AERO ENGINEERING

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 36, 11 August 1936, Page 11

AERO ENGINEERING

PLAINS FOR RONGOTAI

PROPOSAL TO COUNCIL

Proposals are to go before the City Council for formal approval for the erection of a repair and maintenance workshop for aircraft just outside the boundary of the Rongotai Aerodrome, near Moa Point. The applicants are Airwork (N.Z.), Ltd., the principals being Messrs. Brazier Bros., who have had a wide experience in aircraft maintenance- and repairs. The elder brother is an exR.A.F. man and came to New Zealand as engineer to the Canterbury Aero Club and later became engineer to East Coast Airways. They propose to pay particular attention to the "stressed-skin" construction, which is a feature of the Phillips and Powis family of aircraft (Hawk, Falcon, Peregrine, etc.), but their work will cover the full range of servicing and repairing. The building proposed is so designed as to allow of considerable expansion in the future as the volume of work increases.

Another interesting development is the proposal of Mr. E. F. G. Sharp, an ex-R.F.C. and ex-R.A.F.' airman, to commence a series of lectures upon the principles of ground engineering. Mr. Sharp joined the Royal Flying Corps shortly before the war as a mechanic and later gained a commission in the Royal Air Force.

Mr. Sharp's first plan is for a course of lectures covering the fundamentals of aircraft construction and maintenance, beyond which further study will lead to the examinations for the ground engineer's A. and C. licences. He believes that there are probably at least a hundred young men in Wellington who will welcome the opportunity of learning something about aeroplane construction and of making, themselves useful in the event of emergency, when an immediate necessity would arise for mechanics, and in planning the course Mr. Sharp has aimed at providing material that will form a sound, basis of training and at the same time will be of general interest. To be of maximum usefulness, a course, he said, has to provide not only for those who are merely interested in aviation as a hobby, but for those who are adopting flying as their profession. The lectures are mapped o.Ut so that those with no mechanical training will be able to derive benefit from them as well as those who have mechanical knowledge, but who lack actual aircraft experience.

Mr. Sharp has indicated that if success attends the initial venture, plans will be made for the establishment of facilities for ground engineers' training in Wellington. It was absurd, he remarked, that all ground engineering aspirants should have to go down to Wi^ram Aerodrome and go through courses there before they could get their licences.

"The present ground staffs would be hopelessly inadequate in the event of a crisis, and I feel that we should prepare for all contingencies," Mr. Sharp s^aid. "The expansion of the Air Force at Home, indicates that there is an urgent need for trained personnel in all departments of aviation, and not only there, but here." .

The proposal has the support of the Wellington Aero Club and has been favourably commented upon by others directly interested in. ■ aviation.