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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0007.PDF
FLIGHT, 6 January 1956 7 The Commander (O) welcomes a fresh intake to Part I of the course. The Methods of the Fleet Air Arm School at Culdrose, Cornwall By A. CECIL HAMPSHIRE Training the Naval Air Observer AFEW weeks ago a group of young Naval officers stood some-what self-consciously before a ceremonial parade in oneof the hangars at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose. They were about to undergo an ordeal, but it was an ordeal they hadeagerly anticipated. One by one, as their names were read out, they stepped forwardto receive from the Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers, Rear-Admiral A. R. Pedder, the gold-winged badge of an observer of the FleetAir Arm. The Admiral was himself wearing similar insignia above the gold lace on his left cuff. Later the same evening the newly fledged observers, wingssewn on the left sleeve of their mess dress, clinked glasses with senior officers to whom previously they had been mere "warts"under training. For, by custom, each newly passed-out class of observer trainees, together with the visiting admiral, are enter-tained to dinner as guests of the wardroom to celebrate the presentation of wings. The wings ceremony and the dinner that follows were institutedsome two years ago and mark the end of nine months' intensive training at the Fleet Air Arm's Observer and Air Signal School.For the instructional staff it merely provides a short breather before turning to greet a new intake. Candidates for the Observer Branch are today drawn fromfour main sources. First there is the fleet entry, a general-service lieutenant who comes to Culdrose as a fully fledged naval officerelecting to specialize in the flying arm. Next comes the aviation cadet who has entered the Navy ona short-service commission of either four or eight years. He will have joined between the ages of 17 and 26. Depending upon hisage, he holds the rank of either midshipman or acting sub- lieutenant on arrival at Culdrose. Unlike that of his general- service contemporary none of his initial training is done in theBritannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. Totalling six months only for the Air Branch, this period is spent in a ship ofthe Training Squadron based at Portland. On passing out of the Training Squadron, cadets aged 21 orover are promoted, provided they are recommended, to acting sub-lieutenant and others to midshipman. Midshipmen normallyreach the rank of acting sub-lieutenant after sixteen months' service as midshipmen, or on attaining the age of 19^, whicheveris the later date. But, provided he is recommended, the midship- man can be promoted to acting sub-lieutenant at the age of21 regardless of length of service. Subsequent promotion to lieutenant can be attained at any time between one year and eightmonths and three years as sub-lieutenant, according to results on passing out of training. Thus it behoves the aviation cadet quali-fying for observer to do the best he can at Culdrose if he is to gain early promotion to lieutenant. The third type of candidate is the National Service upper yard-man. Provided he has the necessary educational qualifications and passes the Admiralty Interview Board and his flying aptitudetests, he begins his National Service in the Navy as a rating air- man. Like the aviation cadet, he undergoes his initial naval train-ing in the Training Squadron, and on passing out he is promoted to midshipman or acting sub-lieutenant (A), R.N.V.R., beforegoing on to Culdrose. On completion of his National Service he will be required to serve for at least five years in the R.N.V.R., ona part-time basis, preferably in one of the R.N.V.R. air squadrons, during which he will do refresher training at Culdrose. Thus theNavy is provided with a reserve pool of trained observers upon which the Fleet Air Arm can draw in time of emergency formanning additional front-line squadrons. Both aviation cadet and National Service upper yardman arerequired to possess similar educational qualifications. These are either the School Certificate or its equivalent with a credit inmathematics, or the General Certificate of Education with passes at ordinary level in English, mathematics and one other subject. Lastly, as the fourth source of supply, comes the upper yardman(air). He is a regular naval rating who volunteers and is selected for aircrew duties. His preliminary training is done in H.M.S.Hazvke, an establishment equivalent in standard to the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. For his observer training hearrives at Culdrose as an upper yardman, wearing blue battledress with white shoulder flash and white cap-band. On successfulcompletion of the course he will be commissioned as an acting sub-lieutenant. Thus he has even more incentive to qualify thanhis classmates, since this launches him on his career as an officer. The flow of entries from these three sources is fairly even and,with the Fleet Entry, provides just about sufficient observers for the Navy's needs today.R.N.A.S. Culdrose—which, though it bears the ship name H.M.S. Seahawk, in fact has an old Seafire as a "figurehead"—isclose to the Lizard and Land's End, and is thus admirably sited for the specialized type of training required for naval observers.It is a large establishment, the result of a 1953 economy tele- scoping of the Observers' School formerly at St. Merryn, theNaval Air and Intelligence Recognition Centre and the Naval Air One of the course officers briefs aircrew before take-off.
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