1968 FLYING SCHOLARS?

[BEagle]

Now I really am an aged old fart (so what's new, I hear you say!)...

For today is the 50th anniversary of my first solo in a power driven aircraft - a brand-new Cessna 150 at the Bedfordshire Air Centre, Cranfield.

Which got me thinking - how many others of that more enlightened period when HMG handed out 30 free flying hours towards a PPL are still flying - or PPRuNe-ing?

We were so lucky and I really feel for the youngsters of today who, thanks to 5 decades of successive defence cuts cannot have the same level of opportunity that was available to us....:mad:

[50+Ray]

Hello young Beagle. My first solo was in a PA28 at Oxford, on 22 March 1968. The ATC Flying Scholarship meant I was absent from school for four weeks in my Upper Sixth, which did not help the A level grades! Fortunately the RAF still accepted me for a University Cadetship, hence we met at QMC on the University of London Air Squadron for copious drinking and occasional free flying.
The RAF medics finally grounded me on the basis of a potential heart attack in their pitiful Tutor with one of the present crop. Three years and five months later I am pleased to be still proving them wrong.
Cheers,
Ray

[Haraka]

Beags,
Piper 140 Cherokees (plus spinning in the Zlin 526) O.A.T.S Kidlington Summer 1968 .Paid for the extra 5 hours for my P.P.L .
Superb inastructor Mr.Gledhill (Hurricanes to Swifts IIRC) .
Quietly taken aside privately (not by him) and without OATS knowledge was invited to consider a transfer to Civvie aviation....
Who knows where that might have taken me?
Absolutely no regrets in the end.
Yours from the mangrove swamp,
Haraka
P.S Blinking hell Ray .Didn't realise you did OATS as well before we met up at U.L.A.S in '69.!!!

[Bill Macgillivray]

Young Beags (et al),
How right you are about the current lack of opportunity for air minded youth! (1st solo as an ATC Cadet Flt.Sgt.) was in a Tiger Moth at Exeter in August 1955 (going to have to get in the attic for the details - probably safer tomorrow!) followed by PPL course and the rest of my life flying (RAF and one or two others plus civvy!). The best thing that ever happend to me! Now helping with ATC (sorry - RAF AC!) and seeing the very few opportunities the cadets have makes me very sad!!

Bill

[60024]

I had my 30 hours at Eastleigh in 1978 and retired last year. One of the chaps on the course after mine subsequently landed on a Spanish freighter....

I was somewhat taken aback during the last CQWI course at Kinloss (2010?) when the 'UAV photograph' that was put up on the briefing screen was dear old G-AYCF, my first solo aircraft.

[ShyTorque]

I'm still here (and flying for a living), but I'm a relative youngster - did my Flying Scholarship in 1973. Went solo before I could legally drive a car.

[76fan]

My 30 hours ATC Flying Scholarship was over all too quickly in twenty-three days in August 1962 at the London School of Flying, Elstree.

First solo was in Chipmunk G-AOSO after 4hrs 30mins but my real first flying solo had been in a Kirby Cadet Mk 3 glider at Hendon in 1960..... I remember one had to avoid the wooden stakes which were pegged out to mark the planned roads and houses which now cover that historic airfield.

I did a lot of cycling in those days!

[mgahan]

Solo 49 years ago last week in a Victa Airtourer under a RAAF Flying Scholarship in my ATC (Air Training Corps) days before a career in RAAF ATC and subsequently as a consultant - still working.

Used my PPL(R) as identification for my drivers licence and mum had to drive me to Archerfield before that so I could fly her to Lismore for a coffee!!

The designer of the Airtourer (Henry Millicer) was my aerodynamics lecturer in 1970 at RMIT. He used the Airtourer to demonstrate all those formulae in Kermode (Mechanics of Flight).

The Aero Club Liaison Officer (SQNLDR Kev Duffy) died recently and there is a thread on PPRuNE advising that. The first of many mentors in my almost 50 years in the industry.

My instructor at RQAC was Wes Hawker. RQAC is no longer with us but does anyone know about Wes?

I still have a receipt from RQAC for an hour's dual - $14-75.



Thanks for prompting the memories.

MJG



i

[olddog]

First solo, Cadet Mk3 617 GS RAF Hendon June 1963. Went on as Staff Cadet and CI until joining the RAF in Oct 1966. Flying Scholarship at Cranfield 1965. The Rogers Aviation Cup for that year sits on my bookcase to this day. I also visited Canada on the IACE scheme in 1964. Fabulous oportunities in my teens. Never looked back. Left the RAF in 2005 (5 extra years as FTRS)

[John Eacott]

1965 for me, BEags, at Stapleford Tawney. the 30 hours were all that was needed for a PPL, and having done the course to death I had 3 hours left and paid a few quid extra to check out on a Cherokee.

Was your PPL cover also annotated 'Flying Machines'?

[cessnapete]

Hi Beagle.
I was lucky to be awarded an RAF Flying Scholarship in 1960 at Christchurch Aero Club on Tiger Moths and Austers, got me started in aviation. Staff Cadet 622 Gliding School. Then Turbo props, 32 years
on big jets until compulsory retirement at age 55. Continued with Cargo, and then Corporate jets until retired at 65.
Still flying wth share in C182.

