AIR TRAINING

INSTRUCTION UNIT

- The mobile instructional unit of the Air Training Corps/which provides, an insight into the vicious forms of aircrew training, will be on view in the Wellington district from tomorrow. This interesting display of Air Force training equipment will be at Lower Hutt tomorrow and at Eastbourne the following day. On July 21 it will move into the city and will be located at Liberty Corner. The next day a visit will be paid to Paraparaumu and the remainder of the month will be devoted to touring the suburbs. In all towns where it has been shown the Air Force display has been described as the most interesting exhibition of the war period. With skilled technicians and instructors accompanying the unit, parents of Air Training Corps cadets are able to gain from their explanations and actual demonstrations a fairly complete picture of the work their sons are doing.

EQUIPMENT DESCRIBED.

Consisting of three modern transport vehicles equipped as mobile workshops and display booths, the unit marks a departure in technical air training, and presents an aeronautical exhibition of unusual interest Manufactured and assembled almost entirely in R.N.Z.A.F. workshops, the unit travels as a road convoy. The first two vehicles are large pantechnicons. One is so constructed that one side will fold down to floor level, the lowered side becoming a platform. This vehicle contains several aircraft engines, all sectioned in a way that allows the layman to see how they function. On the second vehicle is mounted a Harvard training aircraft complete but for the wings and tail unit, and in every other way an exact counterpart of those in which * Air Force trainees receive their early flying instruction. Cadets can climb into the aircraft and operate the controls, causing the undercarriage to go down and retract. Tne third vehicle carries the armament display, a notable feature of which is the Bolton Paul gun turret as used in certain types of Allied bombers. Because of its size and the maze of electrical gear, the gun turret—which mounts two Browning air machine-guns—has attracted wide interest. Other features include a 20 m.m. air cannon, sectioned bombs, bomb-racks, bomb-sights, air cameras, wireless equipment, and other interesting pieces of Air Force apparatus. While the unit offers a great general appeal, its primary purpose is a means of providing a material background to the studies of the Air Training corps. The purpose of the tour is to augment the equipment already in ilus at the A.T.C. units visited and.to stimulate recruiting throughout the Dominion. ________