No . 5 Service Flying Training School RAAF No . 5 Service Flying Training School ( No . 5 SFTS ) was a Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) flight training unit that operated during World War II . It was one of eight Service Flying Training Schools established by the RAAF to provide intermediate and advanced flying instruction to new pilots as part of Australia ' s contribution to the Empire Air Training Scheme . No . 5 SFTS was formed at RAAF Station Uranquinty , New South Wales , in October 1941 , and disbanded in February 1946 . Its staff and equipment were employed to re - establish No . 1 Flying Training School , which transferred to RAAF Station Point Cook , Victoria , the following year . Care and Maintenance Unit Uranquinty was also formed from No . 5 SFTS ' s facilities , to look after surplus aircraft at the base prior to their disposal , and disbanded in December 1948 . 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 the 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 techniques . 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 fluctuated . 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 . 5 Service Flying Training School ( No . 5 SFTS ) was formed at RAAF Station Uranquinty , New South Wales , in October 1941 , and came under the control of No . 2 Training Group . Along with No . 2 Service Flying Training School at nearby RAAF Station Forest Hill , and the later No . 1 Basic Flying Training School at Uranquinty , No . 5 SFTS was one of the so - called " Wagga Flying Training Schools " , which together graduated over 3 , 000 pilots in the 1940s and ' 50s . The unit ' s inaugural commanding officer was Group Captain Ulex Ewart , a graduate of the Royal Military College , Duntroon , who had been seconded to the Air Force and learnt to fly on the first cadet course at No . 1 Flying Training School in 1923 . At the time of its formation , No . 5 SFTS had a strength of 792 personnel , who were responsible for training about 200 pilots . One of its original instructors was Flying Officer Bill Newton , who was later awarded the Victoria Cross for bombing raids in New Guinea . Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941 , the school ' s CAC Wirraway single - engined trainers were classified as Second Line ( Reserve ) aircraft in the defence of Australia . No . 5 SFTS began flight training in February 1942 using 28 Wirraways . The unit grew over the next two years , and by early 1944 was operating 128 Wirraways , two de Havilland DH . 84 Dragons , two de Havilland Moth Minor s and a CAC Wackett . It typically graduated one course of pilots each month , although the wastage rate sometimes exceeded 40 per cent . Among its graduates was Len Waters , the first Aboriginal Australian military aviator , and the only one to serve as a fighter pilot in the RAAF during World War II . As a training facility , No . 5 SFTS regularly suffered flying accidents . Forty - two of its students died during the war , an average of around one per month . A near miss involving more experienced pilots occurred at the school in December 1943 , when aces Clive Caldwell and John Waddy , then instructors at No . 2 Operational Training Unit in Mildura , almost collided when they crossed paths during an aerobatics display over the base . No . 5 SFTS reached a strength of some 2 , 000 personnel during the war , and graduated 1 , 515 pilots . The rate of flying conducted at the school declined during 1945 and , by November , its aircraft were being readied for storage . In February 1946 , No . 5 SFTS was disbanded and its staff and equipment used to re - establish No . 1 Flying Training School ( No . 1 FTS ) , which had operated during the war as No . 1 Service Flying Training School prior to disbanding in 1944 . No . 1 FTS was allocated 55 Wirraways , two de Havilland Tiger Moth s , and one Avro Anson , though in the event it undertook little flying before relocating to Point Cook in August 1947 . Post - war demobilisation saw the establishment of several RAAF Care and Maintenance Units ( CMU ) , which were responsible for the upkeep of surplus equipment prior to disposal . No . 5 SFTS spawned Care and Maintenance Unit Uranquinty to look after aircraft stored at the base . These were auctioned off in November 1948 , and CMU Uranquinty was dissolved the next month . Legacy . Following the departure of No . 1 FTS in 1947 , no flying was conducted at Uranquinty until 1951 , when the newly formed No . 1 Basic Flying Training School ( No . 1 BFTS ) inherited the base facilities . No . 1 BFTS transferred to Point Cook in 1958 , at which point Uranquinty was closed . The RAAF units that operated at the base formed a close connection with the local community . In 1999 , a memorial to No . 5 SFTS was erected at Wirraway Park , Uranquinty . An additional panel to the memorial was unveiled in September 2002 by the Governor - General of Australia , Peter Hollingworth ; the proceedings included an aerial display by a Pilatus PC - 9 of the Roulettes aerobatic team , and the arrival of a Wirraway from Temora Aviation Museum , the first time in 45 years that one of these trainers had landed at Uranquinty .