Training for Telegraphist Air Gunners (TAGs) in the Fleet Air Arm Royal Navy (WWII) Telegraphist Air Gunners (TAGs) of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm followed a well defined and highly structured training pathway during the Second World War. This process transformed civilian recruits into fully qualified aircrew capable of performing wireless communication, airborne telegraphy, and defensive gunnery duties in naval aircraft. Although the exact sequence varied slightly depending on wartime pressures and training capacity, the core stages remained consistent throughout the conflict. The process began with enlistment and initial processing at a local recruiting centre, where new entrants underwent medical examinations, administrative checks, and uniform issue. From there, they were drafted to a Royal Navy new-entry training establishment to begin their transformation into naval ratings. The primary location for this phase was HMS Royal Arthur in Skegness, which served as a major reception and basic training depot. Recruits spent approximately five to six weeks learning naval discipline, parade drill, physical training, kit maintenance, firefighting basics, and the customs and routines of naval life. This stage ensured that all future aircrew possessed the foundational discipline and naval identity required for service. Upon completion of basic training, prospective aircrew were transferred to HMS St Vincent in Gosport, the Fleet Air Arm’s principal preliminary training establishment for new ratings. Here, trainees underwent aptitude testing to determine their suitability for aircrew roles, including assessments in mathematics, Morse code potential, coordination, and general academic ability. Classroom instruction introduced them to aircraft recognition, elementary wireless principles, and the expectations of naval aviation. This stage served as the gateway into specialist aircrew categories, including the Telegraphist Air Gunner branch. After classification at St Vincent, TAG trainees proceeded into one of two main specialist training routes. The first and most traditional route kept trainees within the United Kingdom. These individuals were drafted to HMS Daedalus at Lee on Solent, the Fleet Air Arm’s central shore air station and a major hub for wireless and telegraphy instruction. At Daedalus, trainees received intensive training in Morse code, airborne wireless operation, radio equipment handling, fault finding, and naval air communication procedures. They also received early flying experience and introductory air gunnery instruction, preparing them for the more advanced stages to follow. The second route, increasingly common from 1942 onward, sent TAG trainees overseas to RCAF Station Yarmouth (East Camp) in Nova Scotia, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. This location offered a combined curriculum that integrated wireless training, air gunnery, and flying instruction in a single, streamlined programme. Trainees at Yarmouth progressed through classroom work, ground school, live gunnery, and operational flying in aircraft such as the Fairey Swordfish, Albacore, and Barracuda. This overseas route relieved pressure on crowded UK facilities and produced fully trained TAGs ready for operational deployment. For those who remained in the UK, the next stage after Daedalus was attendance at an Air Gunnery School, such as HMS Kestrel or various RAF gunnery stations. Here, trainees learned to operate the Vickers K and Lewis guns, practised turret and free gun mount drills, conducted camera gun exercises, and completed live fire training. This phase ensured that TAGs were competent defensive gunners capable of protecting their aircraft during operations. Both the UK and Canadian routes converged at the Operational Training Unit (OTU) stage. OTUs provided advanced flying experience, anti submarine warfare training, navigation support, night flying, formation work, and realistic operational exercises. This was the final step before aircrew qualification. Upon successful completion, trainees obtained the status as fully trained Telegraphist Air Gunners. The final stage was posting to an operational squadron. TAGs served aboard escort carriers, with Coastal Command units, or in strike wings operating torpedo bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Their duties included wireless communication, navigation assistance, spotting, anti submarine patrols, and defensive gunnery. By this point, the long and demanding training had prepared them for the complex and hazardous realities of naval aviation. East Camp RCAF Station Yarmouth Nova Scotia, 1942-1945 Telegraphist Air Gunner Training and Wartime Operations The training of Telegraphist Air Gunners at East Camp, RCAF Station Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, began in January 1943 with Course 45A. The TAG School in Canada was ‘fathered’ by the training establishment at Royal Naval Air Station, Worthy Down, Hampshire, England, where TAGs had been trained since 1939. Commander Mudie and many of the instructors moved to Yarmouth from Worthy Down. Other TAG courses continued at Worthy Down until early 1944 after which East Camp in Yarmouth became the main course. New courses began at one month intervals, and with courses lasting about nine months, some seven or eight would run concurrently. Courses 45 to 71 began at Yarmouth but early in 1945 when it began clear that the end of the war was in sight, courses were discontinued and Course 64 was the last to graduate. The disappointed trainees in subsequent groups were returned to general service. Some 570 TAGs graduated from East Camp, Yarmouth. Of these 53 appear in the TAG ‘In Memoriam’ List. It was late 1943 before the first Canadian trained TAGs appeared in operational squadrons. After passing through a Naval Operational Training Unit, the majority of TAGs were destined for Grumman Avenger aircraft, and the Pacific war theatre. Others went to Fairey Barracuda aircraft, the Navy’s other torpedo bomber. Several went to Fleet Requirement Units carrying out numerous roles including target towing for ship and anti-aircraft gunnery trials, radar test flights and air-sea rescue duties. Large pools of reserve aircrew were built up at Trincomalee in Ceylon and in Australia, awaiting the final assault on Japan. Many Canadians trained TAGs were in Barracuda squadrons engaged in various attacks upon the Tirpitz and other targets in Norway. Yet others joined 836 Squadron and flew in the venerated Swordfish. This squadron, large in numbers of aircraft but never acting in one unit, provided the planes which operated from MAC ships in the North Atlantic and Russian convoy operations. Finally, there were many Yarmouth trained TAGs in various Avenger squadrons which attacked Sumatra and the Japanese Islands over a prolonged period. The Instructors in Yarmouth included at least three survivors from the sinking of the carrier HMS Courageous; others were pre-war TAGs who were brought back from the Reserve to pass on their skills and knowledge. Course 68 and later courses had a large Canadian intake in preparation for the Royal Canadian Navy to man aircraft in HMCS Warrior. East Camp Yarmouth trained naval airmen with world wide connections and experience, a contribution to the war effort which should not be forgotten.