Hamble College of Air Training was a flight training centre in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England. During the late 1950s it became apparent that there was going to be a shortage of ex military pilots who would be available to crew British civil aircraft. The two (then) state owned airline corporations, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Aviation, proposed a flying school based loosely on the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

's officer training college at

Cranwell Cranwell is a village in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Cranwell and Byard's Leap and is situated approximately north-west from Sleaford and south-east from the city and county town o ...

. The site chosen was a small airfield at Hamble, Hampshire in the Southern

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, used at the time by

Air Service Training Air Service Training (AST) is an organisation in Perth, Scotland, that has been training engineers and pilots for airlines, maintenance organisations and the military since 1931.

and

Southampton University Air Squadron Southampton University Air Squadron (SUAS ) is a unit of the Royal Air Force which provides basic flying training, adventurous training and personal development skills to undergraduate students of the University of Southampton, University of Portsmo ...

. The first course of cadets began training in 1960. The college continued operations until the mid-1980s:

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

(the merged BOAC and BEA) announced the closure in 1982 and in 1984 the land was sold for development and the equipment disposed of. For the first few years of operation the course lasted two years: later courses were shortened to eighteen months. Cadets were accepted equally from the ranks of school leavers and university graduates: previous flying experience was not a requirement. Following fifteen weeks of ground study, ''ab initio'' and, later, advanced flying training commenced. Ground training included aerodynamics, astronavigation, meteorology, propulsion and many other disciplines. Flying training commenced after fifteen weeks, initially on De Havilland Chipmunk then Piper Cherokee aircraft, progressing to twin engine experience on

Piper Apache The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined light aircraft aimed at the general-aviation market. The United States Navy and military forces in other countries also used it in small numbers. Origin ...

s and later Beechcraft Barons. A graduate would leave the college with a British commercial pilot's licence and a "frozen" airline transport pilot's licence, which could be converted into a full ATPL after further examinations and having accumulated the requisite flying hours.

References

http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1967/1967%20-%200386.jpg

External links

* http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1967/1967%20-%200386.html?search=hamble {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamble College Of Air Training Aviation schools in the United Kingdom Transport in Hampshire British Airways