No. 4 SFTS received students who had graduated from No. 9 Elementary Flying Training School at Cunderdin, Western Australia. Approximately sixty new entrants, of whom around fifty were expected to graduate, arrived at No. 4 SFTS every twenty-eight days. Discipline was strict, the aim being to cut down on the accidents that were typical of service flying training establishments. In the event, the school did not suffer a fatal flying accident for over a year-and-a-half after it commenced operations. In November 1941, eight of its Ansons took part in the search for survivors from HMAS "Sydney". By this time, No. 4 SFTS was operating just over a hundred aircraft, including two Fairey Battles and two de Havilland Fox Moths, the remainder being Ansons. Personnel totalled 1,475, including 197 students. Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in December, the school's aircraft were classified as Second Line (Reserve) aircraft in the defence of Australia. Nos. 68 and 69 Reserve Squadrons were formed at Geraldton, but they were only used for maritime search-and-rescue, and saw no action before their disbandment in February 1943. On 30 September 1942, a No. 4 SFTS Anson operated by No. 68 Squadron crash-landed in a marsh north of Carnarvon; one crewman was killed and two injured. From October 1942 to March 1944, the school was commanded by World War I veteran and pioneer civil aviator Norman Brearley.