Flight Lieutenant Brian Beattie
| Flight Lieutenant Brian Beattie
Born in 1921, Beattie joined the Royal Air Force on July 8th 1940. From the moment of signing up in the Recruitment Centre, Beattie was in no doubt that he wanted to join the RAF to be a pilot. Fortunately, amidst thousands of volunteers, things seemed to be panning out his way. 'I was next sent to No.1 Initial Training Wing for seven weeks,' Beattie recalls, 'and from there we were posted off to Elementary Flying Training (EFT), scattered all over the shop. Four of us for some reason were sent to Rhodesia.' Elementary Flying Training would be the student pilot's first introduction to the complexities of aviation and, for most, would be the first time of even setting foot inside an aircraft. 'After EFT we then moved on to RAF Kumalo, Bulawayo, to fly Oxfords,' Beattie goes on, 'we were now carrying out ITS and ATS which were our Intermediate and Advanced Training Squadrons. ITS was a conversion onto a more complex aircraft type whereas ATS now taught us navigation, bombing and air photography.' bHaving served at 489 Coastal Command flying torpedo carrying Hampdens, he later joined Des Curtis at 248 Sqn where he also flew the Tse-Tse firing Mosquito. |
Pilot Signatures 
Beattie, Brian