[Wensleydale]

ST

I'm still here (and flying for a living), but I'm a relative youngster - did my Flying Scholarship in 1973. Went solo before I could legally drive a car.

Mine was also 1973 - at Doncaster Aero Club (complete with the initial low overshoot to scare the horses off the runway).

[FantomZorbin]

9/4/64 after 5hr40min at Biggin Hill, Surrey & Kent Flying Club in a Forney F1 Aircoupe. We were forbidden to use R/T as we didn't have a licence! It made life interesting bumbling around Gatwick watching the Hawker Siddeley Ground Grippers!

[Preppy]

BEagle,

I'm another aged old fart who spent the Summer of '68 at Kidlington OATS on a Flying Scholarship. Flew various Piper (28) 140 Cherokees plus one spinning flight in the Zlin 526, GAWJY. Instructors were Mr Charity/Baker/Cutler/Gledhill/Woodgate. Went solo on 15th August 1968 after 7:45 hrs of dual. Also paid for the extra 5 hours for my P.P.L (Thanks to Daddy Bank!)

I guess that we must have met in '69/'70 at ULAS whilst drinking in the town HQ (aka South Ken Bar.) Fortunately I was based at Imperial College so only had a short journey "home". I went solo in Chipmunk T.Mk 10 WP861 on 25 March 1969 and in my two years with ULAS had an amazing time especially at the summer camps in Thorney Island and Chivenor. I recall the ULAS instructors: Wilson/Bell/Booth/Whitaker and in Dec '69 I was standardised by CFS instructor by the name of Burrows. Eventually my two years at ULAS was over and my next flying training was at Hamble in '72.

Then followed 30+ years with a Big Airline based to the West of London and in more recent years instructing for an Aircraft Manufacturer based in Toulouse. Somehow or other, I manage to scrape through my CAA medicals so I'm still doing the occasional simulator sessions as a TRI/TRE.

Yours from just East of Windsor Great Park

[BEagle]

John Eacott, yes my PPL is indeed annotated 'Private Pilot's Licence (Flying Machines) and the contents are secured with a natty little piece of blue BoT shoe lace...

Preppy, yes we probably did meet in the bar at 206! Sadly now been flogged off :mad: with THQ miles out of town at Northolt and FHQ even further at Wittering - or London (Stamford) as Mo'L might perhaps describe it?

50+Ray, glad to hear you proved the RAF nut-squeezers wrong!

After my PPL at Cranfield, I flew for the next 40 years, 35 for HM and the rest in the GA training world. It all became too expensive in 2008, so I let everything lapse and since then have concentrated on other aviation matters instead.

[Wander00]

July 1961 at Sywell in Auster J1/Ns with the grumpy Les Hilditch. Last year managed to contact everyone who had been on that course, one of whom was on the same Entry as me at Cranwell 63-65

[Brian 48nav]

When the CAA's predecessor ( Board of Trade? ) decided to start its own Air Traffic Control cadet courses in the early 60s, the first part of the 3 year course included a PPL. The first 33 courses all the way through to the mid 70s had this 'privilege' and quite a few ATCOs went on to obtain CPLs and become airline pilots.

From the mid 70s the 'bean counters' took control and cadets were no longer trained on all three disciplines, ( Aerodrome, Approach and Area ). I know of several ATCOs at LHR with 20 plus years experience who have never done radar.

When No2 son became a cadet in '96 the flying was limited to 15 hours. Even that was cut out eventually.

When No1 son did his RAF Flying Scholarship in '86 I think it was for 35 hours and I paid for the extra 3 required to obtain the licence, which I don't think he has ever used!

[ShyTorque]

When No1 son did his RAF Flying Scholarship in '86 I think it was for 35 hours and I paid for the extra 3 required to obtain the licence, which I don't think he has ever used!

Mine was for 30 hours (5 more needed to a PPL/A ) which I never actually obtained due to a few setbacks (one of which was joining the RAF). I then went straight to a CPL/A 22 years later. Same with the PPL/H, never actually held one, went straight to an ATPL/HG. EASA took away the /G though, last time I renewed my licence.

[Dominator2]

We were lucky to have great success in gaining Flying Scholarships at Reigate Grammar in the 60s/70s.

I did mine in 1971 at the Shoreham School of Flying.

Arrived Sunday evening in mid July for BBQ at the club.
Monday groundschool and trip 1 in late afternoon.
Tuesday a bit more groundschool and 2 trips.
Wednesday 4 trips and solo by that evening. Total 6:30 hrs dual.

Went on to fly all 30 hours plus 5 paid by myself in 26 days, what a great way to learn to fly.

How quickly could the RAF overcome it's pilot shortage with continuity like that? Yes, and I did go straight on to JPs 7 months later and my civilian flying stood me in good stead!

