Stearman Trainer
drawn by F Norman Bate MBE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the entrants to the Arnold
Pilot Training Scheme and/or their families for the information they have
provided and for their kind permission to reproduce photographs and
anecdotes on this web site.
We would particularly like to mention Arthur
Asbury, Arthur Culff, and Edgar Spridgeon, whose dedicated assistance in
researching the archives made an invaluable contribution to the
compilation of class rolls; Dr Gilbert Guinn for sharing his knowledge
and becoming a valued friend; Air Vice Marshall Harry Hogan former : and
Lt Colonel Gordon Wheeler U.S.A.F. (Ret'd) for ......
Sources
1 Dr Gilbert S Guinn
2 F Norman Bate MBE
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The Arnold Scheme (1941-43) Register™ was conceived
by Norman Bate to record all who entered, or were related to, the Arnold
Pilot Training Scheme, and to collect, catalogue and preserve for future
generations donated material of official, personal and historical
importance.
To this end, all information held by the "Arnold
Scheme (1941-43) Register"™ is in process of being documented and compiled
into appropriate records, and will, in due course, be lodged with
appropriate Service Archives including:
- The RAF Museum Hendon
- The USAF Museum
and the "Darr Aerotech" Museum at the Municipal
Airport: Albany, Georgia USA.
Appropriate extracts of the available information
will also be published on this web site.
PROFILES
Dr Gilbert S Guinn
Dr Gilbert Guinn earned his Ph.D. in history at
the University of South Carolina in Columbus, and is a retired
professor emeritus in history at Lander University, Greenwood, S.C.
Between 1981 and 1982 he was a Fulbright lecturer at Derby, England, and
during this time made contact with a number of RAF veterans who had
trained in the United States during WWII to gain research material for a
book on British Aircrew Training in the USA 1941-1945. The fruits of his
labour have appeared in numerous articles he has written and in several
authoritative books which are in process of being published.
F Norman Bate MBE (1921-2003) Class 42F
Responding to an advert seen in the national press
Norman Bate contacted Gilbert Guinn during 1986 and was inspired to
discover what had happened to his wartime class mates and to attempt to
re-establish contact with the survivors. The exercise snowballed and he
became the founder and registrar of the "Arnold Scheme (1941-43)
Register"™. To many of the veterans and their families he was the
"Arnold Register", which became something of a full-time hobby during
his retirement years. Awarded the MBE in 1993 for his services to the
veterans and in promoting grass roots Anglo-American relations, Norman
continued his 'labour of love', supported by his family, until his death
in 2003. The mantle has now been taken up by his daughter, who is
determined to see her father's work completed.
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