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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0136.PDF
6o FLIGHT. JANUARY 19, 1939 Training of direct-entry air observers at the Desford school. Left to right : Sqn. Ldr. G. H. Reid (managing director of Reid and Si No. 26 (Training) Group, and Mr. George Lowdell (chief instructor) ; in the centre a pupil is seen at work with map and C.D.C. newly enlisted pupils. Training Sergeant Observers A RECENT Air Ministry order laid it down that for the future the airmen members of the crew of a multi-seater R.A.F. machine should be full-time crew men. That is to say, they would not work at their basic trade when on the ground. At the same time, it was decided that air gunners should be chosen only from the trade of wireless operator; previously they were often chosen from the trades of armourer and photographer, and sometimes the selection fell upon an aircrafthand (i.e., an airman who does not belong to a skilled trade). Now "aircraft crew " may be said to have become a new R.A.F. trade. However, the work of the skilled tradesmen on the ground has to go on—in fact, the expansion creates more work than ever for them, and consequently there is a natural reluctance to allow skilled tradesmen to disappear into the air and so be lost for the time being to their trade. One remedy is being sought by the direct enlistment from civil life of young men to be trained as air observer. Fifteen hundred of them are required this year, and the conditions of their enlistment were set forth in a recent issue of Flight. Briefly, the age for enlistment is between IJ§ and 25. On acceptance, these observers are sent to one of six Elementary and Reserve Flying Train ing Schools for three months, where they are put through an inten sive course of air navigation. The selected schools are Desford, Ansty, Prestwick, Yatesbury, Sywell and Perth. At the end of the three months the observers go to a depot, probably Uxbridge, for a short time to learn the elements of discipline, organisation and drill, and there they are put into uniform. The final stage is six weeks at an observer school, where each man does a course in gunnery and bombing. He must also be proficient at reconnaissance and photography. At the end of his preliminary training of five months he is sent to a squadron with the rank of sergeant and draws 12s. 6d. a day. Last week the Air Ministry arranged a Press visit to Desford, No. 7 E. and R. F.T.S., near Leicester, which is run by Reid and Sigrist, Ltd. This school is now engaged in training its second batch of thirty direct-entry air observers. A practical demonstration was given, and a number of Ansons were sent off to find their way to given points. The navigation was left in the hands of an observer pupil in each Anson, though an instructor was also there to see that if the pupil's nerves were badly upset by working under the eagle eye of the Press he did not take the machine off into the wilds. One of the said pupils had been working ten weeks before in a chain store and knew nothing of navigation or of the sort of map with which an observer has to work. He was told to navigate to Grantham railway station and was given no information about the wind. He soon found that out for himself, and then handed his instructor an E.T.A. (estimated time of arrival). Once or twice the machine got slightly off the course, but the observer pronrp'.lv spotted its deviation and gave the pilot directions which brought it back. Triumphantly, he arrived over the railway station exactly at the estimated time, and was also successful on the return flight. The other pupils did equally well. Desford is a very well laid out school and does great credit to the energy and foresight of Sqn. Ldr. G. H. Reid, D.F.C. The quarters of the observer pupils, and also of the short-service pilots who are under instruction there, are comfortable and attractive, and the mess rooms and ante-rooms are bright and cheerful. Expansion is going on there, as elsewhere, and new buildings are almost readv for use. It is understood that the aerodrome, already spacious, will shortly be enlarged. Air Comdre. Sydney Smith, A.O.C., No. 2b (Training) Group, who was present on the occasion of the visit, expressed himself in terms of warm praise about the situation and arrangements at Desford. The visit made it clear that an observer's job, though a very busy one, is full of interest. The observer must not only navigate, but he must be prepared, and qualified, to take over the work of any other member of the crew (except the pilots) who may be killed or wounded. In fact, all the members of the crew ought to be interchangeable. 1 So the observer must not only navigate, but must be able to aim and drop the bombs and, when attacked, to use the rear machine gun. Young men who wish to apply for this most desirable job should write to: The Under-Secretary of State for Air (S.7.e), Air Ministry, London, W.C.2. Transfers to Fleet Air Arm THE Admiralty has decided that officers transferred from the Royal Naval Reserve will be eligible to specialise as pilot or observer in the Fleet Air Arm immediately they have obtained their -naval watchkeeping certificates, provided they are then not over 28 years of age. Royal Marine ranks who are selected for training as rating pilots will retain their R.M. uniform for a period of one month's train ing, although they will continue to be transferred to the Seaman Branch on commencing training. Class III uniform will be issued to them when they have completed one month's satisfactory training. A Blackburn Shark III floatplane as adopted by the Royal Canadian Air Force for general-purpose work. The close-up view on the right shows how the wings can be folded with bombs in place. The engine is a Bristol Pegasus IX (785 h.p. max. at 6,500ft.) which drives a wooden airscrew with detachable blades.
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