AIR TRAINING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 February 1942, Page 2

AIR TRAINING

MASTERTON UNITS PROPOSED building up reserve. FOUNDATION FOR LATER SERVICE It is proposed to establish in Masterton units of the Air Training Corps. Wing Commander G. A. Nicholls, Commandant of the Air Training Corps, Wellington, visited Masterton yesterday to make preliminary inquiries as to the possibility of units being set up locally.

After having a discussion with the Principal of Wairarapa College, Mr F. J. Gair, and the College authorities, Wing Commander Nicholls said it was probable that a school unit would be established at the College. If sufficient recruits offered a town unit would also be formed but if there were not enough recruits for that purpose a correspondence course would be arranged. Enquiries regarding those wishing to join the town unit should be made to Mr H. A. R. Dunderdale, secretary of the Wairarapa and Ruahine Aero Club. “The Air Training Corps has been established,” Wing Commander Nicholls pointed out, “to provide New Zealand boys and young men with a foundation of training in service and educational subjects that will fit them for entry into the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It is a war time effort and the object of the Air Training Corps is to build up reserves for the Air Force. If a boy is going into the Air Force the sooner he starts his training the more efficient he will be as a member of the Air Force.” All branches of the Air Force required a high degree of technical skill and a sound knowledge of the principles of aviation, said Wing Commander Nicholls. Physical fitness was just as important as technical skill and formed an important part of the Air Training Corps programme. The training syllabus was based on the elementary training of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The training aim was to enlarge the field for recruitment for the Royal New Zealand Air Force by bringing cadets up to the educational and physical standard required for entry into the Royal New Zealand Air Force, to give cadets a grounding in Air Force subjects which would enable thpm to absorb instruction more rapidly when they commenced service training and to provide information to selection committees as to the degree in which individual cadets possessed the ability and characteristics required of air crew personnel or as to their suitability for employment in technical trades.

Cadet membership was voluntary. The age of entry for town units was 161 to 18 years and of school units and correspondence cadets 15 to 18 y?ars. Wing Commander Nicholls stressed the fact that the consent of parents was required before any application for enrolment could be considered. That consent was for enrolment in the Air Training Corps only and did not imply consent to enlist in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Candidates for enrolment in town units were required to appear before a Unit Selection Board and to pass a medical examination to ensure they were potentially up to Royal New Zealand Air Force medical standard. In the case of school units, the selection of cadets was the responsibility of the O.C. of the school unit and the school authorities, who would also be responsible for ensuring that cadets were up to the necessary medical standard. Cadets enrolled as members of the Air Training Corps were exempt from Territorial service while serving with the Air Training Scheme. Cadets belonging to town units would be provided with uniforms of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

Town units (youths 161 to 18 years) it was explained, were formed in each centre where a sufficient number of youths were available to form an Air Training Corps unit. Youth attending at secondary schools might be enrolled as members of the town unit, but in all cases the recommendation of the headmaster of the school was taken into consideration. Town units were commanded by officers appointed to Air Training Corps commissions. School units (membership from boys attending school, aged 15 to 18 years) were administered by officers appointed from the school staff except where no suitable officer was available and application might be made for an officer to be appointed to an Air Training Corps commission to command the unit. Boys and yopths from 15 to 18 years of age who were attending a secondary school where there was no Air Training Corps school unit or who lived in the country or in a centre where no Air Training Corps town unit was formed might enrol as correspondence cadets. They would receive training by correspondence and arrangements for special courses would be made where possible.