On arrival at Williamtown to attend the fighter conversion in early 1953, there was no engineering course on the Mustang or Vampire. We were handed a small booklet called Pilots Notes Mustang or the Vampire and then seated in the cockpit with an instructor watching you start the engine and then off you went for the first flight.
Endurance on the Vampire was around one hour and ten minutes unless you had drop tanks. Most sorties lasted about 50 minutes and on many occasions that could be in IMC with a VHF Direction Finder in the control tower operated by an ATC who would give you "steers" to the aerodrome and you hoped it would bring you in sight of the landing runway. It is a bit too complicated to explain further but you get the drift.
The only instructor advice I remember during the first solo preflight briefing before flying the Vampire, was that these aircraft final approach to land is a very flat angle because it is jet propelled and doesn't have the high drag of a piston prop driven aircraft such as the Mustang. One aimed to actually touch down at the runway theshold markers. I remember coming in to land flying about a one degree glide path which meant the Nene engine was spooled up in case of a go-around. - all visual of course. The cockpit of the Vampire was close to the ground (six feet) and it seemed like being on a skate board. 100 knots over the fence gave you a long float as we were told to add 10 knots for Mum and the kids.
Braking was via a pneumatic system (like the early F27 in later years) and if taxiing a long way to the tarmac especially if a crosswind existed, it was all too easy to run out of compressed air to the brakes. Continuous application of the brakes in a crosswind (no nosewheel steering) caused the brakes to heat up. On arrival at the tarmac a marshaller guided you into the lines and when he signalled for you to stop on the alloted spot. it was consided rather cool to squeeze the brake lever on the control column harder than really necessary, thus causing the nose wheel oleo to compress and make the Vampire "nod" Stupid stuff of course - but it was common practice.