Remember the OASC Aptitude Tests ?

[CoffmanStarter]

From the WSJ this weekend ...

Well ... it would seem our American cousins are now to use similar psychometric techniques/tests on 4 year olds to select pupils to enter their NY Gifted & Talented Programme ...

Wind the clock back to Biggin Hill and have a go ... Answers provided

Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test

What next ...

Best ...

Coff.

[Old-Duffer]

Sorry CS, have you never heard of 'being commissioned in the field'.

That, of course, was when we was needin 'em not feeding 'em.

O-D

[CoffmanStarter]

OD ...

Sure do ... my father received a Field Commission in the Royal Engineers during WWII and went on to be decorated with the MC by FM Montgomery for his bravery during the early hours (H hour) of D-Day

[Wander00]

What's this Biggin Hill nonsense - real (old) men did them at Hornchurch!

[Fitter2]

What's this Biggin Hill nonsense - real (old) men did them at Hornchurch!

And were then taken to Cranwell if they got through stage 1.

Can I sue the MOD for 50 year old oil drum injury?

[Wander00]

ISTR a contraption from selection - "stick" to keep the light in a circle - at the RAF Museum - even had a go a few years ago. Then kicked my then 10 year old out of the JP cockpit as it was ana irframe I had flown years before.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Then a teacher, I attended a short Cadet Force Officer Training Course a few years ago. Another teacher/ancient ex-Lightning pilot and myself were there to to "help the others along". A couple of hours were at OASC, and we were all invited to 'have a go' at the pilot aptitude tests. We both passed easily again, whereas the very keen computer game generation / fit young P Ed teachers were hopeless. They were gutted. It was all we could do to avoid looking surpassingly smug.


OK, it was more than we could do..

[airborne_artist]

I went to OASC two Januaries in succession. The first was for an RAF Flying Scholarship, so just a day. The second was for FAA aircrew aptitude tests, so again just one day.

I remember the fruit machine test Columns of symbols moving downwards through a panel, with a panel at the bottom with changing symbols - the objective was to hit the button when the panels matched. There was also a delayed-reaction (controls inverted?) keep the dot in the middle and that's about all I remember. 1977/8 is a while ago.

[Wander00]

Not as long ago as 1959/60 - I did Flying Scholarship, and then Cranditz RAF scholarship selection

[Wander00]

D - if late 50s guy with the DT would doubles have been S.... B.....k

[CoffmanStarter]

Wander00 ...

Sorry ... didn't mean to exclude those who attended RAF Hornchurch

So you don't feel left out here is a pic of some young "hopefuls" in 1960 headed for selection ...



Best regards ...

Coff.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Just about the biggest shock of my life came on Day 2 at OASC, when they read out all the names of those who were to move to the next stage. My surname is about a third of the way through the alphabet, so I had been called out about two minutes down the list about 15 times over.
This time it went Adams, Atkinson, Boyle, Brown, me.

Thinks: (F#ck! What happened to all the others????)

[Wander00]

Coff

Thanks - can just about remember it - now what did I have for breakfast...................

[Tashengurt]

ISTR lots of flipped shapes, odd one outs and number sequences.
I was fairly stunned as they went through the names telling people "You've
failed for ATC, failed for Engineer" then told me I'd passed for all ground branches. Just a shame I failed most of the rest of it!

[Fareastdriver]

We colonials who signed on at various High Commisions or Embassies around the world didn't have to put up with that. They gave me a book with pictures of instrument panels with questions as to what the aircraft should been doing. The rest was sorted out in a bar.

[unclenelli]

I remember doing the scrolling dots (Move joystick left/right to hit vertical scrolling dots)

I thought I was doing excellent
Beep...Beep...Beep..Beep....Beep.Beep..Beep.....Beep...Beep. ...Beep.....Beep.Beep.BeepBeep..Beep..Beep.....Beep....Beep. ..Beep...












Then one ear suddenly tuned in to the bloke next-door
BipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBip BipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBipBip BipBip

[CoffmanStarter]

Remember the Control of Velocities Test ... The vertical steering wheel with delayed action that moved a pointer over a horizontal rotating drum with a spiral dual path of contacts ... more points were available on the more deviating path requiring frantic predictive steering of the vertical wheel ! Is that still done or, as I suspect, has the PC taken over from these electro-mechanical contraptions ?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Most (if not all, and including the wheel thingie) of the mechanical devices are now in a 'museum' section in the foyer.

[CoffmanStarter]

Probably where I belong these days ...

[Melchett01]

It's all computer based now. I remember they had just introduced the CLAN test when I went through. As a test of capacity it must have been quite good because the amount of muttering and swearing that could be heard around the room was quite amusing.

If memory serves it was a series of vertical coloured blocks with same coloured circles moving across the screen at different rates. When the red circle passed over the red block you pressed the red button and so on - I think there were 4 colours IIRC. Then on top of that you had to do mental arithmetic problems; again IIRC the question came up at the bottom of the screen and you had to select the correct answer a,b,c,d (or something like it). And then finally there was memory test element where a string of letters / numbers came up and you had to memorise them and then either type the string back in again when prompted or select the right one from a choice. All the elements were in themselves very simple, but start to do them all simultaneously and it got interesting. Speed things up and it got really interesting.