The AIR in Air Cadets
Well Beagle I think the mainstream RAF never realised that a 'training organisation' completely run by (in the main) civilian volunteers was happily training 'ab initio' youths to a solo standard with so little 'classroom' and organised briefing facilities.
The secret was that the Cadets spent ALL of the time in a hands on situation; from getting machines out to the launch point until the final flights back to the hangar.
Although the actual 'flying time' could be as little as 1 hour to solo (continuous course) the Cadets were observing all of the normal activity all of the time for the entire day and actually doing most of the jobs required to keep the system moving.
They would see the machines from launch to landing plus the cable breaks and this would have been a very useful 'aid' to understanding what was required.
Therefore the experience of 90% of the day on the actual airfield more than made up from comprehensive briefings and classroom work.
I always felt that a small pre course booklet would have been useful but of course as this was predominately a w-end operation no one was geared up for producing that, and you did not miss what you had never had.
Had the 'system' realised that hundreds of youths were going off on their own in machines with so little 'time' no doubt it would have been queried from the top.
That this was done with such a low accident record speaks volumes for the validity of it all and why it was such a WORLD CLASS operation for its time.
WE should also remember that Cadets were not 'streamed' for this, and merely needed their parents consent, thereby proving the KISS principle.
We will never get back to this level of simplicity nowadays, but we can learn from the past and a future 'system' could be kindled from it.
The basic lessons gleaned from the open cockpit machines were the best introduction that you can have for future aviation, and were far better than 'simulators' which do really work in the gliding world.