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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1301.PDF
oi7 JUNE I8TH, 1942 ^-) r' AIR TRANSPORT AUXILIARY P r obi ems of the Home Ferry Organisgiion. P-JIA* j last war, 450 IN the las 0 pilots ferried 3,000 aircraft a month in the general direction of Franote. This involved far more than 3,000 flights, as the aircraft had to be col lected from makers' works, delivered at an Acceptance Park, and then flown, when completely equipped, either to squadrons in England or across the Channel. The pilots were officers of the R.A.F., unsuitable temporarily or other wise for operational flying. Some were not very pro ficient, and an occasional aircraft was delivered to Germany instead of to France; some were tired pilots, almost as likely to crash a new aircraft on its delivery flight as to arrive all in one piece. The same problem exists to-day. Thousands of flights a month are made by the Air Transport Auxiliary at present responsible for home ferrying; up to the date of Dunkirk, A.T.A. ferried aircraft to France as well, and will undoubtedly do so again. The safe delivery of thousands of aircraft involves prob lems of personnel and equipment far beyond those which existed previously for smaller numbers and less complex aircraft, and the regular supply of competent pilots already The " Operations Room " where all the incoming and out going air traffic is handled. It is in an advantageous position from which the whole of the landing area can be Seen. able to fly solo has not yet been satisfactorily overcome. Evenprfthe maintenance side, A.T.A. must take its chance with other aircraft industries, and the percentage of fully skilled labour amongst its aircraft mechanics is low. Types of Aircraft flown by A.T.A. pilots fall into three The aircraft classes: — 1. R.A.F. aircraft in transit. 2. School aircraft for the production of fully'qualified pilots. 3. Taxi aircraft to carry pilots to the factories from which they will collect and bring them home. Transit aircraft are of all Service types, and a Class V pilot must therefore be able to fly Spitfire or Stirling, Lysander or Liberator Fulmar or Fortress. The training of pilots is directed towards a gradual progression in pro ficiency from Moth and Magister through Tutor and Hart to Harvard and Hurri cane, and so on to twin- engine and four-engine types. Medical and other tests de termine the stage at which it is uneconomical to press the training of a pilot. Aircraft in transit may be collected from the maker's works fof delivery to an air craft storage unit. When fully equipped the aircraft are flown to squadrons; from squadrons they may in time have to go to repair depots, and thence back to squadrons or aircraft storage units. In A.T.A. always have a number of machines " in transit." Here is one of our latest Beauforts as seen from the cockpit of a Merlin-engined Whitley, which was also wait ing delivery.
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