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105KY, 1997) for an account of the history of the navigator in the USAAF/USAF, 22 TNA AIR2/8065. The first formal offer to train RAF observers was notified to London by signal X.1593 transmitted from Washington by the British Air Attach%u00e9 on 17 October 1940. 23 TNA AIR41/70. Flying Training During World War II: Vol 2, Pt 2; Basic Training Overseas, p631. 24 TNA AIR2/4459. This file contains a number of reports on the competence of early graduates of the PAA School, a particularly informative example being that raised by No 23 OTU on 6 January 1942 and appended to HQ Bomber Command letter BC/S.24606/Trg dated 19 January. 25 This figure, is taken from the official British accounting, as published in AP3233, Vol 1. In a painstaking, and much later, analysis of the Arnold Scheme [Gilbert S Guinn, The Arnold Scheme (Charleston SC, 2007)], the author calculates, with evident confidence, that the actual output from the PAA school was only 1,170 trained observers, compared to the official 1,177. 26 This offer actually pre8dated the Lend8Lease Act of 11 March 1941 and it is an indication of the esteem in which Hap Arnold was held that the proprietors of the commercial schools that were to participate in the scheme undertook to do so on the basis of his personal assurance that the funding, which was not yet in place, would be forthcoming. 27 Training actually began at Nos 1 and 2 BFTSs on 9 June but, because the dedicated facilities were not quite ready, the first courses started at adjacent schools being run by the same civilian contractors to train US Army cadets; similar arrangements were made for the first courses at Nos 3 and 4 BFTSs on 16 June and No 5 BFTS on 17 July. 28 Using the resources of the three remaining Refresher Schools (at Lancaster, Tulsa and Bakersfield), an additional school, No 7 BFTS, opened at Sweetwater TX on 18 June 1942 but it closed in August, having completed only the primary phase of one course. 29 Between 1947 and 1954 the post8war RATG had trained 1,175 pilots and 280 navigators.