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99were furnished by the government, the schools training US Army cadets were run by civilian contractors. The types flown were much the same as at the British schools, except that the Arnold Scheme included live gunnery on AT86s for pilots earmarked for single8seaters while those selected to fly heavier aircraft did the advanced phase on the Cessna AT817 Bobcat or the Curtiss AT89, which was something of a %u2018hot ship%u2019. The BFTSs did not offer multi8engine training, incidentally, which was something of a drawback as the RAF needed a lot of those. By the time that the last course graduated in March 1943, the Arnold Scheme had provided the RAF with 4,370 pilots. Interestingly, at about 45%, the wash8out rate under the Arnold Scheme was twice that at the BFTSs. There are two probable reasons for that. First, Arnold trainees attended different schools for each of the three phases of the course, whereas BFTS students did an all8through course, providing much better continuity. Secondly, some British cadets were alienated by some American military customs, including the West Point8style of discipline and the %u2018honour code%u2019 imposed at the Arnold Schools, whereas the BFTSs ran on more relaxed lines. *%u0017%u0006 %u0013.%u0017%)%u0006 %u000c&*%u0017%u0014%u0017? In parallel with the Army, on 18 June 1941, Admiral John Towers, the Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, had offered the British the use of US Navy facilities to train pilots %u2013 and observers and wireless operators %u2013 to operate flying boats or from carrier decks. This, fifth, American initiative was implemented even faster than the Army scheme and the first course arrived at Pensacola just five weeks later. The Navy used much the same aeroplanes as the Army for basic pilot training, but it became more complicated later for pilots destined for seaplanes. They were likely to start on N3N or Vought Kingfisher floatplanes, Kingfishers also being used to train wireless operators, before joining the observers on rather aged Consolidated P2Y flying boats or early model Catalinas. The original idea had been to produce fully trained crews but Pearl Harbor changed American priorities and this became impractical. As a result, the last RAF observers and wireless operators graduated in July and September 1942 respectively, although pilots for both the RAF and the FAA continued to be trained for another two years. The total output amounted to 1,784 pilots; 538 observers and 662 WOps

