These profiles and stories were donated to the RAAF Museum by the Gold Coast Branch of the Air Crew Association.

Service Profile: Pat Tupper

ACA member Pat Tupper joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1942 and trained as aircrew under that remarkable training organisation, the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS).

Following initial training, Pat was posted to Canada to undergo flying training at No. 5 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) followed by training to 'Wings' standard, still in Canada, at No. 11 Service Flying Training School (SFTS), before being posted back to the UK for training as a bomber pilot.

At that point he departed from the normal Bomber Command training program, being selected for secondment to the British Army's Glider Pilot Regiment to be trained as a glider pilot for World War 2 action in the airborne crossing of the Rhine.

The Army spent 12 months training Army Glider Pilots, progressing from Hotspurs to Hadrians, Horsas and Hamilcars. Pat and his RAF confreres were given just six weeks to achieve the same skills on those gliders before being thrust into the Rhine Airborne Crossing operation. They were told 'what to do' once they were on the ground but not 'how to do it'. Pat learned 'how to do it' rapidly by trial and error and survived the operation to return to the UK and continue his Bomber Command training.

He went to No. 21 Operational Training Unit (OTU) Morton in the Marsh, then to No. 1660 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) Swinderby before being posted to RAF No. 7 Squadron.

Post-war, Pat completed a Specialist Navigation (Spec N) Course and became a Pilot/Navigator Instructor at the Empire Flying School and the Empire Navigation School. After their amalgamation with other aircrew training establishments, he was instructing at the Royal Flying College, Manby in Lincolnshire.

During his eight years of service, apart from the four types of gliders mentioned above, Pat flew Tiger Moths, Cornells, Cranes, Avro Ansons, Dakotas, Wellingtons, Lancasters, Lancastrians, Proctors, Harvards, Airspeed Oxfords, Meteors, Vampires, Spitfires, Hastings and Valettas.

Pat retired from the RAF in 1950 with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.