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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0626.PDF
11. t - # * * - 626 FLIGHT, 6 May 1950 "MUling"—an ail-out combat urged on vociferously from the ringside —inculcates fighting spirit and forms part of the Aldershot curriculum RED BERET SOLDIERS... muscular co-ordination is assessed by work in the gym; hisendurance by 3i-mile runs, a steeplechase and an assault course. Teamwork is a strong feature of Airborne Forces' training atAldershot: one of the toughest examples of it is the log race, in which about four teams of eight to ten men in each competeagainst each other over a hilly three-mile course, with no holds barred when it comes to putting obstacles in the other teams' way,and every man in each team having to carry on to the end. The object of this training is to create the type of soldier needed inairborne forces: self-dependent, able to work coolly with others under difficult circumstances, tough and extremely fit. With thiswork-out behind him, the parachute soldier goes forward for his parachute training at Abingdon. In one corner of a hangar at No 1 Parachute Training School,RAF Abingdon, hangs a replica of the gaily-coloured inverted parachute under which Robert Cocking lost his life in 1837.Cocking—who was a water-colour painter by profession—seems to have based his experiment on the advocacy by Sir GeorgeCayley of an inverted parachute, its dihedral angle providing stability in descent and so obviating oscillations. Unfortunatelythe pioneer made no experiments of any kind; and when he was, released at 5,00Oft after being taken up by balloon from VauxhsliGardens his canopy folded up after its ribs were broken by the initial acceleration, so that he plummeted fatally to earth. Cocking's parachute, a melancholy reminder of the price paidby brave (or, in his case, foolhardy) experimenters, looks down upon a scene which he would have regarded with astonishment.On the hangar floor and around its walls are pieces of apparatus designed to simulate the main facets of jumping—exit from anaircraft, control of the parachute during descent, and landing technique. The exit tra;ner, looking rather like a large pigeon-loft, is high up at one end of the hangar. It gives embryo parachutists the sensation of an initial fall from the aircraft beforetheir parachute opens. Elsewhere in the hangar there are rings, ramps, slides and block-and-tackle equipment, on which the instructors teach the trainees the fundamentals of parachuting within easy reach of gymnasium-like matting on the hangar floor.These PJIs (parachute jumping instructors) each have a section of eight or fewer men and stay with them throughout their fourweeks' course. It is most important to induce confidence and keep up morale; drills must be driven home so that they becomeautomatic; and every precaution must be taken to avoid mistakes, which may have serious consequences. In the middle of the hangar are two gantries, known as"elementary flight trainers" and capable of supporting six trainee parachutists on either side. This equipment helps to teach thecorrect position on the way down, enabling the instructor to demonstrate what the parachutist should do with his legs andarms. At one side of the hangar is the block-and-tackle flight and landing trainer. On it, newcomers are taught how to land correctly,keeping their feet and knees together. This procedure comes in the second week's training at Abingdon. In another hangarnearby are two wooden mock-up fuselages, of a Hastings and Beverley, so that parachutists in training can learn the drill theyare to follow in the aircraft. In the open is a 70ft high tower from which controlled descents are made (rather like the reverse of Learning the fundamentals of parachuting in the training hangar at No 1 PTS, RAF Abingdon
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