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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0610.PDF
FLIGHT, JUNE 24, 1932 THE AIRCRAFT OF THE R.A.F TRAINING AIRCRAFT H AVING discussed all the types of aircraft which are used by the operational units in the Royal Air Force, we come finally to the types which are used for train ing and for other miscellaneous work such as communications. We must apologise to No. 24 (Com munications) Squadron for describ ing its work as miscellaneous. We know that that work is very im portant, but it is not directly con cerned with fighting. Flying training is naturally one of the most important functions of the Royal Air Force. It is, in fact, the basis of all its work. Though many a brilliant pilot has achieved fame despite having learnt to fly in the crudest of schools, still crudity in methods of instruction is not to be approved. For one thing, it costs too many lives of pupils. In the second place, it is not likely to produce a high average level of excellence. If the whole standard of flying in the Royal Air Force is to be high, it must be based upon thoroughly sound methods of teaching. What is more, the teaching in all the schools must be uniform in its methods, but constantly ready to adopt improved methods when they are discovered. There are two ordinary channels for gaining a permanent regular commission in the Royal Air Force, namely, by passing through either the R.A.F. Cadet College at Cranwell or through the Universi ties of Oxford and Cambridge. At all these three institutions elementary flying is taught. First a pupil is taken up in an Avro machine, type 504, with " Lynx " engine. The Avro 504 was designed by Mr. (now Sir) Alliott Verdon Roe in 1912. It has been improved in various details and has had very many different types of engine installed in it. In the early days of the war it was used by the Royal Naval Air Service as a bomber, and a flight of Avros actually bombed the Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichs- hafen. Then it was used as a training machine, and it proved to be the finest training machine in the world. It had no vices, but any manoeuvre which was necessary for warlike operations could be executed in an Avro. At the same time it was not so easy to fly that the pupil gained a false idea of his own abilities, which led to disaster when he transferred to a fighter aeroplane. If a mistake in working the controls put the Avro into a wrong position, it would not necessarily right itself, but had to be righted; yet it gave the pupil time to do what was necessary and did not hurry him to disaster. In fact, the Avro may be called the most popular and most remarkable aeroplane which was ever designed. The fact that it was designed in 1912 and AVRO LYNX AVRO TUTOR CUTTY SARK GIPSY MOTH TIGER MOTH TOMTIT is still in use in 1932 is sufficient justification for giving such high praise as that. If a man joins the Reserve of Air Force Officers, he is taught to fly at one of the civilian training schools approved for the purpose by the Air Ministry, where the training methods are kept closely to the lines adopted in the R.A.F. itself. If he joins the Auxiliary Air Force he is taught to fly in the squadron which he joins, under the care of the Adju tant, who is always a regular officer, and a qualified instructor. Officers of the Special Reserve are taught at one of the civilian schools, while regular officers with short-service commissions are taught at one of the R.A.F. Flying Training Schools. The permanent officers who have learnt elementary flying at Cranwell, Oxford, or Cambridge, are also sent to a Flying Training School for further instruction before being posted to a squadron. There are four approved civilian training schools, the De Havilland school for London, the Bristol school for the West, the Blackburn school at Brough in York shire, and Flying Training Services at Hamble, near Southampton. The Flying Training Schools of the R.A.F. are at Digby in Lincolnshire, Grantham also in Lincolnshire, Sealand near Chester, and Abu Sueir in Egypt. At the Flying Training Schools officers who can fly receive instruction in aerial gunnery, photogiaphy and other necessary duties. i'hey leave these schools fully trained pilot officers. Considerations of economy have often turned attention to the possibility of using a smaller and cheaper machine than the Avro for elementary training, for minor mishaps to undercarriages and propellers are bound to be not infrequent. A great deal of good training work has been carried out on the D.H. " Moth," and the " Tiger Moth " is now also ussd. The Hawker " Tomtit " is another type which has done good service. The Saro " Cutty Sark " has been used as an amphibian training machine. The exponents of the Avro type for train ing now admit that after so many years of redoubt able service it is time that the 504 type should go on the half-pay list. The Avro firm have produced a new type, the " Tutor," to replace the 504. It is a metal machine with a " Lynx " engine, and it is claimed for it that, while it retains all the good qualities of the old 504, it gives a more suitable pieparation for flying modern types of Service air craft. The performance of the machines used in the R.A.F. has improved enormously since 1912, and it is only reasonable to provide a training machine whose performance is in due relation to that of modern fighters and bombers. f& &&> iflTITTn ^% ^ 562
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