[Meikleour]

Did my CCF Special Flying Award ( non ATC Flying Scholarship) in August 1967 at Carlisle Flying Club after having completed RAF pre-selection at Biggin Hill. Sent solo in G-ATMN after 8:35 by Capt. Tod. Remember doing spinning on only my 4th. and 5th. flight! (youngsters these days etc.......)
This led to 120hrs. gained on Chipmunks at Edinburgh/East Lowlands UAS 1967-1969
Unfortunately the phasing out of Fleet Air Arm fixed wing flying led to a very depressed RAF outlook in 1970. Luckily the BEA/BOAC scheme was cranking up and took very many graduates on to OATS, myself included. Civil flying for various airlines ensued once I had quit the "shackles" of BA after 7 years! I always tell people that I got "time off for good behaviour"! Retired at 65 from a part-time flying job and continue to fly an RV6 on "blue sky days only".
Reflecting on the start and finish to my career - when I started the training was very similar to that received by the then senior pilots whereas now it seems to be very different in so many ways. The CTC cadets, many of whom I flew with, seem to have been kept on a very "short lease" during their training if you know what I mean. When you discuss 2-eng. out circuit work on B707s they look at you as if you were mad! It did build a confidence that I am sure no simulator ever can.

[bafanguy]

Sounds like the USAF is toying with a similar idea:

"The Air Force plans to put kids into the cockpit to teach them how to fly in hopes of sparking youth interest in aviation as the military struggles with a pilot shortage."

https://www.stripes.com/news/as-air-force-grapples-with-pilot-shortage-flight-academy-provides-hope-for-the-future-1.518984

[Buster11]

Soloed on a T-31 at HCGIS Detling in 1952, with Piggott one of the instructors, then a flying scholarship in 1953 at Redhill, on Magisters with Gosport tubes (radio? What's that...?) and on to Croydon to finish my PPL on Tiger Moths after the Redhill club closed. Didn't go on with a career in aviation, though always involved with it in various ways.

[rolling20]

Beagle, is that 150 still going? I landed at my home airfield in a PA28 around 1993 where an airshow was about to take place. As I climbed out a black Hawk (100 Squadron?) taxied past with the driver waving enthusiastically. He later appeared in the clubhouse and said he had first soloed on said PA28 in 1972, on a flying scholarship IIRC. The PA28 G-AVLT is I think still going and first flew in 1967! Later that day I had 3 CFS instructors up for a trip round the bay and pulled off my best landing ever :)

[BEagle]

rolling20, yes still going! First registered as G-AVVY in Oct 1967, but since re-registered as G-UFLY.

Still smelled brand new when I flew it!

G-AVLT is another 1967 aircraft which is still flying.

[Stan Evil]

First solo in an Aircoupe (G-AROR) after 8:45 at Biggin Hill with Surrey & Kent on 7 Sep 68. I remember that we lodged at a less than salubrious place down the road (Oak Lodge Hotel and Country Club - known as Fenn's Den) and that brown and mild as 1/10½d a pint in Westerham.
The club offered a special deal for the extra 5 hours in a Cherokee 140 to get your PPL - £37/10s. It probably costs a bit more than that now.
I had to blag a day off school to get the qualifying cross-country done later on. The deputy head had some difficulty getting his head round the fact that this spotty 17 year old was going to fly solo from Biggin to Stapleford to Ipswich and back but, after speaking to my mum on the phone, he let me go. So, off to get the 94 then the 410 bus to Biggin as I couldn't yet drive.

[MPN11]

Separated from my logbooks for the next couple of weeks, but I did my ATC Flying Scholarship PPL at Kidlington on Piper Colt in 1963, with a trip (or 2?) in a Chipmunk (G-AOFF, IIRC) to demonstrate what a proper stall and spin looked like! (I may add details when I’m back home).

Never used the licence, and a year later failed Flying Grading at BRNC Dartmouth, so that was that :)

[rolling20]

Beagle, I would imagine that G-AVVY and G-AVLT are both like Triggers broom in Only Fools and Horses!

[Lou Scannon]

1958 and a Flying Scholarship at the Midland Aero Club at Birmingham Elmdon on Tiger Moths. It was enough hours to qualify for a PPL and probably helped to get me in to the RAF which led, after a brief 17 years as an RAF pilot, into civil aviation until retirement.

Still eternally grateful to the ATC for giving me the break that I really needed.

[Specaircrew]

This June it’ll be the 46th anniversary of my first solo at Sywell, on my 17th birthday in a Beagle Pup. My Flying Scholarship was sponsored by the Charles Newton Memorial Trust although there were several military scholarship chaps training there as well. A glittering career with BOAC was thwarted when the RAF foolishly offered me a job based on my 8 ‘O’ levels whereas Hamble wanted 2 A levels!

[Bellerophon]

Beagle

Passed OASC at Biggin Hill in 1968 and did my CCF Special Flying Award at Carlisle in March 1969, with several others who have remained friends and colleagues over the years. First solo in a Cessna 150 G-AWAW, with spinning done in a Beagle Pup 100 G-AWKO. Then spent the money I had saved for driving lessons on the extra five hours to get my PPL. Like many others, a flying licence before a driving licence.

As Meikleour has said, the prospects in 1970 for aspiring fast jet pilots in the RAF were rather gloomy, so, like many others, off to Hamble on the BOAC/BEA scheme. Retired after 37 years with BA, having flown at least one of the aircraft I always dreamed of flying, a fast jet but sadly not a single seater!

