Another contingent of ATC boys including many from Ilford and Barkingside, qualified for their gliding "A" certificates presented by the Royal Aero Club at the Fairlop airfield on Saturday.
A Kirby Cadet as used by the ATC comes into land at Fairlop
ATC gliding lessons started at Fairlop during the war. The idea being to train the boys with a view to becoming operational aircrew. Training takes place at the airfield on Tuesday and Friday evenings and at weekends and is superintended by fully qualified instructors.
Fairlop is one of the most successful glider schools in the country because the training is kept up in all weathers whether it be maintenance, ground instruction or actual flying when weather permits.
There are about 40 boys in a class of five weeks duration, the time it takes to learn gliding. All the lads are as keen as mustard the camp out on the drome at weekends, cooking their own meals, generally roughing it and thoroughly enjoying themselves.
A special food permit enables us to organise a canteen. The complete training course takes from 4 to 6 weeks depending on the weather. The new recruits started with ground instruction, which includes taking the gliders to pieces and reassembling them. Next, the lads go through all the flying routine by moving along the ground in a glider and learning how to manipulate the controls and the general idea of flight.
Gliders are fixed by a steel rod cable to winches at the other end of the airfield and as experienced operators wind up the winches, the glider moves across the airfield almost completely controlled by the winch. When they recruit has learnt to handle the controls, the winch is wound up a little faster and the glider leaves the ground in short hops. Thus, the gliding is a taught in easy stages, higher and higher until the instructor is perfectly sure of his recruits ability to handle the machine.
When 100 per cent confidence has been achieved, then the lads are allowed to do their first small circuit of the airfield. As soon as the glider reaches a certain height, the pilot pulls a switch that releases the cable' (he is helped if necessary by signals from his instructor on the ground whom he can clearly see), then the glider flies smoothly around the drome until the pilot lands, always with perfect ease.
All the ATC recruit pilots have a flying logbook, which records the hours of flight. The ATC cadets throng the Fairlop airfield in all weathers just waiting for a break. There is, however room for plenty more local boys whom they shall be very pleased to accept.
A new glider course start on the Fairlop Airfield this week.