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Aviation History
1924
1924 - 0760.PDF
THE KING'S REGULATIONS AND AIR COUNCIL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ROYAL AIR FORCE Six years have passed since the War came to an end, and a new generation is rapidly growing up. Already many officers and airmen can be seen who do not wear medal ribbons—in fact, it is doubtful whether the possessors of medals are still a majority of the Royal Air Force. To these youngsters the force itself must appear almost a venerable body, for already it has occupied all their manhood's life and, in many cases, a good part of their boyhood too. To them it will come with something of a shock to realise that King's Regulations for the Royal Air Force have only just been published for the first time. To the Sergeant-Ma jors of the force, on the other hand, this publication will doubtless give intense delight. We may picture them spending their winter evenings learning by heart the 894 pages and the 3,700 odd paragraphs which they contain, so as to be able to quote justification for all their actions, and to confound unwary and less erudite adjutants. The examiners who set papers for sundry air force examina tions will also have a merry time picking out " teasers " from the bulky grey volume. We venture to suggest a sample :—Define and distinguish between the terms " air man," " aircraftman," and " aircrafthand." Every well- informed member of the general public ought to be able to answer that question ; but how many are really able to do so ? The general public, of course, will not read " King's Regs.," but if any curious and adventurous person does open the book, he will not have to go far before finding his interest aroused. The very definitions have their piquancy. "Land- plane " is a term which receives official sanction, and so is " Ship Plane." Oxford Dictionary, please note ! We also learn definitely from the same page that a seaplane is an aeroplane, a point which has been much in dispute hitherto. Turning on, we are surprised to learn that an Area is not a " formation," though a Wing is. We are left in doubt as to whether a Group is a " formation " or not. On the whole, the evidence is in favour of the presumption. Another point on which a definite ruling seems desirable, and if it exists in this volume it has escaped a somewhat careful scrutiny, is the precise meaning of the terms " Air Officer " and " Air rank." They seem to refer to one and the same degree of seniority, and they both occur frequently throughout the volume. On the analogy of the naval " flag rank " one would suppose they indicated an officer not below the rank of Air Vice-Marshal. But Paragraph 348 says that an Air Aide de Camp (to the King) will be of the rank of Group Captain, and will vacate his appointment on promotion to air rank. Therefore, it seems that an Air Commodore must be an air officer. An important matter of principle is laid down in Paragraph 375, which deals with promotion of officers. Different systems of working promotion have been tried in various services, and all have shown defects in certain circumstances. The British Army used (and for all we know, still does so) to work on regimental promotion by seniority up to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel as vacancies occurred. The result was that in one regiment promotion was fast and in another slow, according to the whims of fortune. In the Indian Army promotion is on a time scale, and every officer knows the date on which he will get his rise. This system is excellent, and makes for general contentment in time of peace, but it broke down badly in the great War, when casualties were thick and yet the survivors could not get promotion as their fellows in the British service were getting it. The Royal Air Force has decided upon the system of promotion by selection after recommendation. For this system it is claimed that the good man is sure to rise and the indifferent officer to be left behind. The obvious defect of it is that it gives a loophole for favourit ism, and that even a good officer cannot get promotion if his idiosyncrasies do not agree with those, possible even more idiosyncratic, of his immediate superior. In practice, it is bound to be the Squadron-Leaders who recommend officers for promotion or keep them back ; and it must be remembered that Squadron-Leaders are of necessity rather young men, lacking that experience of the world and of mankind which the Captain of a ship or the Lieutenant-Colonel of a regiment must have acquired. Moreover, it is inevitable that in the Royal Air Force the qualities of commanding men and judging character must receive rather less weight, and ability in deal ing with machines and engines must receive rather more weight, than is the case in the Army or in the executive branch of the Navy. There is a distinct danger here, and it behoves Wing Commanders and Group Captains to scrutinise closely the recommendations of the Squadron Leaders. On the other hand, there is a good deal to be said for adopting this system of promotion in the Royal Air Force. It is not yet certain how long the " flying life " of the average pilot will be ; but compared with the other services the Air Force is the service of young men and of brilliant individuals. The brilliant young man ought to receive rapid promotion, and under this system he has a good chance of winning it. The remark about skill with a machine being more important than the power of leading men, is an argument which tells for this system as well as against it ; for the efficiency of the service depends somewhat less on the power of an officer to get the best out of his aircraftmen than upon his ability to keep his place in a formation ; and, therefore, less harm is done if a brilliant " stunt merchant," devoid of other qualities, receives promotion, than would be the case in the Army if promotion were usually given to officers who were merely crack revolver shots. The chapter on language study is instructive. It sum marises the present outlook of the air force, but it does not look ahead. The only languages the study of which is encouraged by the offer of rewards are French, German, Japanese and Arabic. An airman can only receive a reward for proficiency in Arabic. We rather think that it would have been wiser to specify the particular languages in some publication less permanent than King's Regulations. It may some day be necessary to add Italian and Spanish to the list, or—who knows ?—to omit Arabic. Chapter IX, Section IV, deals with education, and is especially interesting. Space forbids a complete description of the system, but it may be said briefly that the principle adopted is to collect a number of really good men as educa tion officers, post them to stations, and give them a free hand to do as much good work for officers, airmen and the children of both as the circumstances of each case permit. There is also a " Pool " of knowledge which can be drawn upon where necessary. The breadth of the conception, in dealing with a thorny problem, commands admiration. This, of course, is in addition to the education given to cadets and aircraft apprentices at Cranwell, Halton and Flower Down. The regulations draw attention to a number of interesting facts not generally realised. A whole series of regulations deals with Maltese airman, the only class of airmen from the Empire for whom special provision is made. . . . It is pointed out that ex-airmen with special qualifications may become Yeoman of the Guard. . . . The issue of spec tacles to airmen with defective sight is authorised, which seems to put the Air Force many gulfs away from the Army and Navy. . . . Packing cases may be loaned to married officers and airmen when moving from station to station. . . . Automatic pistols are issued free to officers for the period of their service—Army officers have to buy their own arms. . . . An excellent regulation enjoins that boys and other young airmen are to report immediately if their bed clothes" appear to be damp. . . . A propos a recent indecorous discussion in certain daily papers, paragraph 763 lays it down that the CO. of a station will be responsible that guards and sentries are reduced to the lowest possible numbers and that where possible he will arrange for guard and sentry duties to be performed by service police, or air men acting as such. . . . Not every one knows that an airman can draw pay as a diver—a proviso which concerns the work of torpedo aircraft. It is only natural that the regulations should be con cerned mostly with land 'planes and secondarily with sea planes. Airships and balloons only receive occasional men tion. Incidentally some enthusiasts will be grieved to note that helicopters are not mentioned at all, not even among the definitions—nor are ornithopters ! But now that we are starting an airship department once again it seems that some additions to the regulations, or at least to the appendix, will soon be necessary. For instance, will a qualified captain of an airship wear the same " wings " as the pilot of an aero plane ? Minute instructions are given in the appendix governing the award of the flying badge—to u?e the official term. They deal only with training on landplanes and sea planes. Before long, we hope, the regulations for training in airships will also need to be laid down. , 760
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