I consider myself immensely fortunate to have had the flying career I did, in my case only possible through the opportunities the Special Flying Award scheme and the BOAC/BEA scheme afforded me.

Like you, I am deeply saddened that keen aviation-minded youngsters of today do not have the same level of opportunity I did, in either civil or military aviation.

[rlsbutler]

For some reason, my approach to the Royal Air Force was cursed by medical inadequacy of various sorts. For some other reason I joined and qualified anyway.

My first attempt at the gliding course had me spend the first night in a huge dormitory at Hawkinge with the other participants. I became spotty and very itchy during that evening. I spent the next ten days or so in the luxury of the Dover Isolation Hospital, where each bedroom had a view of the town and the English Channel (and of the bedrooms to left and right) through floor-to-ceiling cut-glass windows. The nursing was fabulous. Meanwhile my fellow would-be glider pilots were sent home to fester in private and Hawkinge fell silent for a week. My next attempt at this course went as clockwork.

I attempted the Flying Scholarship at Elstree in the summer holidays of 1957. The weather was frightful and, although I just went solo, the course fell badly behind. With the ordinary weather of autumn and winter, one day per weekend never gave me the continuity even to go solo again. On top of that I arrived on one weekend with so bad a flu that the school opened a disused house on the airfield to find me a bed - a good try but the bedding was damp and the bedroom was unheatable, so once I had stopped sleeping I crept home. Sometime in the winter the powers-that-be agreed that I was costing too much for too little return; end of flying scholarship.

My main impression of the course was that the whole operation was threadbare - a bit financially desperate. I do not remember many instructors, pupils or aircraft. I flew several times with the CFI, the now-famous David Ogilvie. My named instructor was Bill Bailey, who was I think married and lived in a caravan on the airfield. Both exuded a love of aviation and both manfully accommodated the stupidities of a young schoolboy. With Buster11, I am one of only two contributors on this thread to mention the Miles Magister with its Gosport Tube. The aircraft was generally benign, but flying instruction was unavoidably a bit shouty.

David Ogilvie kept a little Comper Swift in a rackety corrugated iron hangar. I used to visit this lonely aircraft quite often. It struck me as rather mean and squat and sorry for itself, representing an aspect of Ogilvie to which I was not directly exposed. I am surprised to find almost no mention of David Ogilvie on PPRuNe.

[reynoldsno1]

1st solo 9th April 1969 at 1125 in GAVER at Roborough. Instructor was Mr W.H.W. Lucas - a huge man, in both physique and character, who must have been about 70 then. He lived off black coffee and digestive biscuits as far as I could ascertain.
Aircraft is still registered, unlike the airfield ...

[flybe.com]

I'm a relative youngster looking at previous posts, I was put forward to OASC by my Grammar School CCF Sqn Ldr in late '82 and did the Scholarship at Anglian Flight Training at Norwich Airport in the Summer of '83. The weather was absolutely fantastic but it meant that the whole thing was over and done with in 2 weeks, from zero to PPL!

Both aircraft that I trained in - G-BEYM & G-BFEL have both since been destroyed in accidents, the latter one having collided with an A-10 just a few months after my Schoarship whilst the student was on a solo cross-country.

Despite several attempts I never made it to GD/P in the RAF, I just wasn't interested in the Commissioned side of RAF life, just the flying. However, I'm now flying in the Civvy world so it all turned out well in the end.

[Capt Scribble]

It was at Halfpenny Green in 1973 that I flew the 30 hrs as a 17 yr old. A year or so back, a course photo popped up on Prune. After 19 years in the fast jet fleet, I’m still going on a charter fleet. Enjoyed all 45 years, including 15 years on an AEF returning the favour.

[condor17]

Beagle et al , congrats on your Diamond Jubilees.
Preps as well , forgotten you’re 3 ahead . Settling into The Sun , rather than The Fox and Castle ? And thanks for the loan of your ‘ blue zoot suit ‘ in about 1980 .
Summer ’71 , Marshall’s of Cambridge , SFA [a Scout as no ATC locally ].
Report 0900 Mon. Airborne 0930 G-AVKF C150 . 7:20 hrs later, FRI 1745 , Mr Whittaker says ‘ off you go Boi , if you’re not back by 1800 , ATC , Fire , Eng, and I will have gone home ‘.
Loan of £50 got the extra 5 hrs [ back to the bean/pea harvest and bale carting to pay back ] .
Met with Preppy in the Hamble bar 1972 , returned the Boeing keys in ’09 . Last 8 years seeing the seasons change from Wessex skies ; whilst ‘destructing from our rural hilltop in the clouds and crosswinds .
Busman hol’s sees me pulled around by an O-200 in a Permit frame .
Next med. in May , so fingers crossed ; and the waters recede .
Bellerophon , You properly summed it up . Thank you .
‘’I consider myself immensely fortunate to have had the flying career I did, in my case only possible through the opportunities the Special Flying Award scheme and the BOAC/BEA scheme afforded me ‘’.
Here’s to the other half ,
Rgds condor .

[76fan]

One or two have mentioned the price per flying hour on this thread.

