TECHNICAL SIDE OF AIR FORCE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 110, 3 February 1941, Page 6

TECHNICAL SIDE OF AIR FORCE

Maintenance And 'Ground Stall’ TrainingPROGRESS IN N.Z. REVIEWED It was early in 1937 that the New Zealand Government decided to increase its Air Force ami turned to the Royal Air Force for advice and assistance. To give the required advice, Group Captain, now Air Commodore, Cochrane, was selected by the British Air Ministry to proceed to New Zealand. His recommendations were adopted by tlie Government and the following two years saw the foundations laid which have made possible New Zealand’s vast air war effort, said Wing Commander Crocker, who lias been on loan to the New Zealand Government from the Royal Air Force for the last three years, in a broadcast talk last night. Wing Commander Crocker has been closely associated with the building up of the technical side of the R.N.Z.A.F. His talk dealt with the maintenance of aircraft of the R.N.Z. A.F. and with ground staff training. “Aircraft are complicated pieces of mechanism to the uninitiated and it requires specialization by tradesmen to understand and maintain the various parts,” he said. “The Royal New Zealand Air Force adopted the Royal Air Force division of trade groupings which divides aircraft maintenance men into the fitter or mechanic who services the engine, the rigger who services the airframe or chassis, the armourer who services bomb fittings and gun mountings and who fits the bombs and guns, the wireless mechanic who services the radio, the electrician, who deals with all electrical equipment and the instrument repairer who looks after all flying instruments. Daily Inspection. “The maintenance system comprises inspections by airmen of each trade group each day before an aircraft flies, between each flight of the aircraft, after 30 hours flying, after 60 hours flying and so on iu multiples of 30 until 180 hours is reached, when a special or major inspection is given. “In addition to this inspection and servicing work, complete workshop overhauls are given at definite periods which vary for each aircraft type, but which approximate to 600 hours for an aero engine and 1000 hours’ flying time for an airframe. These complete overhauls entail stripping down every component into its small parts, cleaning, checking for wear and defects, replacing parts if necessary, reassembling and testing; the airframe or engine emerges from the workshop as good as new. Analysis of Accidents. “This system ensures that aircraft are as safe mechanically as it is possible to make them. The proof of its soundness has been that no fatal accident has occurred in the Royal New Zealand Air Force because of mechanical failure.

“An analysis of accidents classed as serious in the Royal New Zealand Air Force since the duration of the war, which has been a critical period of expansion involving many difficulties, shows that 90 per cent, have been the result of human element or errors of judgment on the part of pilots, 5 per cent, the result of the human element in maintenance, and 5 per cent, the result of causes impossible to ascertain. “The accident rate of the Royal New Zealand Air Force works out at less than two accidents for every 1,000,000 miles flown, which is half the number of serious motor accidents on the roads, per million miles travelled during 1937-38.

“Sound training of the ground staff tradesmen is as essential as a sound maintenance system. The technical training system is carefully planned and organized throughout its stages. The selection committee lias the task of finding the tradesmen and arrangements are made for periodical-visits to all the towns in the North and South Islands. Rongotai Training School. “The technical training school at Rongotai deserves special mention, as it is the largest of the training schools. The workshops now stand on the site of the Maori concert hall and motor industry exhibits of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition. They are divided into what are termed in the service as “shops.” There is the basic fitting shop, where the airmen learn to file and fit to an accuracy within a few thousandths of an ineb. There is the magneto shop, the carburettor shop, the elementary and advanced engine instruction shops, engine components and accessories shop, sheet metal workers’ shop, blacksmiths’ and heat treatment shop, the fabric and doping shops, the carpenters’ shop, the machine shop, aircraft assembly shop, aircraft repair shop, engine installation shop, and au aircraft hangar where airmen do practical maintenance work on aircraft as they will be required to do when they subsequently reach their Air Force aerodromes.

“All the technical instruction at these schools is given on Royal Air Force lines, and the Dominion owes a debt to those airmen of the Royal Air Force who came out as instructors with their 10 years and more of service experience. .They have provided the backbone of the ground staff training.”