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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1384.PDF
FLIGHT JULY 2ND, 1942 Airborne and grounded. In the air the gliders look pretty, although the undercarriage spoils the clean lines somewhat. glider on the ground gives a good idea of size. K.A.F. with the rank of corporal. After being awarded their "wings" at a Glider Training School the corporals and all non-commissioned personnel are promoted to ser geant. These volunteers may come from any branch of the Army, and after being accepted for training they are dialled into an Air-borne Division. First of all they go for a course to the headquarters of that Division which tea< lies them what it is thought necessary that they should know about theorv of flight. While there they remain on the ground. The second step is to send the men to an Elementary Flying Training School, where they learn to fly light power- driven aircraft. At this stage any men who do not seem likely to make good pilots are weeded out, but the number of duds is small. In consequence, very few have to be rejected at a later stage. It follows that at the end of the war there will be in the Army a useful number of men who can fly, not only gliders but also power-aircraft. If they remain in the Army they may be very useful to it, for the possibility of the Army one day possessing its own Air Arm cannot yet be ruled out. If they accept de mobilisation they will swell the number of civilians who are something more than merely air-minded, and that, too, will be to the advantage of the population. The third stage for the trainees is to go to a Glider Training School, and it is with that stage that the present article is mainly concerned. The men undergo a conversion course from power machines to gliders. The gliders are of the troop-carrying class, though naturally at the school ballast is used instead of live soldiers. The gliders all have dual control, and, as there is no engine noise to deafen the ears, it is easy for the instructors to talk freely to An open his Army pupils, who will later become pilots of troop-carrying gliders.
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