I tried to keep my ATC PPL valid but in 1963 at £6 15s for the Chipmunk and £5 5s for an Auster I just couldn't afford it on my £10 per week shift work wage as a "Scientific Assistant" in the Met. Office ........ and the youngsters of today claim that everything was cheap in our days and totally ignore the fact that it''s all relative to income .....

[kenparry]

Beagle et al , congrats on your Diamond Jubilees.

condor, you are exaggerating. Golden = 50; another decade for Diamond!

[john_tullamarine]

And yet another ATC Scholarship for the Antipodes .. soloed in the Victa January 1967 at RACNSW (Bankstown) .. a bit over 4 hours up .. how I didn't kill myself still remains one of those deep mysteries .. and finished the PPL with Stan Hone at RNAC (West Maitland). Appreciated spending the Queen's dollars on, as I recall, about 60-70 hours before they finally realised I had finished the licence quite some time before ...

A mixed bag of blokes on my course .. one went on to be a 744 captain with Qantas, another (a school mate of mine) an air ranked man of the cloth with the RAAF ... while I just read engineering and flew for a number of operators along the way.

Tossed up whether I would go RAAF but another government scholarship paid more so, on the basis that such would better support the drinking habits, I ended up in the DO on Nomad to start off my career.

Centaurus spent some time enjoying the ACLO job in the RAAF and has more than a few ATC stories to relate ..

[Chugalug2]

Solo on 19th April 1959 at Thruxton on Jackaroo GAPAJ. Only too infrequent flights in a Tiger Moth in full Biggles kit betwixt the Jackaroos before the end of course and a PPL. Other than the licence itself all paid for by HM. A different time that I was lucky enough to inhabit.

[Pom Pax]

And now for something different................I failed!

Went to Hornchurch, did the medical, couldn't hear the high notes in one ear. Aptitude tests seemed okish so did the interview. So the result fail, reason when looking at a distance eyes came together therefore under pressure might see 2 runways. However when you turn 18 come back again.
Father wheels me off to his optician, can't find any fault.
So no hope of free lessons but come National service time back to Hornchurch. Do medical still can't hear the high notes, do some aptitude tests and the interview, pass. So to day three playing rivers and short planks. Result:- Would you like to be a navigator?

[Fareastdriver]

So the result fail, reason when looking at a distance eyes came together therefore under pressure might see 2 runways

I think that is called ocular divergence. I had it when I went to Salisbury, Rhodesia, when I first applied (with three O levels). I passed the aptitude tests, looking at pictures of instrument panels and ticking off what they were indicating. I also passed the interviews done by RRAF officers whom I knew from my Rhodesian army service.

However, I failed on OD so I was offered navigator. My father, ex RAF pilot advised me against this on the basis that if you were going to be killed in an aircraft you may as well be flying it.

I went to an optician in Bulawayo where I lived and I had a course with cards that encouraged my eyes to diverge normally. Whether this worked or not but I went back and the medic passed me on the basis that my eyes must have been tired during the first assessment.

Two weeks later I was in the back of Johnny Johnson's Argosy en route to South Cerney.

I never did pay the opticians bill. I was gone before he sent it.

[POBJOY]

Risbut The 'OG' input would cover:-
Flying and instructing on mosquito's and meteors after the war; long time involvement with instructing and AOPA matters, managing the Shuttleworth Trust, and always a keen supporter of the Comper Swift although I do not know if he ever actually owned one, but would have been very keen for Shuttleworth to get one (which they did in the end). He also was a great supporter of 'Airfields', and spent many hours on the (good guys side) defending the case against objectors and developers. I flew a Swift into OW in the early 70's during one of their shows (no one seemed to mind in those days) but do not recall seeing him on that occasion. He has written several interesting books, and the Mosquito input covers the RAF aspect plus air testing them later when they were in civilian mode.

[Sanf]

My dad - Ian Sanford did his flying scholarship at Oxford, for 3 weeks in Sept 65, at Oxford. Piper Colt - first flight was in G-ARJG.

From there he went on to join the RAF - 2 tours on the Lightning was followed by the fateful tour to Valley, which sadly ended up in the mid-air collision between 2 Gnats in April 76.

[condor17]

Ken Parry , thank you sir . Get in early , or number dislexia . Might explain why I could never do my 3 X table and fly a Glideslope .

rgds condor.

[SNator]

Gliding scholarship in 62. Flying scholarship Aug 63 to PPL with Rodgers Aviation at Cranfield. Joined RAF Oct 63; 14 Sqn B(I)8s Mar 66, then Buccs, Hunters, Tornados until 96. Only 2 short ground tours!!!

