The role of a typical Advanced Flying School 70 years ago:
The Training Task at Merryfield
The student pilot arriving at Merryfield has already completed comprehensive flying courses in Chipmunk or Prentice, and Harvard or Balliol aircraft; some may have flown the Lockheed Silver Star jet trainer as well. He may have been given this training in Canada or the United Kingdom, but in either case, he has been awarded his “Wings” and a commission. His commission may be for four or eight years, or he may be a National Service Officer nearing the end of his two-year period; in a few cases he will be a graduate from the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, serving as a Permanently Commissioned Officer.
It is the task of this station to train these officers to fly Vampire aircraft, and for most it will be their first experience of “jets”. By the end of their course here they must reach near perfection in pure flying because at the next stage of training - the Operational Conversion Unit - they will learn to fly their aircraft as a weapon of war. Preoccupation with aiming and firing guns, and dropping bombs, means that accurate flying in any weather must be instinctive.
This aim is achieved at Merryfield by particular concentration on flying on instruments and in formation - the tactical battle deployment of the fighter aircraft. It goes without saying that to achieve the standard required (and this standard is continually being raised) the student pilot must bring undivided concentration to bear on his work. The Hunters, Swifts and Sabres which he will shortly be flying, are too precious and too exacting to be entrusted to any but the very best pilots.
The Vampire we use as a trainer here to-day, was the front line aircraft of yesterday. And so it will be in their turn with the super-priority fighters just coming into service; the last word of to-day is the common-place of the near future. Such is the inexorable rapidity of aircraft development. The machines exact more of the pilots; the pilots must be trained to meet the demands. That is the task at Merryfield.
As for helicopters, during a particularly stressful day at RAF Brawdy early in my Hunter course, our jovial flight commander joked whilst making a cup of coffee in the crewroom "Of course if this is all a bit too much for you, you can always ask to go to helicopters!". Two of my colleagues took him at his word and the next thing we knew they were off the station to start their new courses.....
.....as navigator students!