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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1407.PDF
FLIGHT JULY 19TH, 1945 Apprenticeship Training Sir Frederick Handley Page on the Importance of Maintaining a High Standard of Skill THAT manufacturing capacity as represented by num-bers of works operatives must naturally be less inpeacetime than in war was admitted by Sir Frederick Handley Page in a talk which he gave to repre- sentatives of the Press and of training establishments last week But Sir Frederick stressed the importance of not only maintaining but increasing the standard of skill. How it is proposed to ensure this at the Handley Page Crickle- wood works in London was explained by him at consider- able length. At one end of the scale, training was required for the research«*orker, scientist, aerodynamicist, etc. Here the empha^Kvas on university and college training. At the other «end there was the training of skilled craftsmen, coppersmiths, toolmakers, turners, millers, fitters, etc. In this case the stress was on the practical side, for which training was only possible in a works. Between these two lay the training of engineering apprentices to provide a steady flow of fully trained engineers for ultimate posts of responsibility in the technical, production and adminis- trative departments. A feature common to all Handley Page apprenticeship courses was that there was no pre- mium, and apprentices received pay according to agreed standards. Two distinct courses are in operation at Cricklewood, and a third is likely to be given experimental trial soon. There are the training courses for aeronautical engineers and those for skilled craftsmen. The third course men- tioned is really a variant of the first. For the aeronautical engineer there are two alternative courses: a graduate apprenticeship course, which provides practical instruction at the works for students taking a full-time engineering degree course at a university or engineering college; and a five-year technical apprentice- ship course which combines practical instruction in the t 1i I PRACTICAL THEORETICAL ''AVERAGE AGe 17 YEARS (EDUCATION. \ MATRICULATION )\o« EWJiVAttfny STAHCARO/ works with part-time theoretical instruction at the North- ampton Polytechnic, Islington. In the former the inten- tion is to provide practical workshop training for engineer- ing students, both during their period of study for and after the attainment of a university degree. Students agree to work in the factory during the whole of the two summer vacation periods of their three-year degree course and for a further two years after obtaining a degree. They are required to continue theoretical studies while serving the two-year apprenticeship. The technical apprenticeship course covers practical training in the works concurrently with theoretical "training at the Northampton Day Engineering College. Thp apprenticeship period is of five years, and candidates ai selected from students between the ages of 16 and 17J years. They must have passed Matriculation or School Certificate with six Credits, of which one should be Maths. and one a science subject. Practical Instruction 4 In the technical apprenticeship course the training covers a period of 34 years' practical instruction in the works, followed by a further i| years in the particular branch for which the apprentice has shown special aptitude. This may be on the technical side or on the production. The theoretical work at the Northampton covers two days a week. The trade apprenticeship course is calculated to train lads to become skilled artisans in one of the following trades: Fitting, turning, milling, machining, tool-making, sheet metal work, or millwrights. Candidates are selected from shop and office boys and from pupils at junior tech- nical or secondary schools. They must not be more than 16, no premium is required, and wages are paid from the start. The trade apprentices are required to attend even- ing classes at the local technical colleges. The third course mentioned, which is an alternative graduate course, was described by Sir Frederick as a "sandwich scheme" for aeronautical engineers. A pro- posal by Professor Southwell, now being considered, was that applications for apprenticeship would be considered from students who had completed two years at Imperial College and who had passed their final B.Sc. examina- tions, but who were not eligible for the degree until their third residential college year had been completed. The long vacations would be spent in the workshops, and the student would then go to the firm, at the end of the second college year, for one year's practical training, returning to Imperial College to qualify for his degree. A second year (fifth in all) would be spent in the firm's shops, the total result of a five-year course being 30 months in the shops and 27 months at Imperial College. Chart of the combined practical and theoretical engineering course. "ARIES" CREW AT LINCOLNW ING CDR. D. C. McKINLEY and members of his crewwho during May carried out the successful Polar nights in the Lancaster, Aries, were recently entertained by Mr. C.Hatton, manager of the Avro repair organisation at Lincoln, where the extensive modifications to their aircraft were carriedout. Next day McKinley gave a personal account of the expedition to the workpeople in their canteen. CANADA TO BUILD JET AIRCRAFTCANADA will build jet aircraft for use by the R.C.A.F., said an Ottawa broadcast last week. A Government-owned company was designing a jet propulsion unit, Air Force Headquarters stated. Canada was in a good positionto develop an industry for the manufacture of the gas turbine type of power plant, and this would hold together some ofthe men with valuable experience in war production. Civil aviation would also benefit by the research.
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