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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0306.PDF
MAY 21, 1925 ROYAL AIR FORCE EXPANSION Short-Service Officers Required for Flying Duties THE Air Ministry announces :—The Royal Air Force is•prepared to accept during the next three months approxi- mately 100 officers for flying-duties uftder the short-servicecommission scheme, and applications are accordingly invited from suitable candidates. Part of these are required as aresult of the authorised expansion of the Air Force for home defence the remainder being needed to replace other short-service officers who automatically pass to the Reserve of Air Force Officers on termination of their period of serviceon the active list. Candidates, who should be of thoroughly good educationand physique, but who need not have had any previous flying experience, must not be less than 18 and not more than25 years of age at the time of entry. Those judged from their applications to be suitable will be interviewed bv a SelectionCommittee, and those selected, after passing the standard R.A.F. medical examination, will be gazetted as pilot officers,on probation. The probationary period is six months, after which, subject to satisfactory progress, officers are confirmedin rank. Short-service commissions are granted for five years' service on the active list, followed by a period of fouryears' service on the reserve. For all purposes of pay, allowances and promotion, short-service officers receive equal treatment with officers holding permanent commissions. The present rates of pay andallowances for unmarried pilot officers amount to £1 4s. lid. a day or about ^450 per annum. In addition, short-serviceofficers receive on transfer to the Reserve, on the completion of their period of five years' active-list service, a gratuity of £375. When they are transferred to the flying branchof the Reserve they receive a retaining fee of £30 per annum, and are required to carry out 12 hours' solo-flying trainingeach year on up-to-date war-type aircraft. During such training they receive the pay and allowances of their rank.Pilot officers will be posted to one of the Royal Air Force flying training schools, where they will undergo a course oftraining in aviation and in aeronautical and technical subjects for a period of a year. At the end of this period they willbe posted to Air Force squadrons for duty. Pilot officers, provided they qualify for promotion, will be promoted toflying officers, with increased rates of pay, after completing not less than 18 months' service from the date of beinggazetted as pilot officers. A strictly limited number of officers serving on short-service commissions may be selected for transfer to the permanent list, and officers so selected will be allowed to counttheir actual service on their short-service commissions towards retired pay or gratuity under the permanent officers' scales,but will not be eligible for the gratuity mentioned above. Arrangements have also been made for all officers who desireit to receive special tuition from the R.A.F. education officers who have been recently appointed, to equip themselves forcivil life against the time when their period of service termi- nates. These educational facilities are being graduallyextended. Application forms and copies of the detailed regulationscan be obtained by applying in writing to the Secretary, Air Ministry, Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C. 2. No. 1 WING, ROYAL AIR FORCE IN the General Duties branch of the Royal Air Force thereare 100 officers who hold the rank of Wing Commander. Up to a few weeks ago, 97 of these wing commanders hadno wings to command. The three fortunate exceptions were in India. Within the last few weeks the number ofnon-wing commanding wing commanders has been reduced from 97 to 96—a wing has been formed in Great Britain. Wings played such a prominent part in R.A.F. organisa-tion towards the end of the War that it is rather hard to realise that since the post-Armistice reduction of the fightingservices there have been no wings in this country. Probably some of our readers have forgotten what a wing is. Accord-ing to King's Regulations for the Royal Air Force, a wing is a formation, and consists of a wing headquarters and oneor more squadrons, and may include a park, depot, or other units as required. No. 1 Wing just formed is an ArmyCo-operation Wing, belonging to No. 7 Group, which in turn is under the Inland Area. The H.Q. of this our one andonly wing are situated at South Farnborough, and the squadrons which are the mainstay of the formation areNo. 4, commanded by Sqdn.-Ldr. J. C. Slessor, M.C., which is stationed at South Farnborough, and No. 13, under Sqdn.-Ldr. C. C. Durston, which is stationed at Andover. Both are Army Co-operation squadrons, equipped with Bristolfighters. Army co-operation occupies far fewer personnel and far less equipment of the Royal Air Force than do eitherAir Defence or the Naval Air Arm. This is doubtless in accordance with the modest requirements of our " Con-temptible Little Army." There are, in fact, only four A.-C. squadrons in the country, the two mentioned above, andNo. 2 at Manston and No. 16 at Old Sarum, the last being included in the School of Army Co-operation. All aremounted on the admirable but over-venerable Bristol fighter. But though the Army side of the Royal Air Force is small innumbers, it is full of energy and enthusiasm, and this institu- tion of a wing indicates that in organisation it is somewhatahead of the Air Defence and the Naval Air Arm branches. There can be little doubt that Air-Marshal Sir John Salmondwill not long delay the proper organisation of the Air Defence squadrons under his command, but in the meantime itmust be admitted that Air-Commodore T. I. Webb-Bowen, commanding the InlandArea, has got his shell in first. The officer selected to command No. 1 Wing is WingCommander P. C. Maltby, D.S.O., A.F.C. Naturally and properly he is an old Army man, who transferred from theRoyal Welch Fusiliers to the Royal Flying Corps in 1915. He was rapidly promoted to the command of a flight inNo. 15 Squadron at Dover, and before the end of 1915 he was sent to No. 16 Squadron in France. He remained on activeservice for 18 months, during which time he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and shortly afterwards wasmentioned in dispatches. In June, 1917, he came home to take a senior officers' course, and after a brief period at theAir Ministry in 1918, he was appointed to the staff of the then Midland Area as G.S.O.I, in charge of training. Forhis work there he was awarded the Air Force Cross. He was also a staff officer in the North-Western Area for a time.In the autumn of 1919 he was sent to India to command a squadron, and for a while he was in temporary commandof No. 1 Indian Wing. He returned to England last year, and in January last was appointed to the command of No. 1Wing, then not in existence. While waiting for it to be formed he was employed at Halton. A great opportunitynow lies before him, for not only is he responsible for the for- mation under his command, but he is in a position to actas chief authority on air matters to the staff of the Alder- shot Command. The army officer commanding at Aldershotis Lieut.-General Sir Philip Chetwode, who, it will be remem- bered, was once deputed by the War Office to speak at anAir Conference in the Guildhall, and in his speech he showed himself keenly alive to the value of air observation to amilitary commander. Wing Commander Maltby should be certain of a sympathetic hearing from the military authoritiesfor whom he has to work. The Big Italian Flight COL. M. DI PINEDO, who is flying to Australia in aSavoia S.16 ter flying-boat, accompanied by a mechanic, left Calcutta at 7 a.m. on May 13, and five hours later arrivedat Akyab, where, owing to rough weather, they had to land several miles up the Kaladan River. Proceeding the next ^ ay,they reached Rangoon, having crossed the Pegu Yoma mountains at an altitude of about 9,000 ft. During the next three days bad weather prevented further progress, and theopportunity was taken for giving the Savoia a thorough over- haul. On May 18 they left Rangoon for Tavoy (in Burma)and arrived there safely. Alicante-Algiers Seaplane ServiceON May 16 the Lat6coere company commenced a weekly (pro tern.) seaplane service between Alicante and Algiers,in connection with the Toulouse-Casablanca service. - 306 •fi-r
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