WAR STUDIES

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21195, 19 August 1940, Page 9

WAR STUDIES

AIR FORCE STUDENTS EXTENSION OF CLASSES HAMILTON COURSE GROWING With about 140 candidates for the Royal New Zealand Air Force interviewed in Hamilton last week by the air crew selection committee, the evening classes at the Hamilton High School for future members of the air force have had to be extended. The Director of Educational Services of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, Mr E. Caradus, stated in an interview in Hamilton that new classes would commence at the High School on Mondav. September 9. “The educational scheme to give candidates preliminary instruction prior to being called up for the ground training school is of great value, not only to ensure a continuous supply of men of the right tvpe for the air force, but also to give men who have not the reauired standard of education an opportunity to become sufficiently proficient in the necessary subjects in order to serve with the air force,” said Mr Caradus. Nearly All Selected Nearly all the men who were interviewed in Hamilton as prospective members of the air crew were of a good type, Mr Caradus added, and nearly all were accented for appointments as airmen-pilots, air-observers, or air gunners, subject to their passing the medical examination. The No. 3 class which would commence at the Hamilton High School on September 9 would comprise about 35 men, the remainder who passed the medical examinaiton being country residents, who would take the correspondent course provided by the Air Department.

As previously, the No. 3 group will comprise a short and a long class. The short class will continue for three months for those candidates whose educational qualifications are somewhat higher than the men who will require the long course of five months. The majority of the candidates who will attend the No. 3 class will take the long course of five months. Plans For New Classes The No. 2 class for Air Force candidates has been in progress since the beginning of July, arithmetic and algebra being studied on Monday nights under Mr H. D. Tait, principal of the Hamilton High School, and trigonometry and mechanics on Tuesday nights under Mr A. H. Malcolm, a master of the school. Mr Caradus stated that the No. 3 group would study trigonometry and mechanics under Mr Malcolm on Monday nights, and arithmetic and algebra under Mr E. G. Pressley, a master of the school, on Tuesday nights. An innovation in preliminary education for Air Force candidates was a morse signalling class, Mr Caradus went on. Both the No. 2 and the No. 3 classes would take the signalling course, which was first introduced for the No. 2 class on July 1. These classes were also being held at the Hamilton High School. Pilots and observers studying in the No. 2 class group were taking signalling on Wednesday and gunners on Thursday nights. There would be a reorganisation for the No. 3 class candidates. Signalling Tuition Instructors for the signalling classes were officers of the Post and Telegraph Department, Messrs W. J. Cummings. E. Sweeney, W. Ineson and P. L. Bateman. The equipment was being provided by the Post and Telegraph Department, any charges involved being met by the Air Department. Mr Caradus intimated that 65 of the signal classes were being conducted throughout New Zealand, the majority being held at post offices. In Hamilton, however, accommodation was not available at the post office. The signalling classes would be of the same duration as the educational classes, the short-term group studying signalling for three months and the long-term group taking it for five months. That meant that candidates In the short-term group would require to come up to the same standard of proficiency in signalling in the shorter time as the other candidates acauired within the longer period. For some time plans had been under consideration for establishing the signalling classes, Mr Caradus stated. A start was not made until July, however, but even in the short time they had been in operation the work achieved had been remarkably good. “I am satisfied that it will be a valuable addition to the educational course. Officers of the Post and Telegraph Department are throwing themselves into it wholeheartedly,” he said. Standard Required “We are hoping,” added Mr Caradus, “that every man entering the Air Force will, before reaching the ground training school, have attained a speed in morse signalling of at least eight words a minute both ways.” To meet the needs of country candidates who could not attend the classes in signalling at the Hamilton High School, broadcast lessons had been instituted. Each lesson was repeated on two different nights so that every man would have an opportunity of hearing it at least once. Last week the first broadcast of the fourth lesson was heard. The broadcasts were given from 2YC Wellington and re-broadcast from IYX Auckland, and 4YO Dunedin. Previously the broadcasts were from 5.45 until 7 p.m. Within a week, said Mr Caradus. the time would be extended and the lessons

would be heard between 6.35 and 7 p.m. “The object of the signalling tuition is to enable candidates to become as proficient as possible before they enter the ground training schools. Thus more time will be left for other studies.”