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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1941.PDF
i December 1949 707 When L. W. MacLaren took this photograph the Vampire was just coming-in to join the formation. S/L. E. Coton, D.F.C. and bar, A.F.C., A.F.R.Ae.S., Lt. Cdr (E) P. S. Wilson, R.N., D.I.C., A.M.I.Mech.E., A.F.R.Ae.S., and S/L. C. B. Brown, A.F.C., all three instructors themselves being ex-students of the School. Before being posted to his present appointment, S/L. Coton was chief test pilot at the R.A.E., during which time he was responsible for flight research work at high Mach numbers and investigations on the Messerschmitt 163, on the stalling and rudder-buffeting conditions of the Tudor I, and the elevator over-balance in icing conditions on Vikings. It was for his work at Farnborough that he was awarded the A.F.C. Lt. Cdr. Wilson was posted to "C" Squadron (Naval types) A. and A.E.E., Boscombe, in August, 1945, and after attending the E.T.P.S. course, had a period in the Service Trials Unit the following year. He then once • more returned to Boscombe, at first again to " C " Squad- ron, and subsequently as CO. of the Intensive Flying Development Flight, from which appointment he was posted to the School. S/L. Brown has the classical nick- name of "Cyclops"—he lost his right eye m combat with an enemy aircraft whilst serving in 616 Squadron in 1942. Despite this loss, he continued operational flying with 532 Night-fighter Squadron until posted to Boscombe as test pilot in 1943. In 1947, having taken the E.T.P.S. course, S/L. Brown went to the Empire Flying School and there graduated top of that course. He then came back to the School for his present appointment and, with approximately 1,000 hours of test-flying on about 100 types of aircraft (despite monocular vision) is a qualified instrument-rating examiner and instructor. He states that one of his current activities is having a battle with the authorities to prevent being transferred to the Secretarial Branch—a battle seem- ingly of right against might, in which we wholeheartedly wish "Cyclops" every success. Although flying accounts for a large section of the School curriculum, schoolroom work is of equal importance and, in fact, there is a lecture for all students every morning from 0845 until 0945. These lectures are given by a member of the resident staff or a visiting specialist from, perhaps, one of the departments of the R.A.E., from Boscombe Down, Beaulieu, Felixstowe, an R.A.F. command, or from an aircraft or engine manufacturer. In addition to the planned lectures, students are, from time to time, given talks by such eminent people as Sir Frank Whittle, Professor G. T. R. Hill and Mr. W. G. A. Perring, Director of R.A.E. At the beginning of each course, the students are divided into four groups or syndicates and, after the morning lec- ture, the courses are detailed and briefed for the remaining programme of the day. Students in groups A and B, for example, may fly for the remainder of the morning, whilst group C do some gliding and group D do private study, write reports, or attend coaching/tutorial instruction from the resident staff. In the afternoon, the programme is reversed, so that all students fly each day, weather permit- ting and so forth. The School day normally finishes about 1700 hr although, during the summer, advantage can be taken of the late sunset to gain extra flying time. Night flying is also included in the curriculum, and is so arranged that each student does four or five night flights during his stay at the School. In this connection, any student who does not possess a green ticket when he enters the School obtains one before completing the course. The target figure of 100 hours of test-flying, or practice test-flying, per student is set for each course, but the average figure for the current intake is about 120 hours. There is no doubt at all that the E.T.P.S. course is strenuous in that, for every hour spent flying, somewhere between two and three hours' report-writing and analysis is required. As already mentioned, one of the chief aims of the course is to train and produce test pilots who are capable of giving a detached and reasoned account of their flight experience. The attainment of this objective de- volves in no small measure on the chief technical instructor, Mr. G. W. Jones, B.Sc., and his assistant, Mr. J. A. Law- ford, B.Sc., A.F.R.Ae.S. After two years each with Handley Page and Airspeed, Mr. Jones spent from 1937 to 1945 at the Air Ministry and M.A.P. on specification- writing and performance-estimating. The subsequent two years he spent at Volkenrode and Minden as a member of the Control Commission for Germany, thereafter going to Boscombe Down until taking up his present appointment this year. After graduating from Glasgow University with a first-class Honours B.Sc. in mechanical engineering, Mr. Lawford also went to Boscombe, in April, 1944, thence transferring, in June, 1946, to the Empire Test Pilots' School, which at that time was, of course, at Cranfield. Qualified instructors—though not test flying instructors —on the E.T.P.S. staff are F/L. P. F. Wingate, D.S.C., S/L. Brown and Lt. Cdr. Wilson, T.F.I.s, G/C. Snaith, Commandant,and Mr. G. W. Jones, C.T.I.
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