O.R.s from the Royal Canadian Artillery and Royal Canadian Air Force. The pilots were trained to fly de Havilland Tiger Moth aircraft at No. 22 Elementary Flying Training School RAF (Cambridge); thereafter, successful candidates were further trained at No. 43 Operational Training Unit, the Air Observation Post School based at RAF Andover which was dedicated to training British and Commonwealth AOP flight-crews. Lieutenant-Colonel Terry Willett, Royal Artillery, commanded No. 43 OTU at RAF Andover as the first officer to command the AOP training organisation. Among the Canadian students trained by No. 43 Operational Training Unit at RAF Andover for No. 666 Squadron RCAF was Captain James Doohan, who later achieved fame as an actor playing Star Trek’s Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Scott. While under training he flew an Auster Mark IV between two telegraph poles on Salisbury Plain, to prove it could be done. British Army AOP training at RAF Andover, with Auster Mark V aircraft, continued until at least 1949. One of the three squadrons was re-established after the war as 665 Squadron, Army Air Corps, based in Northern Ireland. RAF Andover has a unique place in British history: the first British military unit to be equipped with helicopters, the Helicopter Training Flight, was formed in January 1945 as part of 43 OTU under the command of Squadron Leader B. H. Arkell. This was also the first European helicopter flying-training school, although the first European military unit formed solely with helicopters was the Luftwaffe's Transportstaffel 40 in 1944. The Helicopter Training Flight was equipped with nine Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly I helicopters, and trained 100 British Army pilots for AOP duties, as well as pilots for the first RAF squadron to be equipped with helicopters, 529 Squadron, which carried our radar calibration duties. 1945 to 1977 Post-war, RAF Andover continued to be used for helicopter flying training and operational research, C Flight of 657 Squadron, Army Air Corps, being renamed 1901 (Air Observation Post) Flight in February 1947. The Flight used six Sikorsky R-6A Hoverfly 2 (an improved version of the Hoverfly I) helicopters, and Auster AOP.6 aircraft to train British Army and Royal Air Force pilots and carry out operational trials. The Hoverfly 2s had little effective operational capability, but gave the Army valuable experience in the helicopter's potential use. In addition to artillery direction, the Flight's experimental activities included photography, radar trials, air/ground communications, and fighter evasion. In