Training Dominion Air Heroes

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1940, Page 10

Training Dominion Air Heroes

Importance Qt Ohakea Base

rTHE Royal New Zealand Air Force Station at Ohakea, planned under the air force development programme of 1937 to be, with a Isister -station at Whenuapai, the largest in New Zealand, is growing still, and growing so fast that only the irrimense field, roughly a mile each way,. remains on the scale of the 1937 plan. A personnel, of staff, instructors, ground staff, arid trainees, of 300 was then intended; now that figure is to be more than doubled. Even for the accommodation of 300 a sizeable township was built in permanent materials; now to meet war necessities new streets of wooden . buildings have built a town where there were farm lands a couple of years ago. More men mean more aircraft, and though the. two huge concrete hangars can hcruse the . aircraft at present on the station, their number will be trebled within a few months, and to house this new aircraft strength two more hangars and a hangar worshop are being built. No Air Force station stands complete in itself : Ohakea is one part of the New Zealand Air Force training picture, huge though it is in comparison with anything that New Zealand had before the 1937 expansion plan was given effect. Trainees move from station to station as they pass from' stage to stage of training. All pilots and observers being at the ground training school at- Weraroa. There they study theory, and gain experience in the atmosphere of the air force and its disciplinary and administration systems. but do not fly at all. Those who are to fly are transferred to elementary flying

training schools at Taieri, Otago; Harewood, Christchurch; and Bell Block, New Plymouth, and later to Whenuapai, when this station is in full swing. On passing out on practical and theoretical examination successes. they are transferred again to service flying training schools, intermediate and advanced, at other stations— Wigram, Canterbury; Woodbourne, Marlborough; and Ohakea, Manawatu. But in the air force there are far more rrien on the ground than in the air, engaged in 20 highly-skilled trades and crafts, and for these aircraftmen there are posting and repostings as training gives increasing efficiency. Rongotai, overflowing from the aerodromie proper to the exhibition buildings, is becoming the main training centre in mechanical work and in stores practice; Hobsonville specalises in stores and repairs; but training, and advancement proceeds at all the stations and bases. Wigram, Woodbourne. Ohakea, and Whenuapai are the big four,' but they are nevertheless just parts of the whole. Nor does the Royal New Zealand Air Force stand complete in itself. It is part of the Empire air training scheme. laid down since the outbreak of war and only now beginning to gain effect, and this partnership in the Empire programme, to expand without limit while the War continues. has necessitated amendment and reamendment of the 1937 plans. Prior to the 1937 programme . the greater number of the New Zealanders' joining the air force as flying perspnnel went direct to England and commenced their service training with the R.A.F., serving the period of their commissions in Britain. Egypt, the' East. or wherever it might be, before returnmg to New Zealand as highly-qualified reservists. The 1937 plan proposed .'that the direct entry system should be modified and that a proportion of air force officers, whether they were to serve in the expanding New Zealand air force or were to join the R.A.F.. should go through intensive training in New Zealand. to the degree of efficiency required for service in the Royal Air Force. That training policy dictated the first great building extension which *saw Wigram and Hobsonville doubled in accommodation and hangarage; Woodbourne, Ohakea and Whenuapai commenced. War descended and the Empire's air training capacity was replanned for greatest speed and efficiency under a common plan. The Empire air training scheme reverses the New Zealand training. plan in part. and iricreases its scope. A large number -pf pilots . will .still be fully trained in New Zealand before jnining the Royal Air Force; . In addition pilots will receive their • initial and elementary flying training in New Zealand and observers and air-gunners their initial training only before passing on to Canada to complete their training. The observer is a man of many parts, navigator. bomb-aimer. photographer. radiotelegraphist. whose training covers the widest field. The pilot and the observer work hand in glove, with honours and responsibilities at least resting evenly. When the change-over is made, tovvards the end of this year, Ohakea, which is now an intermediate and advanced training .school for both observers and air-gunners. will become a service flving training school, and as such will

