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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0383.PDF
MARCH 2OTH, " Flight " pkttograjili. The Handley Page Halifax and a Transport Command Dakota on the apron at Palam airner&>J)elhi. ia the Punjab some 130 miles north of Delhi and near theedge of the Himalayan foothills. Here, under mainly British instructors, the pupils who have been passed out atJodhpur are trained on Harvards before moving on to Spitfire VIIIs and XIVs. Although described as an S.F.T.S., one would liken thetraining curriculum at Ambala rather to a combination of wartime A.F.U. and O.T.U., since the pupils, whenthey leave, are posted direct to squadrons. Very shortly, it would seem, the pupils will find themselves passing,without intervening experience, from Harvards to XIVs, since the spares position over the VIIIs (a Supermarine-built and slightly more advanced version of the better- known Mark IX) is becoming acute and 1 gathered thatthey may soon be grounded. With its rather more power- ful engine, its smaller airscrew, clearance and altogethermore vigorous characteristics, the pupils may find the Spitfire XIVs something of a handful in comparison wijh The E.A.N.S. Mission personnel with the CO. and staff ofthe Navigation-Signal School at Tambaram. From left to right, sea'ed, are F/L. Agnihotri (Air Headquarters liaisonofficer with the Mission while in India), S/L. J. S. Aldridge (Captain), W/C. R. T. Billett (Mission leader), S/L. V. S. C.Bonerjee (CO. of the School), S/L. D. P. Morrison, F/L. Sandhu, and H. A. Taylor (Flight's representative) ; in thecentre row are F/L. P. W. Ellis, D.F.C., F/O. J. P. Hicks (W.O.), F/L. Sastry, F/O. Ramakrishna, F/L. A. J. Barrett,and F/O. W. T. H. Fleckney, D.F.C. (second pilot) ; in the back row are F/O. Ramamurthy, F/O. Monteiro, F/O. Tonseand W/O. Biswas (Signals instructor). the rather more docile Merlin-engined Spitfire VIIIs.At Ambala, too, was a flight of No. 12 R.I.A.F. Squadron undergoing twin conversion on Oxfords prepara-tory to the complete equipping of this squadron with Dakotas—to become, shortly, the first Indian unit withmultiengined aircraft. In parenthesis, it might be added that Ambala is by way of being one of the better postingsfor R.A.F. personnel in India since the officers, at any rate, are extremely comfortably placed in what I believe isan old cavalry mess. While I was there a dining-in night was held, and effective sound accompaniment was pro-vided by the pipe band of the 15th Punjabi Regiment. The entire evening gave one a good impression of India asit might have been in the old days—of the unquestioned ascendancy of the British Raj. Refresher Course for Paratroopers Although of comparatively minor importance from themission's viewpoint, Chaklala (Rawalpindi) proved to be of immense general interest, for at this station there is theParachute Training School where ab initio and refresher courses are given to prospective paratroops. The jumps* are made from Dakotas, and I was lucky enough to be allowed to ride in an aircraftwhile a mixed complement of British and Indian officers and men made what was, formost of them, their third practice jump. They went out cleanly in "sticks" of fiveafter the solo departure of an R.A.F. in- structor and a kitbag. With the continuousnoise coming through the doorless opening, the slight vertigo felt as we turned aroundthe dropping zone, the quick, unequivocal orders of the jumpmaster, the loud ringingof the alarm bell signalling " ready" or "jump," and the quite incredibly tenseatmosphere, the experience was certainly one of the more exciting. And let no jumper, however veteran, evertry to convince me that it is "fun." Whether it is one's second or two hundredthjump, the few moments before the final signal is rung are desperately frightening. One is forcing a physicalbody to do something absolutely contrary to a ten- million-year-old instinct, and, in any case, fear is in-fectious—and there are sure to be one or two people in the aircraft who are on the very well-controlled edge ofpanic. You have only to watch the pre-jump expressions on the faces of however-naturally brave men, to know thatall the talk about it being '' the greatest fun in the world " is largely self-encouraging self-deception. Inci-dentally, the R.A.F. instructors at this game at Ringway
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