[Marchettiman]

Did my Flying Scholarship at Thruxton, where I still keep my aeroplane, 6 weeks after my 17th birthday. Drove there on my 49cc NSU Quickly scooter from Wimbledon, was shown to a rat infested sleeping hut by the old black hangar (which housed several Mosquitos that were for sale) and then to a briefing on what to expect in the bar of the Wiltshire Flying School that evening. The following morning my first air experience trip was in Chipmunk G-AORL with a Polish instructor, Mr Ruprecht from Middle Wallop who just did aerobatics until I was ill. From then on all the flying was in Thruxton Jackaroos, first solo in G-AOEX on the fifth day, dual cross country as to Christchurch airfield and qualifying one to Portsmouth and Shoreham. PPL Flying test at 30 hours was with CFI John Heaton 13 days after I arrived there, which was the excuse for the instructors and a young actress called Sheila Scott to have another party in the bar that evening. I left for home the following morning feeling as ill as after my first flight there, but for a different reason. Another year at school for A levels and then onto Cranwell....I am still addicted to flying which proves the system really worked!

[LOMCEVAK]

I had the good fortune to be awarded a Flying Scholarship at Halfpenny Green in 1972. My first solo was just 6 weeks after my 17th birthday in PA28-140 G-AZMX. My instructor was Bert Benson and the school was run by Ray McKenzie-Blyth with whom I am still in touch, and he has posted here in the past. Co-incidentally, I started to frequent pubs at the same time (I was tall and got away with it!). Bitter was 10p per pint, mild 9p and 'best' 11p! Some things you never forget. I joined the RAF a year later on a University Cadetship and have flown professionally ever since.

I first left mother earth in an aeroplane in 1968 as a CCF cadet on an air experience flight in a RAF C-130 from RAF Fairford; this was some 50 years after the formation of the RAF. I am still flying UK military registered aircraft, including RAF airframes, professionally as we pass the RAF's 100th anniversary. This must mean that the RAF is quite young or I am quite old - or a combination of the two! I certainly have never forgotten the start to my powered flying career that the Flying Scholarship gave me.

L

[ACW418]

Soloed at Sealand in a T31 Easter 1961 and like Wander did my Flying Scholarship at Sywell with Les Hillditch but in 1962. Soloed on Austers at Easter but contracted appendicitis towards the end of the course and had to be invalided home for the operation. Went back in July to finish and joined the RAF at South Cerney in September. In those days the 30 hour Flying Scholarship gave you a PPL provided your parents could afford the paperwork costs. Drove my own Austin 7 to Sywell before being taken home ill. Car sat in the carpark until July whereupon it started first swing (always started it on the handle unless it was warm!)

ACW

[JW411]

First solo on 01.07.57 Cadet Mk.III XE785 at 662 GS RAF Edzell. Then Flying Scholarship at Perth. First Solo (Power) 20.07.58 Tiger Moth G-AHUE. (PPL No.52662). First RAF solo (at RAF High Ercall) Piston Provost XF612 25.01.61 6 FTS RAF Ternhill. Finally hung my flying boots up in 2012 (medical). Without the wonderful ATC organisation I would not even have got started.

[Lordflasheart]

Without the wonderful ATC organisation I would not even have got started.

Amen to that .................. !

LFH

.......................

[50+Ray]

Absolutely agree with the comments above about ATC. To amplify my post No2 I got my gliding A+B at 16, PPL from the Flying Scholarship at 17 and then IACE to Canada that summer. First attended ULAS while too young to legally drink, post degree had my 21st during IOT, Flt Lt during M/E Groundschool, Operational by 23. Driving licence was summer of 1971 - needed it to get to Cranditz.
Ray

[Al Richey]

I'm another golden club member, although a few months ago. In my case August 1967 at Elmdon airport (now Birmingham International) on the Cessna 150. Fond memories

[FAStoat]

I see someone else had the joy of experiencing the Thruxton Jackaroo!!I did my first AOSC just before Hornchurch closed in 62,but failed it,and told I could try again a year later.This time a travel warrant was issued for another try at Biggin Hill.This time success followed by Western Air Training Services offering a complete course within a month,and accomodation in a tiny room off the bar/office in the old Control Tower,The affair being run by Sqd Ldr Doran Webb,and a huge CFI with one ear and a never ending tolerance for Ale,one John Heaton.I was sent solo by "Sprocket",John Spencer-Smith, in GAOIJ and completed the usual Shoreham Portsmouth triangle cross country to qualify.We had time on our hands and some mutual trips were encouraged,so flour bombing was the usual misdemeanour at Compton Abbas and Middle Wallop often led by JH,to be then attacked by Chipmunks led by Ted Clowes,and Jo Ruprecht.Both these two stalwarts also instructed us Studes,and we soon found the full envelope of the Tiger(ANPK) Chipmunk(AORL) and the rest of the Fleet of Jackaroos.To see 3 or 4 Jackaroos taking off into wind in line abreast evoked the old films of the 30s,but that was how it was in the early 60s,and very few if any accidents!!I can only remember the odd undercarriage being swiped,and later a couple were crashed near Chilbolton,but nothing else with no radios and just mark one eyeball.Magic times and very grateful to have experienced-John Heaton,Sprocket,Ramsay-Smith,Bill Leary and his lovely Wife "Tickle" who ran the Cafe,,?Ray Johnson,Jo Ruprecht,Ted Clowes,and any I have forgotten-"Pepe" the Ex POW who ran the Pumps and dragged out the fleet from the bottom hangar to be then taxied up to the Control Tower.Yes, Sheila Scott with GAPAM and Luella Selka with her Emeraude,and MGA giving us lifts into Andover never to be forgotten.How time flies!!!!

