No Training? No Problemo!

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I was wondering what actions or events people had done without ever receiving any training for it. I suspect there are some fine tales out there, especially with stuff that these days requires a long course and 300 bits of paperwork to be filled in before one is allowed to do it.

What got me thinking about this was the Lockerbie anniversary prompting me to go look in my logbook again, since I had 103 on radar not long before the explosion.
What I noticed was that I did Phase 2 Visual Idents (targets with lights on) and Air-Air Refueling that night. What I rediscovered was that those were my first night formation and AAR sorties. I never did them on the OCU because they had to graduate us early. And we never did them on the Squadron because somebody forgot or hadn't been told that we hadn't done them on the OCU. So that night was my first go at either, with no duals or briefings, or even with AAR any day tanking first. And none of us new guys were going to start sticking up hands up in briefings; you just got on and did your best. I think it was only about 3 months later, when one of the other newbies stuck his pitot probe in the basket that someone asked "What technique did they teach you on the OCU?". The reply was "They didn't teach us AAR on the OCU". And there followed an interesting sequence which started with "WHAAAAT?!?" and ended with "Just forget this ever happened". Since we'd all done about 10 AAR trips by then, it was decided that we would just pretend we'd done a workup on the Squadron, and we got the "Deny everything, Baldrick" order if we were ever asked about it.

[ian16th]

On a technical level, if one was lucky enough to get a course on anything, it was after about 6 months to a year after you started work on it.

The other version, was to do the course, then get posted so you don't work on it!
This happened to me c1957, While I was at Coningsby, I did a Victor course at Gaydon, then I was posted to Transport Command and Istres.
The Victor course was all blackboard and theory, so although my record showed me as Victor trained, I never actually touched one of them.

[Capetonian]

In one of life's ironies, I got one of my jobs as a trainer simply by being in the wrong place at the right time. I had had no training whatsoever to be a trainer. I subsequently had to train trainers, and nobody ever asked me if I'd had any qualifications to do so. It's amazing what you can achieve with confidence and bluff.

[ian16th]

I too had no training training!
But was in a job where I did it.

A common task was to 'pick up a course'!
This meant going and attending a course, then coming back to teach it.

In civilian life I regretted never having been an instructor in the RAF, as the training was good.
But being an instructor for Air Radar meant Yatesbury, and I hated the place.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The training from the RAF Schoolies was exceptional.
I never got a teaching qualification, but spent 11 years as a teacher in public schools using what I'd learned on the RAF Aircrew Instructor Course. This was the 2 week GIT course ("All the useful bits of a PGCE, stretched out to fill two weeks"), plus some other bits over another week. As a Head of Science, I was allowed to supervise and instruct PGCE qualified teachers in their probabtionary year, and had to submit a report to DfE, although not holding a PGCE myself and deemed incapable of teaching in the state sector.

[Pontius Navigator]

Younger daughter, after a varied career including lecturing various RAF courses and even Home Office decided she would like to be a teacher. She did her PGCE but decided she didn't like it. Not the teaching but the other teachers. As soon as she qualified she quit. She then moved into an Ofsted type job checking Army establishments for teaching ability at several times the teaching salary on a flexitime 4 day week.

[G-CPTN]

I never received any instruction (or advice) regarding Heavy Goods Vehicle driving, and when testing was introduced I qualified under 'grandfather rights' - so I never had to face any examination of my abilities.

[llondel]

I remember using WordPerfect back in the DOS days. We'd been working on a defence project writing loads of procurement specs with WP copies of dubious legality, and someone up high had a brain fart and decided that (a) we would all get proper licensed copies and (b) we'd all have to go on a training course prior to using them. We were all WTF? about it, given that by then we'd pretty much figured out everything we needed to know, and wasting several days on a tedious course was not a popular idea. What finally squashed the whole thing was when the engineering director discovered that the cost of training was going to come out of his budget and he refused. So we got our proper copies without having to be trained on how to use them.

Even now, a lot of stuff I prefer to be given a manual and a couple of days to go figure it out myself, I find it sticks far better that way. But then most of what I do can survive a screw-up, I think if I was going into a hazardous environment I'd want a run-through first.

[Rwy in Sight]

I am jealous of the way Fox3 learnt about in-flight refuelling having a go and improve from now on. However I have found invaluable the input of instructors helping to make a move much more efficient.

[Ex-Ascot]

I was made Dept Flt Cdr Ops on 10 Sqn so that the Flt Cdr Ops could go off sailing all the time. On promotion, I subsequently took over from him. At the beginning I had no idea what I was doing. Controlling 22 crews and 13 heavy four jets all around the world. BUT, I had a bloody good Warrant Officer Ops. I once had a phone call in our local pub to say that we had an aircraft U/S in the States. I dispatched an aircraft and crew across there, leaning on the bar, and couldn't remember doing it the following day.

Yes indeed your average Royal Air Force course was six weeks crammed into three months. The exception was the specialist entry Officer's course (Vicars and Tarts) which Mrs Ex-Ascot did. Three months crammed into 6 weeks.

[CharlieOneSix]

Not exactly no training but anyway..... 50 years ago, I won't say where, together with an ex-Army helicopter pilot, three other ex-RN helicopter pilots, an ex-RAF aircraft manufacturer test pilot/aircraft designer, and four ex-RAF pilots, I was on an 8 week ex-Service groundschool crammer leading up to our CPL exams.

One of the exams, probably like nowadays, was to enable a VHF RT licence to be issued. Of course we really didn't need any training having all used VHF in the Services. The ex-RAF examiner - who we knew well from evening socials in the bar - gathered us in the examination room and went round us one by one. "Right, Bloggs, I think it's a 98% for you, Smithers, brilliant guy, you get 100%. Now C16, you left early for bed last night so only 94% for you...". Once he'd been round everyone we just chatted until it was time for the exam to end.

[Pontius Navigator]

I did a one-week Rock course crammed into four weeks. Because it was a four week course we had Wednesday afternoon off for Sports, knocked off Friday noon and didn't start until lunch Monday.

One very cold miserable day we had to go walk about with walkie talkies "Zero this is One, over" "One this is Zero pass your message over". Go or Go Ahead were not expected.

I found the next class room was open so we snuck in there. Eventually we were all in the class room with all bar one radio switched off. The DS eventually twigged

[ian16th]

A Wireless fitter known to Ricardian and I, had the mission of servicing the portable radio kit of the Rocks at Catterick.
He said it was a hopeless task, they broke them faster than he could fix them.

[ricardian]

I spent umpteen years working for the Government during which time my bosses decided (apparently on a whim) that I had to attend a variety of "familiarisation" courses. The most interesting course was on military radio testing. The lecturer told us that he had produced an encryption device the size of a packet of 20 cigarettes (remember them?). It was robust, the power input automatically adjusted for polarity as well as a wide range of voltages, it had been tested by immersion in water and being driven over by a tank. His final and most difficult problem was how to destroy it in case of an emergency. In the end he uses an adaptation of a gadget used by the railway industry to weld rails together

[ian16th]

Isn't that more brazing than welding?