FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1919
1919 - 1038.PDF
V from which it received very little return. We trust that if and when another loan is issued, or when the Government desires to make a moving appeal to the people, it will at least not ask any Department to connive at the commission of acts which, within a month, have to be specially notified as being against the law. There is very little doubt that pilots have offended in the belief that the prohibition was a dead letter, owing to the example given them during the loan campaign. Let us have no more of it. * * • The Air Ministry has announced the ThofFttujIre concutions °* permanent service of R.A.F. officers and men in the peace-time Royal Air Force- The announcement is rather belated, but in extenuation of the delay it should be pointed out that the R.A.F. is not quite in the same position as the Navy or the Aimy. Both of the latter Services were in being before the war and no creative work has had to be done in the establishment of their post-war strength. Whether they remain at the strength they were in 1914 or whether their numbers be reduced or increased is merely a matter of Government decision which can be carried out by the Admiralty and War Office Staffs with ease and celerity. In the case of the R.A.F., however, it was impossible to determine the constitution of the Staff before the strength of the new Force and the manner of its organisation had been determined. As everyone knows, there was no R.A.F. before the war and thus there was no administrative headquarters. All this has had to be created and has meant a large measure of delay in the announcement of ultimate details. The full text of the official document stating the terms of service is published in another part of this issue of FLIGHT, SO there is no need to refer to it in detail, except in a very general sort of way. It should be noted that, so far as the commissioned branches are concerned, it is proposed to feed these through a. special R.A.F. college similar in con stitution to Sandhurst and Osborne, which is to be opened in February next. The age for entry to this college has been set at 17! and the youth who is admitted will, for the first year, receive what may be described as a general education, with a comparatively small amount of technical instruction. In the second year his instruction will be mainly technical, and provided he passes out at the end of that year, he will then be sent to join a squadron, in the same way that the Sandhurst cadet goes to join a regiment. • • • There is one thing that should be _1.N°tA emphasised, and that is that the young man who elects to take a commission in the R.A.F. is by no means entering a " blind alley " occupation. Even it he secures only a temporary ® $> Honours for Sir Hugh Trenchard IT was announced on Wednesday that H.M. the King has been pleased to approve that the following honour be conferred upon the high officer of the Air Force mentioned below, in recognition of the great services rendered to the country during the war :— Air Vice-Marshal Sir H. Trenchard, K.C.B., D.S.O. : Baronetcy. In the House of Commons, on Tuesday, Mr. Lloyd George handed to the Speaker a. message from the King signed by his own hand. The Speaker read the message as follows:— " His Majesty, taking into consideration the eminent services rendered during the late war by those officers who AUGUST 7, 19^ commission he need not fear that. Temporary com missions are to be for three or four years and at any time during that period an officer may be offered a permanent one. In the event of his being so offered a permanent commission, he will have secured a great deal of knowledge which will be of inestimable use to him in civil life. He can specialise in flying, engineering, designing, photography, wireless tele graphy and telephony, or mechanical transport. Thus at the end of his service he will find himself in posses si on of a degree of training in technical subjects far in advance of that which he would probably have had as a civilian student. Service in the non-commissioned ranks is equally attractive. A young man of 18 may join up and be taught a trade and earn pocket money at the rate of a guinea a week while he is learning. At the same time he will receive clothing, lodging and food free and will thus have no expenses. If he shows par ticular aptitude, he can rise to the rank of sergeant- major, when he will receive pay at the rate of 18s. per day. (By the way, is it intended to retain these ranks copied from Army nomenclature or are they to be altered as those of the officers have been ?) The men it is particularly desired to attract are those with a knowledge, or a desire to learn, car pentry, or draughtsmen, coppersmiths, electricians, fitters, instrument makers, camera repairers, moulders, pattern-makers, turners and wireless operator mechanics. All boys entered and trained in the service, will be advanced to the rank of leading aircraftsmen at 5s. 6d. to 6s. 2d. per day on satis factory completion of training, and the position just now is such that promotion to non-commissioned rank is certain to be extraordinarily rapid—and the commencing pay of a sergeant is gs. bd. per day. Men who have been working for civilian firms of air craft constructors are, unfortunately, being dis charged in large numbers, but there seems to be a great opportunity for many of them in the R.A.F. We shall certainly have to wait for the " boom " in civilian aviation for another year or more, and in the meantime the R.A.F. holds promise of being just the Service in which men who wish to keep in close touch with the industry will be able not only to keep up their standard of craftsmanship but to better it. Men who have served for three or four years should then be able to command high wages and from that point of view alone the R.A.F. is certainly a most attractive Service. Not the least advantageous point about the issue of the new terms of service is that the announcement clears up finally all the un certainty which has been rife regarding the future of the Force and places it, once and for all, in the same position as the Navy and Army. In a word, it is now constituted as a permanent part of our standing defences, in which service for officers and men is as stable and certain as in either of the other two. commanded and directed his forces by sea, on land, and in the air, and being desirous, in recognition of such services, to confer upon them some signal mark of his favour, recom mends to his faithful Commons that he should be enabled to grant to :— " Air Vice-Marshal Sir Hugh Trenchard : £10,000." The Air Ministry A PARLIAMENTARY paper, issued the other day, which gives the total number of persons on the staffs of the various Ministries, shows that whereas on November 11, 19x8, the number engaged in the Air Ministry was 4,646, in March, 1919. it had diminished to 4,090. IO4O
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
