Rhodesia’s own contribution to the war was exceptional and disproportionate to its size but due to its miniscule population, its actual impact in manpower was insignificant. 8,500 white men, 1,500 women, and 14,000 African men (under the ARR) fought on the Rhodesian side.
Equally important, for both Rhodesian society and the war effort in general was the British Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Empire Training Scheme. The Rhodesian air training facilities brought 15,000 Britons to the colony. For a white population who in 1940 numbered 65,000 people, having to feed and house, on ‘civilized’ standards, a group which accounted for twenty per cent of the total Rhodesian population was an unprecedented undertaking as was the task of attending to air craft equipment. Arguably, this was the greatest economic boost Rhodesia had thus seen since Responsible Government. Despite a certain 'culture shock,' especially with regards to racial matters, many of the RAF trainers and trainees were to become fond of Rhodesia and in the post war population explosion, immigrated to live in the colony.
