TRADES TRAINING

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24785, 7 January 1944, Page 4

TRADES TRAINING

AIR FORCE METHODS DIFFICULT COURSES NELSON PROVINCE SCHOOLS No. IV. The future Royal Ngw Zealand Air Force tradesmen who are to be found in the* Basic, Engine or Air Frame Schools of the Technical Training School in. the Nelson Province have had several weeks' preparation for their courses at the Preliminary Technical lraining School before they are posted there. Now they receive a few months' intensive instruction in courses which have been stripped to_ the bare bones from peacetime training that might have taken several years. This is a fair measure of the difficulty of the courses and the need for their utmost willingness and application. On arrival they are separated into the groups—riggers, mechanics or driver petrol mechanics—which the aptitude tests have suggested are most suitable for them. They do not all succeed. Understandably, they are. not potentially isuch good basic material as the men [who earlier in the war could be drawn from civilian technical trades, but e\en so the instructors are confident of their ability to make good and satisfactory riggers and mechanics out of any material if the material is willing.

Somd Do-Not Succeed Some are unwilling and fall by the wayside. Some become sick and cannot complete the courses. Some get entanglements of the heart and lose concentration. But, nevertheless, wastage is surprisingly small. Part of the course wastage is remustered to service tasks more suitable for their abilities or mental outlook; part is given a further chance to succeed. * It would be impossible to detail the courses, but some idea of their demands can be outlined. • Flight riggers, whose duties are far more comprehensive than people imagine, so transcending the repair of holes in wings, fuselage and tail planes that most persons who saw them at work would think they were mechanics, 6tart at the basic school. Intensive and Comprehensive

Here they learn such things relevant to their trade and their understanding of it as can be gained from lectures and .practice on, in or with tools, metallurgy, bending, riveting,: splicing, lashing and the theory of flight. They progress to carpentry and the training in the practical use of tools, fitting, assembly, cleaning off and inspection of metal'work exercises, applied mechanics, stresses and strains, minor repairs of longerons, methods of- setting out, cutting and shaping, fitting, assembly and | ghiing. ! They go to lectures on timbers, grain deviation, defects, testing, conversion and seasoning, practical splicing and jointing, glues, plywoods, timber j shrinkages, fabric and rigging. They i learn types of fabric, ladder stitching, ! repairs bv darning, insertion patches, jdopes and doping, rigging tools and basic principles of aircraft construction, j spars, cantilevers, ribs, jacking and disI mantling. Then they learn hydraulics land finally the maintenance of aircraft !by inspection and overhaul. They learn I procedure, how there are Air DepartIhient forms which they as flight riggers jhave to fill and sign when, after they have passed out and been posted to i stations, they are given individual | tasks in the regular inspection and j maintenance of operational aircraft. i All these and other subjects are ! taken in sequence, so that as they progress through the course what they learn and what they do fits in by application to a sound understanding of the job'which they are being taught. Many Aircraft Used

i They have a great deal of equipment tto help them. More is constantly being I sought, which is a sign that the school itself is always trying to improve | itself, but what there is there now would have staggered the instructors | themselves 18 months ago and would } amaze anybody who could see it now. | There are many aircraft which not so I long ago would have had to be flying | because of the emergency needs of that jday.

There are Vincents, a Hudson, an I Airspeed Oxford, Hawker Hinds, ; Moths, a Harvard, fabric covered, plywood. metal, and into their .construc- \ tion and controls the riggers delve ■with increasing knowledge and comprehension. The Oxford was built up by the Training School itself in the days when it was located in the Wellington area and was flown to its present location. In rooms behind the hangar there are mock-ups of the under-carriages of several types of aircraft, so the riggers can study very easily the hydraulics of the retractable under-carriages and of the wing flaps. The school will soon be taking a group under instruction in safety work. This concerns itself greatly with dinghies and rescue gear and an ex-cellently-fitted-out section is fast being prepared. More Advanced Work In addition to the riggers the school trains fitters 2A, men who as riggers have had experience on operational stations and have now coiue back to take the university course of their trade. They do much more advanced work than the riggers and are expected when they have passed out to be able to I undertake the complete overhaul of all the sections of an aircraft which are the riggers', as distinct from the mechanics', responsibility. However, neither the flight riggers nor the fitters 2A pass out from the school until they have undergone their final ordeal. Always under test during their training and periodically examined in what they have learned, they now face the Centra] Trade Test Board, a visiting group of experts who have the authority to give every man the degree of his qualification in his trade, that of Aircraftman 11., Aircraftman I. or Leading Aircraftman. This examination underlines what has already been emphasised, the rigidity of the Air Force's wise requirement that every man must be tested and tested and tested in his training, or _ complete j thoroughness and accuracy will never j be achieved. j (To be continued)

IMPORTED FOODSTUFFS

EXHAUSTION OF SUPPLIES Housewives in Auckland have already begun to realise that the comparative liberality of grocers a few weeks before Christmas in meeting requests for tinned and dried fruits and spices was the result of a special seasonal release by authority of the Ministry of Supply. A large proportion of such commodities, it is understood, came from stocks thathad been accumulated at strategic centres to meet any civil emergency. All stocks then made available, it was stated yesterday, have now been exhausted, and any releases made in the future must be on a small scale. Baked beans, spaghetti, asparagus and tinned soup are also in very short supply and are expected to remain so, but golden syrup, mustard and matches are more easily bought than for several months past. Supplies of • rice, sago, tapioca and similar grains are still restricted and the resumption of full shipments must await a change for the better in the international situation, just as the suplily of tinned goods is dependent upon the priority demands of the armed forces and the quantities of tinplate released to canners for civilian stocks.

RECORD MAKO SHARK (0.C.) TAURANGA, Thursday Advice has been received from the secretary of International Game Fish Association. New York, that the 10001b. mako shark caught off Mayor Island by Leading-Aircraftman B. D. H. Ross on March 14, 1943, has been offifinllv rerosrnisprl 15 the world record, all tackle, luaky catch.