FLYING TRAINING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26637, 6 December 1947, Page 8

FLYING TRAINING

AIR CORPS CADETS INCENTIVE TO ENLISTMENTS P.A. WELLINGTON, Dec. 5. It is expected that the first cadets under the scheme for the flying training of A.T.C. cadets, recently announced by the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, will begin flying within the next week. This was announced today by the commandant of the Air Training Corps, Wing Commander K. W. Trigance, who said some 180 eligible cadets had been interviewed and were awaiting the results of medical examinations. Those passing would be drafted to aero clubs throughout New Zealand for training. The standard of the applicants was high, Wing Commander Trigance said, and exceptional enthusiasm for entry into the A.T.C. had resulted from the inauguration of the scheme. The course, which was part of the training syllabus for town unit cadets, constituted a major incentive to personnel to achieve a high standard of qualification in their ground traihing. . The present strength of the A.T.C. was some 5000 cadets, with 3000 of them undergoing elementary and general instruction in A.T.C. school units and 2000 undergoing advanced and more specialised training in town units. The number of potential aircrew cadets qualifying for such training was approximately 220 to 250 each year, and thus the majority of cadets who passed the. medical examination would undergo flying training under the scheme. > Commenting on, the selection method, Wing Commander Trigance said a large percentage of the eligible cadets had completed at least three years' secondary school education, and as they had accordingly completed at least two years’ elementary training in a. school A.T.C. unit before passing on to more advanced training, selections in those cases ’had been made during the cadets’ second year of membership in a town unit. For other applicants, two years of town unit training was taken as the normal basis for those who possessed the required standard of education. Cadets with special qualifications, however, were judged according to their individual merits. Flying by cadets would be carried out before and after work on week days at week-ends and during the cadets’ annual holidays.