I concentrate on my studies in ATTI

The professor who taught us aircraft materials was actually the younger brother of our principal and he had his subject at his fingertips. It was difficult to stump with any question on this subject and, the best part about him was that even he did not know the answer, he would never admit defeat and would make up some convincing answer.
Of course, he would remember what he had said and, at a later date, he would correct himself in a more convincing way. When it came to theory of flight, our professor was the grand old man who would come to Clive House in his tiny Morris Minor that he had brought with him from Britain. He was a good friend of our principal and both had seen service in Britain during the WWII.
Another interesting subject was the Compass Swinging – it was the setting up of a DR Compass (Direct Reading Compass) on an aircraft. We had two aircraft in Moitra & Co – one of them was a deHavilland Tiger Moth, a bi-plane. It was of wood and fabric construction. Another aircraft was a Piper L-5, it was a mono pane and was all metal construction. The activity was important because in those days, the DR Compass was a means of navigation for aircraft in the air and compass swinging was all about setting the compass so that the needle pointed in the correct direction. This was important because any error could jeopardize the flight.
Like others, I wanted to clear this hurdle of X-license in DR Compass while studying because once ne acquires any one license, he is exempt from appearing in several other subjects – he has to concentrate only on the subject of his specialization. But, unfortunately, that did not happen. (to be continued …)

How I acquired practical experience on Tiger Moth and Piper L-5 aircraft

The theoretical classes in ATTI were held in Clive House from 9am to around 11.30am and the afternoon slot from 2pm to 5pm was reserved for practical classes in the hangars of Moitra & Co located in Kolkata Airport.
Accordingly, I with my friends would board the private bus No 91 that would go to Lauhati and get down at the airport gate near a place called Koikhali. There we would have lunch at a tiny hotel – lunch comprised of a plate of mutton curry and three chapatis with a few slices of onion thrown in as salad along with a tiny piece of lemon.
After lunch we would walk down to the hangars of Moitra & Co located nearly one mile inside the premises of the airport. There was no road as such and we would walk through fields of shoulder-high grass crossing the hangar of Airways India Ltd on the way.
Airways India Ltd was a firm that handled light aircraft and we would watch lovingly at the Cessna aircraft of private companies that would be parked on the tarmac. The aircraft would come there for servicing and maintenance. My interest in AIL was that it was one of the companies where I could acquire practical experience if my luck was good.
Once inside our hangar, I would stare at the de-Havilland Tiger Moth and Piper L-5 aircraft on which I had to study to get acquainted with various terms used in aircraft maintenance. These vintage aircraft were my stepping stones to more sophisticated aircraft like the Dakota DC-3 or Fokker Friendship F-27 or the Boeing-707.
Since our hangars were adjacent to the engine test beds of Indian Airlines, the practical classes would suffer when an engine would be mounted on the rig for endurance test. The noise of the running engine would drown all other sounds. (to be continued …)