AIR TRAINING CORPS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 263, 5 August 1942, Page 4

AIR TRAINING CORPS

Its Part In The Defence Scheme Wing Commander G. A. Nicholls, commandant of the Air Training Corps, described to members of the Wellington Rotary Club yesterday what the corps meant, why it had been founded, and to what extent the defence of the country depended on its success. He said it had its rise in the Air Training Cadet Corps of Great Britain, originated in 1938 with the object of interesting the'youth of the country in aviation, and with the knowledge that the subject had then been made compulsory in many of the secondarv schools on the Continent. It had been developed in England till it now had some 200,060 trainees and about <OOO part-time officers. Similar corps had also been instituted in Canada, Australia, and, latest of all. in Rhodesia. The object of the corps was to buna up reserves of airmen for the future, and the training that was offered youths ot from 15 to 18 years was calculated to give them a foundation which would serve them in good stead if they elected to join the Air Force when they reached tho age of service. The course ot training was also a means of ascertaining what branch a young man was best suited for. Not all the boys who wished to fly made good pilots. The need for a serviceable body ot youths to take up flying was more than ever apparent, and to make the easy early training was being given now in the secondary and technical schools ot this country. The Education Department was co-operating witji enthusiasm, and he could not say too much in appreciation of what tlie masters were doing in their desire to help. These boys wanted most of all a sound education and a good physique. A knowledge mathematics was most, necessary, tor m a machine that travelled 250 miles an hour rapid calculations had to be made, and there was no room for mistakes. The physique must be developed, for an airman was often called on to work under trying conditions, through which only a. lit man could come.