Archive Watch

University of Flying (1947)

1947 · Short film · 16 min

Watch now On the Internet Archive

Synopsis

This film from 1947 takes a look at the Empire Test Pilots’ School in Wiltshire, England. It was the first of it’s kind established in 1943 and inspired the opening of other test pilot schools. The first training courses were conducted by Commandant, Wing Commander Samuel Wroath with Maclaren Humphry’s as the technical instructor. The film is presented by the Central Office of Information (:10) and was produced by The Horizon Unit (:18). Top pilots from around the world, chosen by their governments were sent here for specialized courses in test piloting (1:04). At the mess hall (1:34) students include a Dutch Army Air Force Captain, an English Squadron leader who lost his eye in combat (1:45) and a Canadian. A U.S. Army Colonel is seen conferring with an English civilian pilot (1:52). The school’s Commander and Group Captain Wilson (2:17) speak with another pilot who recently broken the world’s speed record in 1946 (2:24). The previous record was set by Captain Wilson in 1945, as he hit speeds of 660 mph (2:29). Wing Commander Smith was in charge of the flying portion of the course (2:38). He was the Flight Commander during the Battle of Britain as well as the Squadron Leader of the Night Fighters (2:42). The course was divided in half, the first being the discovery and understanding of how planes handle in the air (3:01) and the second being the testing of planes’ natural performances and the measuring and recording of their characteristics (3:15). Five instructors trained…

Uploader's description on archive.org

Details

Running time
16 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

More like this