A Coventry Kid's Tale

Chapter 9: 13 years old

The A.T.C. was supplying the child with a large amount of input. First he had to learn how to "drill", left turn, right turn, about turn, quick march, slow march and at the double. Then he had to learn all the "ranks" in the R.A.F., so he knew who to salute. All of this he learnt with relish (he liked that on a sandwich as well). When all of this was mastered, the powers that be gave him a uniform, which he was proud to wear. Now that the child had been enrolled as a cadet they then taught him rifle drill with a .303 Lee Enfield rifle. Now, this rifle was for real and he was also taught how to dis-assemble it, clean it and re-assemble it in a very short time. Next came the Bren gun. This the child was taught the same as the rifle but the Bren gun was to give the child some fun in the future. They were then taken when possible to the rifle ranges on the different R.A.F. camps, Cosford being one of them. The .303 packs quite a wallop on the recoil when fired and can break the collar bone when held wrong. This meant nothing to the child, on the rifle range he went, laid down with his rifle and with five live rounds in the magazine, aimed at the target, shut his eyes, gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger, "bugger this for a lark" the child thought as he had just gone deaf, but the gunnery officer looking through his telescope said "first bullet in target". The child was that pleased he overcame the fear he had of the rifle and went on to get his marksman badge. However one cadet had a bit of a problem. He was that small, every time he fired the rifle the recoil pushed him down the ramp, but undeterred he would crawl back up and fire another round. Fair play to him, he got his marksman badge as well but had to work harder for it.

Parachute practice was another must as the R.A.F. would not let you fly in a "Chipmunk" unless you knew how to use one. On the playing field at the back of Freddie's behind the pre-fabs, the cadets would be strapped into a parachute. This was to teach the cadets how to deflate it on landing (some hope). After the cadet was strapped in, the other cadets would hold the "canopy" to catch the wind thus inflating it. When the canopy was full of wind (no Brussels sprouts involved) the cadet would then pull on the lower cords to deflate the parachute. This of course never happened !!
Upon inflating the parachute it would immediately take off down the field at high speed dragging the cadet behind it. The cadet being rolled over and over didn't even know which cords to pull, it's a wonder they were not dragged onto the railway track. Luckily the chute would always catch on the railings thus deflating it anyway (also it had a lot of holes in it).
After this training the cadets were taken to the T.A. parachute training centre at Keresley. Here they were strapped into a parachute harness and then leapt into space so they could practice their landing technique. When they had completed the course their log book was signed and now they were ready to fly. It didn't matter if any of the cadets got it wrong, they were still passed off. Every cadet thought the same; "hope that plane stays in the air".