It was on 22nd July 1962, at the tender age of 17yrs 1 month that I reported to the Wiltshire School of Flying to begin my RAF Flying Scholarship, having ridden there on my NSU Quickly moped from Wimbledon. No messing about, I was shown my room in a very basic hut on the South side of the airfield, just by the black hangar which I soon discovered contained several Mosquitos and other aircraft in varying states of disrepair, and told to report to the club house by 3pm for a briefing. Late that afternoon I was strapped into Chipmunk G-AORL for my first effects of controls lesson with a very determined Polish instructor named Ruprecht. Over the next 12 days of complete immersion in the ways of the Jackaroo I completed the PPL course of 30 hours (18:40 dual and 11:20 solo) on G-AOEX (first solo), G-AOIR, G-AOIW,G-AOIX, G-APAI, G-APAP, and G-ANFY, spending evenings learning Air Law, Met and the mysteries of the Dalton computer. Taking my PPL Flying test on 5/8/62 with the larger than life CFI John Heaton, who had a few days earlier spun into a cornfield in a Tiger in full view of my fellow students, I seem to remember a heavy night of celebrations in the Jackaroo bar before launching off to home on the NSU the following morning.
As well as learning to fly, we cadets were used as cheap labour, ground handling the aircraft, refuelling, swinging props and making tea and coffee for the instructors. Over those action packed 13 days I flew with Hallmark, Lewis, Hadley and Ramsey-Smith, Ruprecht and Heaton, doing between 2 and 5 trips each day, with cross countries to long forgotten airfields such as Christchurch and Portsmouth. With no radio, brakes or starter the Jackaroo was hardly the most complicated training aircraft and seems to have done the job well; hearing what the instructors were saying to you through the Gosport tube intercom was probably the most challenging part of the training. Navigating the Airspace around Thruxton was no mean feat either, with RAF Andover, Boscombe Down, Chilbolton, Middle Wallop and Old Sarum all active military airfields with some pretty exotic machinery to see, avoid and marvel at.
I still fly from Thruxton and would love to hear from anyone who remembers "those days".
Sadlythough I never flew a Jackaroo again, the £4 17s. 6d an hour was beyond the means of a schoolboy with another year to go before A-levels.