ATC TRAINING
Back on topic (ish)
I joined 148F ( Barnsley) Sqn in the early 1960.
To preempt the purists getting in a twist, no we weren't officially entitled to the F denoting the first 50 Sqns but the unit had formed as one of the first Air Defence Cadet Corps units and applied to be part of the ATC in time but, to coin a phrase, we wuz robbed!. So we took the F anyway and it stayed for a very long time.
Anyway, the training, at my time of joining we still had a radio room stuffed with WW2 transmitters and receivers which still functioned into the 50s, I'm assured by former members. So, radio etc
There was an engine's room containing a cut away instructional Merlin plus a similar jet engine and bits of a functional workshop.
We also had a complete Link Trainer, some of which still worked in my time, plus myriads of things like Dalton computers and navigation kit.
It follows that the ATC was capable to offer a wide range of training in aviation subjects and, by all accounts, did so.
Until late in the war, membership of the ATC conveyed the automatic right to enter the RAF on reaching the appropriate age. I think it changed with the advent of the "Bevin boys".
Thread drift: years later I became OC 2500 Sqn. My predecessor was the first female VRT officer and this really was the first Sqn authorised to recruit girls. They were real trailblazers those girls, I'm still proud of them now.