escort, search-and-rescue, and army/naval cooperation duties. With the lessening of Japanese submarine activity towards the end of 1943, the staff and aircraft of No. 66 Squadron were judged to be more urgently needed for training purposes; the unit was disbanded on 6 January 1944 and its assets divided between No. 8 SFTS and No. 1 Operational Training Unit at RAAF Station East Sale, Victoria, as well as No. 71 Squadron. No. 71 Squadron was itself disbanded on 28 August 1944 at Coffs Harbour. One of the flying school's graduates in August 1944 was David Evans, who went on to become Chief of the Air Staff. His passing-out parade was delayed by a month because, as Evans later discovered, the British government had peremptorily decided in April that it no longer required graduates from Australia, leaving the RAAF with a surplus of some 7,000 aircrew. With training at No. 8 SFTS winding down, in October 1944 a civil operator, Aircraft Pty Ltd, began using Bundaberg for its flights between Brisbane and Rockhampton. The following month, six of the school's Ansons were detached to the Australian Army, carrying out exercises with I Corps at Mareeba until March 1945. The last course to graduate at No. 8 SFTS did so on 13 December 1944; all pilots still under instruction were transferred to No. 6 Service Flying Training School at RAAF Station Mallala, South Australia, to finish their course. The school spent the next few months preparing the base to be handed over to elements of the Netherlands East Indies Air Force before disbanding on 25 July 1945. Notes References 8 Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945