concentrate on the training of pilots. It is to meet these new conditions that new hangars, more dormitories, lecture rooms, dining rooms, stores, and offices are being rushed up at Ohakea, to accommodate more than double the number of men for whom the permanent quarters were designed. The imniense arched concrete hangars at Ohakea - and Whenuapai— two , at each station, with provision on the ground plan for several more later on— were designed for the specific purpose of housing between them the 30 Wellington Vickers long-range bombers ordered for the Royal New Zealand Air Force as the main striking force. of the expanding regular air force. They were to have been flown from England to New Zealand by New Zealand pilots and crews, who had been selected and were practically ready to commence the first delivery. flights when' the war began. ' Men and rriachines have helped splendidly to build R.A.F. history in raids on naval bases ' in . Germany and in record flights and raids on enemy bases in Norway and into the heart of Germany. Of their part we will be tbld the detailed story later on; their flight to New Zealand is long deferred. Each of these arched hangars covers a greater area than a full-sized Rugby field, yet for all than span -and depth each would have housed not more than nine of the long-range bombers. They house many more of the smaller machines used in training— Vincents and Oxfords. and other types used for navigation and reconnaissance work. hut when the further change in plan is made in accordance with the Empire air training scheme the trebled machine strength will require more hangar space. Two more ar.e at present being built. These new hangars are big, but are dwarfed by the vastaess of. the concrete arches of the permanent hangars, and. being of lesser span, a,re built in lighter material and comparatively simple truss design. leaving the full hangar space free of pillars or obstructions. Each has a floor 125 by 255 feet, with a door opening, closed by 10 panels. 20 feet high. running back on each side on rails. The arched hangars are built for permanency. huge and solid, not intended to be bomb-proof. but designed to be blast and splinter-proo'f in walls, door panels ieach one weighs 24 tons), and sweeping roof. The smaller hangars are built with heavy wooden framing. steei roof trusses, asbestos corrugated covering. and framed sheet-iron door panels. Hangarage and workshops are combined in the permanent hangars. but the temporary hangars have a third hangar near Ihem ffor overhaul and repair work and ■the training in maintenance of motors, planes. and controls that commences in special ised schools and continues at each base and station of the air force. The field is. after more than a year's work.- practically finished. though maintenance upon a mile square surface, truer than anyone's fancy front lawn, has not stopped and will not stop. There are miles of main and herringbope drainage under the grass surface and their effectiveness has been now well proved by winter rains. At most,. while downpours last. the flood pools do not stop flying, and the drainage system carries ail surface water off in a few hours. A farm house and outbuildings have still to be removed from an outer area of the field, but the area is for the present ample for the types of machine flying at Ohakea. Radio communication— station to station. station to plane. plane to ground — is vital in air force organisalion. The main radio station at- Ohakea, for techni- 1

