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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0110.PDF
112 Practising at Middle Wallop one bf the tasks an A.A.C. heli- copter pilot is expected to perform —landing a Skeeter in a restricted area, concealed from the enemy's observation. THE ARMY AIR CORPS . . . the Army. As the Chief Instructor puts it: "We work on theassumption that the chap we want to put into the air is a good Regimental soldier." In other words, the Corps is specificallyan air arm for the Army, using aircraft to give it greater efficiency and mobility and more accurate knowledge of the enemy in abattle area. Training at Middle Wallop is thus essentially pragmatic in character; it combines the functions of F.T.S. andO.C.U. in the R.A.F.; the students learn not only how to fly and service their aircraft but also practise all the varied dutiesthey may later be required to perform in the field. In his first two weeks at Middle Wallop the prospectiveA.A.C. pilot is given a revision course and tested in basic Army knowledge and is also introduced to flying subjects—naviga-tion, meteorology, theory of flight, airmanship, the morse code, and aircraft recognition and servicing. He then joins theElementary Flight (at present under the command of F/L. T. D. Taylor, D.F.C., who is shortly handing over to Maj.D. C. K. Waddington, R.A.—eventually the C.F.I. will be the only permanent R.A.F. flying instructor) and there, side byside with aviation ground subjects, starts flying. Each pupil does approximately 60 hr on a Chipmunk, including elementaryaerobatics, which help to give him confidence in handling his aircraft although he may never employ them operationally. At the end of their 12 weeks' course in the Elementary Flightthe pupil A.A.C. pilots (at present drawn mainly from the R.A., though the intention is they shall come from all Arms) spend aweek on revision and take an R.A.F. Central Examining Board examination. If they succeed they pass on to the IntermediateFlight. Roughly half the failures on courses at Middle Wallop occur in the elementary flying stage; the failure rate over the wholecourse averages about 25 per cent. In the Intermediate Flight students get to grips with the type ofaircraft they are to fly operationally, converting to Auster 6s and proceeding to basic and advanced exercises on 7s and 9s. (Some,of course, eventually go on to Skeeters in the Helicopter Flight after 130 hr on fixed-wing aircraft.) In this section of the courseArmy subjects—gunnery, signals, photography, tactics and organ- ization—take equal precedence with aerial ones and flying training.To quote the Chief Instructor again: "We want chaps who are good on the ground, not necessarily the cream in the air." Pupils FLIGHT spend 12 weeks in the Intermediate Flight, and during that time doapproximately 70 hr on Austers. At the end of this three-month period they take their final written examination. Then, duringtheir last six weeks at Middle Wallop (Auster pilots have 33 weeks' training altogether, Skeeter pilots six more because of the longerconversion course needed) pupil A.A.C. pilots apply all they have learned on the ground and in the air to its tactical uses—bothhelicopter and fixed-wing pilots doing the ,same type of training in their final stage, the Exercise Flight. The helicopter flight has asyet only two Skeeters; there should eventually be six or more. There are progressively defined periods of training in the Exer-cise Flight, when the flying which has been learnt is applied tactic- ally. In the first week the Auster pilots conven finally from Mk 7s to9s, which have certain controls in different positions, and fuller instrumentation and more power, with an approach speed about10 kt faster. In the second week pilots start to use the Army Type 62 H/F radio; practise "strip landings," i.e., setting their aircraftdown in limited spaces marked on Middle Wallop's grass surface; learn to select landing-grounds in suitable fields (the local farmershaving proved excellent at "Army co-operation"); and have their first day on the A.A. range, making their initial "shoot" with aninstructor. In the third week they practise giving support to ground troops and also finding "continuous cover" for their aircraft—choosing new well-hidden landing sites near to advancing forces, and keeping their aircraft in the air all the time while con-cealing them as far as possible from enemy forces by precision low- flying. Tactical night flying comes into this stage of the course,and practice landings are made by the headlights of two jeeps parked 40yd apart. There are no landing-lights on the Austers,though provision is made for them within the forward wing-tips. Similar tactical exercises occupy the fourth week, and include"flash spotting," when artillery fire is simulated by Aldis lamp or Very pistol. Then there are three-day "round-up" exercises, ILLUSTRATED WITH " FLIGHT" PHOTOGRAPHS which involve everything that has been learnt on the course andsome of it in quicker or reverse motion—a more rapid advance and a withdrawal. Pilots also practise ground jobs, such as laying outlanding-strips; they make photographic sorties using a type F.24 hand-held camera (one Auster has a pod in which a type F.102 canbe fixed); and each course is divided into two sides and practises "spotting" the other. Every pilot is given an I.F. test and has tofinish the course with a white card rating. Finally there is a competition for the Station Commander's trophy—a silver modelof an Auster. What emerges from this course is, clearly, a pilot who can "flyby the seat of his pants," can read himself over the countryside by a one-inch map at low level, can absorb information fed into hisears simultaneously by V.H.F. and H/F radios, can take evasive action, pin-point a target 5,000yd away with 300yd accuracy, canput his aircraft down almost anywhere; and—most important of all from the Army's joint of view—is ready to play a vital part ina battle as a flying soldier. Quite a proportion of the failures at Middle Wallop occur through "mental constipation"—pilots being Low-flying by an Auster 9—one of the constant requirements for A.A.C. pilots, whose technique in this aspect of their work must combine skilful judgment with absolute geographical precision. Flying the aircraft on this occasion was Sgt/Maj. J. Hutching*, DIM., KJULC.
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