No . 8 Service Flying Training School RAAF No . 8 Service Flying Training School ( No . 8 SFTS ) was a flying training school of the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) during World War II . It was formed in December 1941 , and graduated its first course in March 1942 . Responsible for intermediate and advanced instruction of pilots under the Empire Air Training Scheme ( EATS ) , the school was based at RAAF Station Bundaberg , Queensland , and operated Avro Anson aircraft . It spawned two maritime patrol squadrons in early 1943 , raised in response to increased Japanese submarine activity off Australia ' s east coast . Some of the school ' s aircraft were also attached to the Australian Army in 1944 – 45 . No . 8 SFTS completed its final training course in December 1944 , and was disbanded in July 1945 . History . RAAF aircrew training expanded dramatically following the outbreak of World War II , in response to Australia ' s participation in the Empire Air Training Scheme ( EATS ) . The Air Force ' s pre - war flight 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 ) , eight Service Flying Training Schools ( SFTS ) , and Central Flying School ( CFS ) . While CFS turned out new flight instructors , the EFTS provided basic training to prospective pilots who , if successful , would go on to an SFTS for further instruction that focussed on operational ( or " service " ) flying . The course at SFTS typically consisted of two streams , intermediate and advanced , and included such techniques as instrument flying , night flying , advanced aerobatics , formation flying , dive bombing , and aerial gunnery . The total duration of training varied during the war as demand for aircrew rose and fell . Initially running for 16 weeks , the course was cut to 10 weeks ( which included 75 hours flying time ) in October 1940 . A year later it was raised to 12 weeks ( including 100 hours flying time ) , and again to 16 weeks two months later . It continued to increase after this , peaking at 28 weeks in June 1944 . No . 8 Service Flying Training School ( No . 8 SFTS ) was formed at RAAF Station Bundaberg , Queensland , on 14 December 1941 , under the control of No . 2 Training Group . Its inaugural commanding officer was Wing Commander I . C . C . Thomson . The new school was reported to have cost £ 300 , 000 to establish , and joined No . 12 Elementary Flying Training School ( No . 12 EFTS ) , which was already based — temporarily — at Bundaberg . No . 8 SFTS received its first aircraft in January 1942 : 27 Avro Anson s released by other units . The same month , No . 12 EFTS transferred to its permanent home at RAAF Station Lowood . The standard intake of pilots at No . 8 SFTS each month was 50 , and the initial course of students graduated in March 1942 . By July that year , the total number of aircraft operated by the school had increased to 87 . Flying accidents were commonplace at training establishments and No . 8 SFTS was no exception ; taxiing collisions , crash landings in the surrounding cane fields , and runway overshoots were regular occurrences . At least two aircraft were damaged each month in the early part of 1942 . The school ' s first fatality , however , was from drowning , when staff were called out to assist victims of local flooding in February , and an aircraftman died during an attempted rescue . On 1 June 1942 , an Anson crashed into the sea off Bargara , near Bundaberg ; the pilot and two crew were reported as missing , believed killed . Three more aircrew were lost when an Anson apparently went down in the sea on 5 October . On 25 February 1943 , an Anson crashed during a night - flying exercise , killing both pilots . The school suffered a ground fatality on 25 April 1944 , when a mechanic walked into the spinning propeller of an Anson he was servicing . Two more pilots were killed when an Anson dived into the ground on 8 December , following an apparent structural failure . The outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941 had led to aircraft at many SFTSs being classified as Second Line ( Reserve ) aircraft in the defence of Australia . Following directions issued in May 1942 , No . 71 Reserve Squadron was raised at Bundaberg , using resources allocated from No . 8 SFTS . One of the Ansons assigned to the squadron crashed on 5 June 1942 after running out of fuel in bad weather at night , killing the pilot and two crew members . In response to Japanese submarine activity off Australia ' s east coast , the Federal government formally established two RAAF maritime patrol units in the first half of 1943 with personnel and aircraft from No . 8 SFTS . No . 71 Squadron was formed as a separate entity to the flying school on 26 January at Lowood , maintaining detachments at RAAF Stations Bundaberg and Amberley in Queensland , as well as at Richmond and , later , Coffs Harbour in New South Wales . No . 66 Squadron was formed at Bundaberg on 20 May . The squadrons undertook anti - submarine , convoy escort , search - and - rescue , and army / naval cooperation duties . With the lessening of Japanese submarine activity towards the end of 1943 , the staff and aircraft of No . 66 Squadron were judged to be more urgently needed for training purposes ; the unit was disbanded on 6 January 1944 and its assets divided between No . 8 SFTS and No . 1 Operational Training Unit at RAAF Station East Sale , Victoria , as well as No . 71 Squadron . No . 71 Squadron was itself disbanded on 28 August 1944 at Coffs Harbour . One of the flying school ' s graduates in August 1944 was David Evans , who went on to become Chief of the Air Staff . His passing - out parade was delayed by a month because , as Evans later discovered , the British government had peremptorily decided in April that it no longer required graduates from Australia , leaving the RAAF with a surplus of some 7 , 000 aircrew . With training at No . 8 SFTS winding down , in October 1944 a civil operator , Aircraft Pty Ltd , began using Bundaberg for its flights between Brisbane and Rockhampton . The following month , six of the school ' s Ansons were detached to the Australian Army , carrying out exercises with I Corps at Mareeba until March 1945 . The last course to graduate at No . 8 SFTS did so on 13 December 1944 ; all pilots still under instruction were transferred to No . 6 Service Flying Training School at RAAF Station Mallala , South Australia , to finish their course . The school spent the next few months preparing the base to be handed over to elements of the Netherlands East Indies Air Force before disbanding on 25 July 1945 .