Born in Rowledge near Farnham, Surrey, Arthur Bryant volunteered for RAF service during 1940 and was accepted for pilot training in 1941. Posted to Number 5 BFTS at Clewiston, Florida, USA, in November that year he received his pilots wings there in July 1942 after qualifying on Boeing Stearman, Harvard, and Vultee aircraft. Returning to the UK he spent a month with Flying Squadron No 9 (P) AFU before being posted to No 53 OTU at Llandow where he flew Master and Spitfire aircraft mainly on fighter affiliation courses. In October of 1942 he was posted to No 3 AGS Castle Kennedy flying Fairey Battles which were being used for target towing before he moved on to Master II and Martinet aircraft. At the begining of March 1943 he was at RAF Watchfield on a Beam Approach Course flying Oxfords then a month later was flying Hurricanes and Hawker Typhoons at 59 OTU. July 1943 saw him at RAF Abingdon on a fighter attack course flying the Curtis P40 Sharks Teeth, known to the RAF as the Tomahawk, and stayed there until September when he was posted to 1681 BDT Flight at Kinloss.
Following a short transfer to No 31 BDT Flight Arthur was posted to 609 (West Riding) Squadron RAF (the "glamour squadron" as he likes to call it) during March of 1944 with whom he carried out some 20 operational sorties before being transferred to 198 Squadron RAF on the 24th June that year and spending the next fifteen months with them.
By the war's end he had clocked up some 150 operational sorties altogether against a wide variety of enemy targets and a total of 807 hours flying time, however, after 198 Squadron's disbandment in September 1945, converting to Meteor and Vampire jets Arthur continued his RAFVR career as a flying instructor with various RAF flying schools. By the time he left the service in 1952, as a Flight Lieutenant, he had chalked up some further 500 hours of flying.
During the course of a post war civilian career Arthur moved from his home town of Farnham, Surrey, to Odiham, Hampshire, in 1966 before retiring to the south west of England in 1986.
(Throughout most of the war Arthur's wife, Stella, was engaged in code breaking duties at Station X, Bletchley Park. Sadly she died in January 2000.)
Association of 198 Squadron RAF Pilots & Ground Crews
F/O Arthur Bryant MID
RAFVR
THE ASSOCIATION OF
198 SQUADRON RAF PILOTS & GROUND CREWS