[Smeagol]

What a 'blast from the past' this thread is.

Was awarded a Special Flying Award in 1968 after attending OASC (did not know what it was when asked, "Would I like to be considered for a ..." at the final interview, just said, "Yes Sir" and found out after.)

Spent the Easter school holidays 1969 plus a week or so, at OATS, Kidlington getting the 30 free hours plus the extra 5 that my parents paid for me to get my PPL. As others have said, most flying in PA28s but with spinning in the Zlin.

Unfortunately for me this did not lead to the flying career I had dreamed of as I failed a medical at Biggin Hill the next year when applying for a University Cadetship. The medics found a heart murmur which was ascribed to my having mild rheumatic fever between the medical at the Test in Advance when the SFA was awarded, and the later one, which ruled me out for General Duties (the diagnosis was wrong as I have a bicuspid aortic valve which I was born with, but I guess I would have been rejected because of that anyway!). I was offered an Engineering Cadetship ( I was going to take an engineering degree) but decided that I could not bear having a career being so close to aircraft and not allowed to fly them. I have spent 40 odd years in the oil & gas business as an engineer, travelling the world and being paid pretty well for the privilege so I cannot complain.

Anyone else on this thread who was at Kidlington doing their Flying Scholarship in April '69? There were quite a few of us 17 and 18 year olds but the intervening 49 years have made me forget all the names.:{:{

[Fareastdriver]

First RAF solo (at RAF High Ercall) Piston Provost XF612 25.01.61 6 FTS RAF Ternhill

You must have been on the course behind me because I started in Oct 1960. Did you finish your Provost flying at Ouston?

[JW411]

No; I finished at Ternhill. We (158 Course) started on 12.12.60 and my last flight was in WV607 on 20.07.61.

[Fareastdriver]

I was on 157. We had a gash fortnight after our final handling tests where we just flew to enjoy ourselves. One was a landaway for PPL qualification. It was rounded off by the aerobatic competition and finally the spot landing contest on June 15th.

[malcolm380]

I did my A&B gliding certificates at RAF Debden two weeks after my 16th birthday, and my Flying Scholarship/PPL in the summer of 1973 at Southend Light Aviation Centre. My first solo was in PA28-140 S-ASWA, and Edward Clack did my GFT in G-AVLT. Never made it into professional piloting but have been an aviation professional my entire career, working as a Systems Engineer, and latterly a Project Manager, for 3 well known names in the aircraft design and manufacturing industry, both rotary and fixed wing.

[twinboom]

With you there Beags, actually a few months behind as I turned 17 at the very end of July '68 and completed my Flying Scholarship (at Carlisle Airport) with +5hr for the PPL (madness not to) in early September. In Aug.'71 I was privileged to have a back seat ride in a Buccaneer whilst a Cadet Pilot with Oxford UAS and this led to some fun years on the Hunter and Jaguar, "Home and Away" - as they say. Some years later again Civvy flying beckoned and I retired from that coming up two years ago after c.10k hours on 146/Q400/E195 etc. Surely the REALLY scary thing is that the RAF has been going but 100 years and you and I, and many others, have been active Aviators for half that time - and continue to be so. I am undertaking a South African PPL later this year because GA in UK/Europe is just stupidly expensive and bureaucratic. Happy days once more?

[Wander00]

A tadge jealous of the Piston Provost flying. For some odd reason always fancied flying (in) one

[aw ditor]

W00. PP'. Great aeroplane. Good rate of roll, but vented fuel on slow rolls which came into the cockpit via the ill fitting top of the canopy. A demanding' Basic Trainer being a tail dragger. Leonides sometimes threw a pot' but was pretty reliable. Could out climb a JP3 to 5000' but then that wasn't too difficult. Shuttleworth fly one on high days and holidays.

AD' Redhill Flying Club Maggies 1953'.

[Haraka]

aw ditor "vented fuel on slow rolls which came into the cockpit via the ill fitting top of the canopy."
Indeed-and not only on slow rolls . Unfortunately it was only later realized that some pupils who been chopped for "airsickness" were probably victims of this.

[longer ron]

A slightly different 'scholarship' for me - when I finished my Halton Apprenticeship I (somehow :cool:) managed to get awarded the Philip Sassoon Flying Award - I was always really grateful to my Flight Commander for putting me in for it.All the candidates went to OASC at Biggin (at that time) for selection tests,anyway somehow I got the Halton award for that term (the other apprentice schools also had a winner each).
So in may 72 I went to AST Perth (Scone) and had a lovely 6 week holiday there,flying 1,2,3 or 4 sorties a day depending on weather and QFI availability etc.Driving around in C150's - solo @ 6.45,some previous gliding experience of course was a big help :).
Got my PPL and then turned up at Cottesmore to a bit of a bollocking from Eng Control (they had not been told about the flying course,although I would guess that the scribblies did know about it) - so was sent to the Canberra OCU at the far end of the airfield as a sort of 'punishment' for not being there in time for my original planned unit posting :).

