A.S.T. Perth (Scone) 1966
Half a century ago, Airwork Services Training was second only to Hamble in the U.K. as a flying school approved by HMG for training civil pilot-cadets for CPL & IR. We were a minority on the campus, because the school also trained aero-engineering students. Elstree was already providing minor competition for commercial pilot training, IIRC, but Oxford and Carlisle didn't start until later.
The school principal was W/Cmdr (ret'd) "Pooch" Nugent and the CFI was Bob Critchley. The course from ab-initio to CPL and IR cost something over £4000 (yes, four thousand pounds). That included board and lodging, ground school, and about 150 hours on singles (Cessna 150s and DHC-1s) and 30 hours on twins (Cessna 310s). A typical course lasted about 15 months, subject to the vagaries of the weather in the closing stages.
Most (but not all) flying students were airline-sponsored. At the beginning of 1966, cadets represented airlines including BUA (British United, the parent company of which owned the school), Aer Lingus, Cambrian Airways, Malaysia-Singapore Airlines, Nepalese Army Air Service, and Sudan Airways. Courses started at two-monthly intervals, and each generally consisted of a mixture of nationalities/airlines. Later that year, however, we were joined by a course of BOAC/BEA cadets, due to Hamble being oversubscribed.
The airfield runways at Perth were all grass in those days. That made for interesting night-flying in the spring and autumn, when the combination of rain and the high number of movements led to very muddy conditions. (Night-flying training is impracticable in the summer in Scotland.)
Any other PPRuNers that remember Scone around 1966?