cal reasons, is well removed from the headquarters building. but it is, of course, in direct communication with the administration. Ohakea has its own meteorological station. part of the Dominion system. Observations of barometric/ pressure. temperature, cloud, wind,1 visibility. etc., are taken round the clock and radioed to the meteorological office ,at Wellington. Standard ground instruments. free hydrogen balloons foi upper air wind observations, and flights by meteorological observers a.re used. Hcavily-protected and guarded bomb and rnunitions stores are some distance removed. Off the regular landing field is the bombing range, plastered with practice bpmbs from elevations from low to high, up to two miles and more. Low cloud kills bombing practice on the range for the day or the half-day, but that merely means more hours when conditions are good enough, for the courses of instruction have a crowded miriimum of work to be carried out. Bombing practice goes on at the statipn, indoor. whatever the rnurk and however low the cloud outside. with the ingenious A.M.L. (Air Mi'nistry laboratoryL bomb dropping teacher. lt has every thing, but the expense, the hang. and the misery. The A.M.L. teacher is hous.ed in a lower room. The ground floor is a white-painted space to serve as a screen. upon which a landscape is pvojected ' from the top of the tower. The pUot and his bomb aimer work from a platform twelve or flfteen feet above the floor screen. The "insides" of the A.M.L. are above them again. The landscape moves fast or slow across the floor to represent air speed. elevation, and favourable or contrary wind. It runs. straight. or swirigs" this way or that. as the pilot flies his imaginary plane at the direction of the bomb aimer. lying prorie beside hina ' and pickir~ out his target over the bomb sights. f' he wind is dead ahead or dead on tail the picture landscape flows directly fore and aft; if there is a side wind it crabs underneath. At ten thousand feet with ,a plane that flies at 150 miles per hour, the: landscape crawls below, but with low bombing or the last word in bomber speed it clides. From 10,000 feet a . bomb. strikes in, say, 15 seconds, from lesser elevaticris in proportionately less time. The A.M.L. teacher is adjustable to give as many combinations of 'air speed, wind effect, elevation, and time of bomb fall as there are. but it cannot give bumps and trouble from anti-aircraft crews below. The combination of conditions — machine speed', wind (velocity and direction) and elevation— are set on the projection apparatus and the bombaimer adjusts his sights to the same conditions— 250 m.p.h.. 25-mile-an-hour wind, so many points off course— and the landscape moves across the fioor screen. The plane is swung this way or that. held to it. swung again and held. until the bomber has his sights on the target he has picked out. He "releases" the bomb, and a light glows on the landscape floor. That light spot. is where, for the conditions under which the practice is made, the bomb will strike. The landscape keeps on crabbing 'or crawling or sliding while the . theoretical bomb drops throueh unexpectedly long seconds determined by the apparatus above, till the bomb strikes and Ihe movement ceases. If the calculations and sighting were correct the cross roads. or whatever it is. will be plumb under the light; if the sighting was faulty the miss will be shown. No iridoor apparatus. however, cleverly designed and minutely acclirate in operation, can . veprocluce all the endlessly ; yarying conditions of the bombing ranjge, but the bomb dropping teacher; is' a most valuable introduction to actual Ijombing practice and a tre-

mendous saver of bombing range time, though it gives always ideal conditions, no bumps, silence, and unhampered concentration, and visibility without one wisp of cloud. Flying and bombing are backed hy study, study, and more study— navigation, airmanship, signals, photography, Air Force law, discipline, and adminis(ration. Navigation, a difficult art before it left ship deck and went into the air, involves study of instruments, navigation, some meteorology, maps and charts, and, always. mathematics. Armaments lectures and practice cover all types of guns and rnunitions. the theory of stoppages and dismantling of various weapons. Camera guns determine accuracy beyond argument in air practice. "Airmanship" is comprehensive in the extreme. dealing with such widely differing subjects as the rules of the air. signals, the theory of flight. the work of various officers on the station and in service flying, the object of formation flying, and reasons for air manoeuvres, the effects of . high altitude upon. craft and its physical effects upon , the crew, medical considerations arising from service flying, Ihe- qualities of • a leader, etc. The parachute sectioh, in addition to maintaining the .parachutes, instructs . in their handling. "Rigging and engines" embraces the theory of engine and flying controlsi the purpose and usage of; flaps, the retractable undercarriage, trimming tabs; thc carburettor and supercharser; a hundred engine items come in along the list. Eight words a minute on the buzzer are. required of a pupil after Ti is signal course and six words a minute on the, Aldis lamp. In advanced trainirig in-, struction in. the use of radio is given in the air. And those lectures. studies, and courses — and there are . more besides— explain why. from the boundary of the station. so little seems to haopen on days when clouds harig low and no flying is done On those days the 300 men' , now at Ohakea. might seem to he in bed, waiting for the sky to lift: but far from it in fact": "they are building the foundation, on the ground. in workshops. lecture rooms. and special equipment and study ssctions, from which air force success begins.