TRADES TRAINING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 12 January 1944, Page 3

TRADES TRAINING

AIR FORCE SYSTEM SPECIAL ENGINE SCHOOL IN NELSON AREA The companion of the Air Frame School at the Technical Trade Training School on the Royal New Zealand Air Force establishment in the Nelson area is the Engine School. This trains flight mechanics, whom it takes again later after they have had experience at an operational station and advances them to the more highly skilled degree of fitters 2E (states a writer in the “N.Z. Herald.”) Housed in or near buildings that contain the Engine School are two other sections of the men sent to the station for instruction. They are photographers, who for the most part come from commercial practice, and machine tool setters. The school also takes drivers, petrol mechanics, men who will be used and will be responsible for the driving and maintenance of Air Force transport. They include a fairly good proportion of skilled mechanics from civilian life, but they have to be trained to the exacting service standards. ROW ON ROW OF ENGINES The Engine School as equipped for the of flight mechanics contains a number of lecture rooms and row upon row of aircraft engines, such as the simple Gypsy, the Pegasus, the Kestrel, Wasp, Allison and a large number of others, either “in-line” or radial types. There is a Rolls-Royce Merlin, which has been “sectionised,” as it is called, or so cut that the complete runrfing of the engine can be seen, and even a Daimler Benz engine from a Messerschmitt 109. Hudsons, Liberators, Fortresses, many famous types have helped to give the school the equipment it has to have, for mechanics cannot be completely trained to maintain and overhaul engines they have not seen, even although the principles of the many engines of the various types may be the same. MEN START IN BASIC SCHOOL As with the flight riggers, the mechanics go first of all to the Basic School to prepare themselves for the harder work of the Engine School and to learn the elementary knowledge and fundamentals of their future trade. They progress thence, after thoroughly learning the use of tools and taking lectures in a number of subjects, such as metallurgy, to preliminary engines. The Gypsy gives them a comprehensive grasp of a typical and simple aero engine and they learn how to dismantle it and how it runs. They go on to the components of engines, learning all the parts, their uses, their structure and their significance. Carburetters then receive the men’s attention, and after that they progress to the maintenance and installation of engines. For this part of their training, in addition to the many engine;, that stand in rows in the hangar they have the benefit of a number which have been made mobile by fitting to old trucks. They can be taken easily to some distance from the men in the lecture rooms and spaces, and there can be run as much as is needed without fear of disturbing anybody. There is also a mobile test bench to which can be fitted any engine at all for various necessary trials. VARIOUS AIRCRAFT USED In addition, the school has at its disposal much the same number and range of aircraft as are possessed by the Air Frame School. There are two long rows of Vincents and Hawker Hinds, or Variants as they are often called, a Harvard, Hudson and a few others. On these machines the flight mechanics work as they would have to work on an operational station, checking the engine and the other parts for which mechanics are responsible according to the tasks assigned to mem, and learning procedure by duly signing the necessary forms to certify that the job has been done. Much the same progression of ‘instruction is followed when the flight mechanics later return to qualify, as fitters 2E. They start with basic fitting, go on to engine repair, studying particularly the Pegasus and Kestrel engines, then proceed to components, after that spending a week on carburetters, devoting much time also to magnetos and finishing with installation. They are expected when they leave the station to be capable of undertaking the complete overhaul of any aircraft engine. As with the Air Frame School, this is no more than the merest outline of the Engine School and the training it gives. The work done in both the schools can be appreciated properly only when it can be seen and inspected. Both take men from almost any occupation and transform them into tradesmen who are so sufficiently qualified that the school has won golden opinions for its work. A few months’ training is not a long time, but by stripping the syllabus to essentials the output has been maintained without damage to the aircraft placed 1 under the men’s care when they reach operational stations.