My eyesight was waay too bad for professional aircrew at that time so there was no chance of GDP etc

[rlsbutler]

From my year at Cranwell (actually, in context, Barkston Heath and Spitalgate Sep 1959 - June 1960) I remember nothing of air sickness on my course, nor of drafty cockpits or fumes in the cockpit. If Haraka says so, there must have been a problem at other schools and we might have been lucky.

I cannot work out how the vented fuel should get back to the cockpit, as I seem to remember that the vent was at the very tail of the aircraft. One can imagine that air might creep back up the fuselage in the surface environment, but inverted in a slow roll is when there is positive pressure over (under) the canopy. The problem must then come from the engine. In normal flight the canopy ought to be evacuating fumes etc through the venturi effect.

Could it be that the fumes (let us hope not fuel) are coming through the firewall ? I think we have discussed elsewhere the loss of an admired PP owner when his engine fire broke through the firewall.

[Fareastdriver]

I cannot remember any of the Ghanaians, Malaysians, Jordanians, Iraqis, Lebanese or Brits on our course suffering from airsickness and I don't remember any fumes otherwise the cockpit would have blown up when my instructor and myself lit up a fag.

[BEagle]

I've never flown in a Piston Provost, but certainly a poorly-flown stall turn in a Chipmunk could result in fuel escaping from the anti-siphon vents splattering against the cockpit canopy....

The worst honk-inducing smell though, was the horrible rubber smell of the H-type mask...:yuk: Although the previous night's 'relaxation' in the OM bar might have been a contributory factor.

[Haraka]

According to Huntings' Chief defects engineer at the time ,the fuel vapour apparently initially.crept back along the top side of the fuselage and in to the cockpit area . Might this have been before the fuel vent was placed on top of the fin?
I really couldn't say .

[rlsbutler]

... before the fuel vent was placed on top of the fin?


I did not know of the vent at the top of the fin, which I should have thought required really complicated plumbing.

If this photo can be accessed, it shows what I had in mind.

http://www.britmodeller.com/walkarounds/aircraft/piston%20prov/Provost-0010.JPG

The vertical fuselage element below the elevator has two circular features. The upper one is I think the white nav light. The bottom one, as near to the ground as can be, is where I expect the vent to be.

I (unreliably) remember that vent being provided with a short wick to hang in the airstream. As a very-non-technician, I would have though a wick would strongly encourage the passing fuel to disengage from the aircraft when otherwise it might be tempted to creep back (forward) up the fuselage

[Haraka]

"I seem to remember that the vent was at the very tail of the aircraft."
Sorry, perhaps I misread.that
The fuel fumes ingestion problem nevertheless was identified as a concern at the time and was attributed to these creeping back along the upper fuselage and entering the cockpit via the canopy.
FWIW the wing fuel tanks fed to a collector tank in the belly under the cockpit.

[JW411]

I really don't remember fuel fumes coming through the top of the canopy but then the slow roll was one of my favourite manoeuvres and I always flew them perfectly! Being serious now, I do remember one chap on the course ahead of me who had terrible trouble with air sickness in the PP and it was eventually put down to fumes coming through the firewall. He survived and we ended up as fellow DC-10 captains with Fred Laker.

[jindabyne]

Flying Schol at Yeadon in '61.

My school friend Barry Hyde and myself went together for around six weeks (from Lancaster Royal Grammar), staying in B&B. He had developed a relationship with a young lass from Horsforth whilst we were there. A year later, he was killed in a Piston Provost night mid-air in the circuit at Acklington. Some years later I was on leave and driving in the dark to a pub near Lancaster (many miles from Horsforth), when an oncoming car failed to negotiate a bend and rolled right over the top of us. We stopped, got out and walked towards what we thought would be a disaster. Instead, the survivors walked towards out of the gloom. It was his old girlfriend and beau. Creepy to say the least!

[MPN11]

Now reunited with my logbooks and Cadet Record of Service (CCF and ATC). Oh, what a lucky cadet I was ... I got pretty much all of the goodies available, with Gliding School, PPL and International Air Cadet Exchange all ticked off over a 3-year period. Oh, and an AOC Air Cadets Commendation chucked in too! They were great years to be a CCF/ATC Cadet (58-63) which I finished off in 64 as a Civilian Instructor with my old ATC Sqn (144 Richmond) in my 'gap year' between RN and RAF service.

18 Aug 61. Glider solo at No. 1 Gliding Centre RAF Hawkinge, awarded A and B Certificates.

29 Jul 62. Flying Scholarship, Oxford Aeroplane Club, Kidlington. First solo in Piper Colt G-ARKN. Time to solo 5h35m. Group A PPL #62833 awarded 22 Aug 62. Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for your patience!

Jul/Aug 63. IACE to Idaho, in the company of another Cadet FS who in later years would be known in the RAF as "C4" ;)

All of which led to my flying career in the RN, where I failed my Flying Grading at Roborough in Dec 63!
[B]reynoldsno1, re your post #32 ... your Mr. Lucas at Kidlington was the Chief Instructor of RN Flying Grading at the time, and my instructor was his son (the shouting, coaming-thumping, confidence-destroying one!). In my Log Books as Lucas Snr. and Lucas Jnr., and "their" Tiger Moths were BB694 and T8191 respectively.