENCER

• Born on 21st June 1921 the son of Mary E Spencer and stepson of Malcolmn Spencer.
• Brought up as a Roman Catholic and educated at Ratcliffe College in Oxford, a Roman Catholic Boarding School.​
• His natural father (Archer) was killed in an accident on board a ship (a merchant vessel?) on the way to Canada (date unknown)
• Joe took his step fathers surname (Spencer) shortly after his mother married Malcolm in November 1928, hence the references on Joe’s records as:
• Son of Mary Emily Spencer (nee Rance) and stepson of Malcolm Spencer of Letchworth, Hertfordshire.
• Aged 13, Joe attended Devon House (Private) School for Boys in Margate. He remained there from
  1934 – 35.
•  
• Between the ages of 15 and 17 (from 1936 to 1938) Joe was educated at Ratcliffe College in Leicestershire, a Roman Catholic Boarding School.
• Aged 17, Joe joined The Mount, a former Victorian monastery in Wadhurst, East Sussex. He was at the Seminary between 1938 and 1939 for training in the Priesthood, but didn’t stay.
• In 1940, aged 19, Joe’s civilian occupation is noted on his Service Record as an Agricultural Student.
• at Cocker & Sons, in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.

Enlistment and initial RAF Training

•  Enlisting at RAF Uxbridge (No: 1 Recruits Centre) as an AC2 on 7th January 1941, aged 19½ years, Joe joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve (R.A.F.V.R.) and was recommended for pilot / observer training.
• From 8th January to 21st June 1941 Joe was at the No: 1 ITW (Initial Training Wing), in Babbacombe near Torquay, undergoing recruit initial training.
• Posted on 21st June 1941 to No: 7 ITW, Joe was based in Newquay, Cornwall for pilot and observer ground instruction and physical training.
• With effect from 30th August 1941 Joe was promoted to Leading Aircraftsman (LAC) as pilot in training.
• Joe’s Service Record shows he was at 50 SN Pool from 6th September 1941 from where he would have embarked for the journey by sea to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The voyage was probably aboard a former ocean-going liner which usually sailed without escort vessels because they were faster than German U- boats.
• On landing in Canada Joe would then have moved onward from Halifax, probably by train, to theRAF Person nel Depot in Moncton, New Brunswick.

RAF Pilot Training in Canada and USA

• On 10th January 1942 Joe arrived at No: 31 RAF PD (Personnel Depot) in Moncton (Arnold U 821) for processing (immigration checks and medical inspections) before entering into the USA for flying training. At this time he was issued UK insignia for his uniform and received his flying clothing.
• After 5 days in transit on a train and travelling in civilian clothes, Joe arrived on 19th January 1942 at 31 PD Turner Field in Albany, Georgia to join the RAF Replacement Training Centre (RTC) / Preflight School, for approximately 5 weeks. Published records show that 159 hours were spent on reception, processing, academic preparation and administrative indoctrination.

• On 22nd February 1942, Joe moved to 31 PD Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA for primary flight training at the Alabama Institute of Aeronautics, Inc. Primary flying courses took place over 10 weeks and training flights (60 hours) were conducted using Boeing PT-17 biplanes.

Joe as an LAC at Turner Field barracks USA

Joe as an LAC undergoing pilot training in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA

• On 30th April 1942 Joe moved to Gunter Field in Montgomery, Alabama for basic flight training.

From published records, the timing suggests he was in Class 42-H (mixed RAF and American) and he most likely trained on the Vultee BT-13 trainer. The 10-week program included 70 hours of flying
instruction and 98 hours of ground school. 209 RAF trainee pilots started the course and 185
graduated (86.9% passed). 3 RAF trainees were killed during this course.

In KD uniform USA 1942.

• Selected for advanced twin-engine school, on 14th July 1942 Joe was posted back to Turner Field in
  Albany, Georgia to begin his 10 weeks advanced multi-engine flight training. Multi-engine training
  took place using twin-engine Beechcraft AT-7, AT-10 and AT-17 trainers.