ACTIVITIES AT WIGRAM

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25272, 26 August 1947, Page 6

ACTIVITIES AT WIGRAM

POST-WAR TRAINING NAVIGATION AND FLYING SCHOOLS In line with the .policy of the Aar Department, all schools connected with flying training in the Royal New Zealand Air Force have been concentrated at Wigram aerodrome, and although auiet compared with the busy days of the war, the station is one of the smartest and most active in New Zealand to-day. It comprises a large and up-to-date air navigation school, a flying training school, an electrical and wireless school, and a recruit training depot. Numerically tlfe strength of the station is well below its war-time peak; but it is now the second largest R.N.Z.A.F. establishment in the Dominion. . , J x , One of the major jobs undertaken by the air navigation school when it was transferred from New Plymouth after the war was the training of navi-gator-wireless operators to become crews of the Mosquito aircraft being ferried from Great Britain to New Zealand. Equipped with Hudsons and Ansons, the school is at present providing refresher courses for navigators and pilots. Some fighter pilots who returned recently from Japan are being given conversion courses on to twin-engined aircraft. The Hudsons are usea as advanced trainers and are fitted with the latest aids to navigation. such as air position indicators and gyro-magnetic compasses. Students receive a thorough ground and air training in astro-navigation, using the most modern sextants, dead reckoning' navigation, mathematics, instruments, maps, and charts, radio and radar, and administration. A certain amount of refresher flying, including long night cross-country flights as far as the Chatham Islands, is also done. The courses last 14 weeks.

Training Devices A full. range of synthetic training devices is maintained by the school. Work with radar in the air can be stimulated by the use of A.S.V equipment, and a Loran long range navigational aid like that installed in Dakota aircraft, by which accurate fixes up to 1200 miles can be obtained. Tne set is the American counterpart of the British “Gee-box,” which was used extensively by Pathfinder Forces and Bomber Command during the war. Instructors hope to complete the synthetic radio training room seen, with tne addition of more modern equipment, including an automatic radio compass and “radio An interesting machine developed in New Zealand by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is proving of great use in the demonstration of deadreckoning navigation problems. The only flying training school left in the Dominion, Nd. 1, F.T.S., undertakes a variety of jobs from the work of a central flying unit which trains instructors, to ferrying aircraft and passengers. Civilian pilots with B commercial licences who wish to get an instructor’s rating, must pass a flying test set by the Controller of Civil Aviation, and given by the school’s instructors. A number of members of aero clubs have already been successful. On the service side, the school caters for all flying instruction, pilot’s refresher courses, advanced flying training and experimental and conversion work. It is equipped with Tiger Moths. Oxfords. Harvards, and Hudsons. Night-flying-circuits and landings are done regularly in preparation for cross-country navigation exercises.