A Short History of Australian Regulatory Development Part III
Its perhaps relevant to go back and compare the US experience with Australia’s in the lead up to the second world war to provide insight into how the different attitudes to aviation development and regulation formed.
In Great Britain in the late 1930ies with war becoming a distinct possibility, planners were confident that the industrial capacity of the empire could produce enough aircraft, however at best Britain alone could produce only 22,000 pilots annually but would need an estimated 50,000 airmen each year.
To assuage this shortage of trained aircrew the British Government instituted a plan to levy aircrew from its dominions. This was called the ‘British Commonwealth Air Training Plan’, the idea being to establish a pool of recruits in the dominions from which the RAF could call on when required.
Australia accepted the plan which we called ‘The Empire Air training Scheme (EATS), 50,000 aircrew would be trained in the dominions of which Australia’s contribution would be 28,000 and would ultimately cost Australia about a hundred million pounds.
While a massive construction and recruitment program got under way, the first group of pilots were sent to Canada to commence training in November 1940.
German strategic bombing of British factories created a shortage of serviceable aircraft from Britain. Mid 1930 an Australian aircraft industry barely existed. Most aircraft built in Australia were assembled from parts delivered from Great Britain, mostly wood and canvas constructions like the Tiger Moth.
Production amounted to less than 70 aircraft of all types.
Funds diverted from the EATS set up an entity that would eventually become the Government Aircraft Factory based at Fisherman’s Bend in Victoria. It was primarily to manufacture Beaufort’s with an initial order for 180 aircraft half for the RAAF and half for the RAF. By 1944 production was switching to the more capable Bristol Beaufighter of which 365 were built.
It’s perhaps ironic that in the mid thirties the USA was facing the same logistical problems as Great Britain. As the possibility of war loomed, its Civilian Pilot Training Program filled the void for pilot training, its civilian industries rapidly rearranged themselves to produce much of the technical development and military hardware.
At wars end these industries were perfectly placed to rapidly take advantage of wartime advances in technology and construction for the civilian market and sowed the seeds for what would become the largest industry in the world encouraged by its government and its regulator imbued with a ‘Foster and Promote’ ethos.
In contrast to the USA’s ‘Civilian Pilot Training program’ concept, EATS was entirely a military affair. EATS primary goal was to train competent pilots as quickly as possible to feed the war machine.
Its concepts, syllabi and standards proved highly effective and provided a ready-made template for incorporation into civilian pilot training regulation at war's end.
Those tried and proven regulations served very well and trained a whole generation of pilots up until the 1980ies when CASA decided to reinvent the wheel by formulating new regulations, perhaps ignoring the old saying,
“If it aint broke don’t fix it”.
The Australian Regulator came out of the second world war infected with the British inspired arrogance of the ascendancy of the military in relation to all aviation matters. With much of its personnel recruited from the military, imbued with with the military authoritarian secretive ethos and possessing very little understanding of commercial reality, investment was stifled and development hamstrung by draconian regulations and the inability to quickly adapt to rapidly advancing technology.
General Aviation saw a spurt of growth after the war quite possibly from the many pilots returning to civilian life, but became increasingly irrelevant to the political elite. Viewed as a rich mans playground, rather than a potential Industry, it was allowed to slowly wither on the vine, anything that showed potential shooed away by bureaucratic interference and political indifference.
Its perhaps relevant to go back and compare the US experience with Australia’s in the lead up to the second world war to provide insight into how the different attitudes to aviation development and regulation formed.
In Great Britain in the late 1930ies with war becoming a distinct possibility, planners were confident that the industrial capacity of the empire could produce enough aircraft, however at best Britain alone could produce only 22,000 pilots annually but would need an estimated 50,000 airmen each year.
To assuage this shortage of trained aircrew the British Government instituted a plan to levy aircrew from its dominions. This was called the ‘British Commonwealth Air Training Plan’, the idea being to establish a pool of recruits in the dominions from which the RAF could call on when required.
Australia accepted the plan which we called ‘The Empire Air training Scheme (EATS), 50,000 aircrew would be trained in the dominions of which Australia’s contribution would be 28,000 and would ultimately cost Australia about a hundred million pounds.
While a massive construction and recruitment program got under way, the first group of pilots were sent to Canada to commence training in November 1940.
German strategic bombing of British factories created a shortage of serviceable aircraft from Britain. Mid 1930 an Australian aircraft industry barely existed. Most aircraft built in Australia were assembled from parts delivered from Great Britain, mostly wood and canvas constructions like the Tiger Moth.
Production amounted to less than 70 aircraft of all types.
Funds diverted from the EATS set up an entity that would eventually become the Government Aircraft Factory based at Fisherman’s Bend in Victoria. It was primarily to manufacture Beaufort’s with an initial order for 180 aircraft half for the RAAF and half for the RAF. By 1944 production was switching to the more capable Bristol Beaufighter of which 365 were built.
It’s perhaps ironic that in the mid thirties the USA was facing the same logistical problems as Great Britain. As the possibility of war loomed, its Civilian Pilot Training Program filled the void for pilot training, its civilian industries rapidly rearranged themselves to produce much of the technical development and military hardware.
At wars end these industries were perfectly placed to rapidly take advantage of wartime advances in technology and construction for the civilian market and sowed the seeds for what would become the largest industry in the world encouraged by its government and its regulator imbued with a ‘Foster and Promote’ ethos.
In contrast to the USA’s ‘Civilian Pilot Training program’ concept, EATS was entirely a military affair. EATS primary goal was to train competent pilots as quickly as possible to feed the war machine.
Its concepts, syllabi and standards proved highly effective and provided a ready-made template for incorporation into civilian pilot training regulation at war's end.
Those tried and proven regulations served very well and trained a whole generation of pilots up until the 1980ies when CASA decided to reinvent the wheel by formulating new regulations, perhaps ignoring the old saying,
“If it aint broke don’t fix it”.
The Australian Regulator came out of the second world war infected with the British inspired arrogance of the ascendancy of the military in relation to all aviation matters. With much of its personnel recruited from the military, imbued with with the military authoritarian secretive ethos and possessing very little understanding of commercial reality, investment was stifled and development hamstrung by draconian regulations and the inability to quickly adapt to rapidly advancing technology.
General Aviation saw a spurt of growth after the war quite possibly from the many pilots returning to civilian life, but became increasingly irrelevant to the political elite. Viewed as a rich mans playground, rather than a potential Industry, it was allowed to slowly wither on the vine, anything that showed potential shooed away by bureaucratic interference and political indifference.