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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1778.PDF
542 FLIGHT, 27 October 1949 A businesslike array of Meteor 7 jet trainers lines the tarmac at Driffield, East Yorkshire, the base of No. 203 Advanced Flying School. New Jet Conversion School at Driffield DIRECT conversion from Harvards to Meteor 7s bypilots under training in the R.A.F. was describedrecently as "revolutionary." The adjective might have been apt two or three years ago, but a more appro- priate word now would seem to be "logical." With the exception of a few squadrons of Hornets which are employed for long-range duties—intruding, escort, and so forth—no piston-engined aircraft remain operational in the regular squadrons of Fighter Command, and an inter- mediate piston-engine stage in training is therefore redun- dant and uneconomical. The very few pilots destined to fly Hornets at Home, or Tempests or Spitfires overseas, will have to convert—or revert—to these types. A newly formed unit. No. 203 Advanced Flying School, Driffield, is now busily engaged in converting Harvard pilots to jet fighters. It is solely concerned with teaching them how to handle these aircraft to the limits of their performance, and no operational training in the sense of tactics and use of weapons is given. Fortunately, jet fighters are in the main rather easier to handle than the piston- engined types they replace; had this been otherwise the direct step from the Harvard might not have been so simple. The Meteor and Vampire are especially pleasant to handle and, of course, the Mk 7 Meteor is a two-seater intended for dual instruc- " Flight •• photograph. Short flights and a very quick turn-round characterize the flying training schedule. Pupils and instructors change over while the ground crew replenish the aircraft tanks. tion. This machine has become an important link in the training scheme for fighter pilots, and it is probably unique among trainers in having a higher performance than the short-nosed, single-seat fighter from which it was developed. A very fine production job has been done by the Gloster Company in turning out a very large number of these trainers during recent months. No. 203 Advanced Flying School, in Training Command, shows signs of being a favourite child. It has a most important job to do; it has the task of justifying a new
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