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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0710.PDF
3io FLIGHT APRIL 2ND, 1942 FINDING THEIR WAY : A class of student air-observers are here seen practising navigation over the Manitoban plains in the cabin of a Jacobs-engined Anson. trained under the Scheme also serve in R.A.F. squadrons. Training for the various air crew categories is also car ried out in Australia, all recruits receiving their preliminary ground-training there. Some of them then go on to Canada, others to Southern Rhodesia, while the remainder complete their flying training in the Commonwealth. The Australian training organisation has exceeded schedule. The Moth Minor, -which was gaining great popularity among private pilots when war broke out, is now being turned out in Australia as an elementary trainer, and this excellent little low-wing monoplane, with its inverted four- cylinder 00 h.p. Gipsy engine, is doing great work down under. For more advanced training the Australian-built Wirraway (basically a Harvard in design) is largely used. A number of crews, on completion of their training, are posted direct to R.A.A.F. squadrons in Australia ; others go to R.A.A.F. and R.A.F. squadrons in the Middle East and elsewhere. A proportion have come to this country for service with the R.A.A.F. or the R.A.F. Ground per sonnel for service with the R.A.A.F. in this country and the various war fronts are also provided by Australian training. New Zealand and Africa As part of the same Scheme, training is also being carried out in New Zealand, where pupils of each category receive their preliminary ground training. Observer and air gunner pupils, together with a proportion of pilot pupils, are then sent to Canada for further training. The balance of the pilot pupils complete their training in New Zealand, The training scheme in New Zealand has been complete for some time, but the schools have been progressively expanded. The total pilots produced by the schools, ex clusive of air crew personnel sent to Canada for further training, has reached a remarkable figure from such small resources. By agreement with the South African Government, the training organisation in the Union has been expanded and a number of newly constructed schools are now being fed with pilot and observer pupils from this country. Now that the scheme is expanding, considerable numbers are joining the R.A.F. squadrons in the Middle East, but hitherto the pilots, observers and air. gunners trained in South Africa have mostly been posted to South African Air Force squadrons operating in East and West Africa. As the expansion continues the numbers of air crews join ing R.A.F. squadrons in the Middle East will increase and South African trained pilots will also be sent over to Roval Air Force squadrons here. In addition to the expansion of the South African train ing organisation, the South African Government has readily facilitated the transfer of R.A.F. observer training EMPIRE AIR TRAININQ schools to South Africa, together with a reconnaissance school. The preliminary ground training for the former schools is carried out in this country. Pupils for thexecon- naissance school are mostly provided from the advanced flying training schools in Southern Rhodesia, although a small number of them come from South Africa. Pilot training schools have also been operating to full capacity in Southern Rhodesia for some considerable time, while schools for the training of observers and air gunners - have just been opened. Preliminary ground training is also going on in Southern Rhodesia for pupils provided in part from this country, in part from Australia, and in part from personnel domiciled in Southern Rhodesia. When they are drafted to Britain, men of the Common wealth Scheme go to a reception centre under Flying Training Command. From there they move forward to the last stage of operational training, and subsequent post ing to operational squadrons. The combined productive effort of trained personnel from these vast Air Force training programmes is nearing itgj- peak. From small beginnings a force of devastating strength has arisen. Canadians and Newfoundlanders; Australians and New Zealanders; South Africans and Rhodesians are all fighting side by side in and with the Royal Air Force, and together with Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen and Irishmen Empire trained. Britons from Everywhere But even these do not exhaust the list, for there has been a steady influx of recruits from India, Straits Settle ments, Bermuda and other British possessions rarely heard of in the ordinary way ; the British colony in Argentine, for instance, sent two lots of trainees, while from many of the conquered parts of Europe have come airmen trained and untrained. Men of the Commonwealth Training Scheme have already distinguished themselves on every air front, and many have been awarded honours. Every Dominion, every Colony, every part, great and small, of the British Empire is adding daily to the supreme air war effort. The originally estimated cost of the three-year training plan was $600,000,000, but this was drastically revised to wards the middle of last year when it was realised that the joint expenditure to March 31st, 1943, of all countries taking part in it would work out at approximately $824,000,000, plus another $28,000,000 to complete the training of pupils already in the advanced schools. THE CONTACT MAN : The student wireless operator-air gunner, whose ultimate job it will be to contact his base by radio and the enemy by machine-gun fire, is here seen practising the former art in a Noorduyn " Norseman " trainer.
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