Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1943. THE AIR TRAINING CORPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 January 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1943. THE AIR TRAINING CORPS

JN a recent broadcast address, the Commandant of the Air Training Corps, Wing Commander G. A. Nicholls, dealt in an interesting and arresting fashion with, what that organisation has to offer to the youth of the Dominion. Not the least important point he made was that, apart from and in addition to 1 preparation for possible war service, membership of the corps offers an introductory training of permanent value, looking to horizons extending far beyond that of the present war.

A lad joining the Air Training Corps is not. thereby committed to joining the Royal New Zealand Air Force. On his attaining the age of 18 it will remain entirely open to him to choose between the Air Force and some other branch of the fighting services. Naturally, however, membership of the corps will appeal primarily to lads for whom air service has a more br less definite attraction, and while the Avar lasts there will be an increasing .flow of recruits from the corps into the Air Force. In his address, Wing Commander Nicholls mentioned that during 1942 some hundreds of Air Training Corps cadets who had reached the age of 18 volunteered for air service ami joined the Air Force, and that thousands of additional cadets would be reaching the age for service this year.

It should be noted, however, that the range of service offered to these cadets is wide and does not relate only to the flying and manning of aircraft. At least ten skilled workers in various trades, Wing Commander Nicholls observed, ..are needed for every man in the air.

Providing as it does an introduction to all branches of air service, membership of the Air Training Corps offers education and training of a practical and vocational kind which will retain their value, as has been said, after the Avar has come to an end. There cannot be any doubt that rapid and enormous strides will be made' in the development of civil and commercial aviation when the world is again at peace.

Before the Avar a very extensive network of passenger and express transport air lines was already servilng continental and other land areas and ocean-spanning services had been much more than pioneered. In the post-war world a, great impetus will be given, to the extension of these services, not least by the technical and other experience gained in stress 01. Avar conditions.

It is likely too, that although, in the conditions of world order and security the United Nations are intent on establishing, purely national air forces may progressively be reduced to a minimum, air formations under international control may have for an indefinite time to come an important part to play in maintaining and safeguarding peace ,when h as been re-established.

On all grounds, including that of geographical location, New Zealand may be expected to play its full part in the far-reach-ing development of aviation which plainly is in prospect. Both at an immediate view, in its important contribution to war preparation, and at a longer view, the Air Training Corps is a valuable organisation, offering useful practical help and guidance to the youth of the Dominion. It is an organisation in which lads, in the years after they leave school, or in their later years at school, may be tested and tried out and may determine for themselves whether they are inclined to and fitted for any form of air service, whether in the operation of aircraft or in any one of the various skilled trades concerned with the servicing, maintenance and repair, and perhaps also the manufacture of the most modern form of fighting craft and transport vehicle. ,