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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0980.PDF
FLIGHT, May -jth, 1942. THE R.A.F. WORKS SERVICES work is done by civilian contractors, it is necessary for the R.A.F. to have a civil engineering branch of its own. One answer is that the R.A.F. Works Services form a valuable (sometimes invaluable) reserve for an emergency. The whole country is short of man-power just now, and contractors often come to the Works Services and ask for so many men to help with a certain job. It is a great convenience if they can be supplied. An even stronger case occurs if a station is bombed and damage done to buildings and the flying field. Then, if there are R.A.F.W.S. men on the station, they can get to work at once, filling in the craters and levelling the ground, repair ing damaged buildings, drains, water supply and elec tricity supply in the buildings. The Works Squadrons This, of course, is emergency work. Normally the Works Services are not under the orders of a station com mander. At each station there is a civilian clerk of the works, who is the representative of the Air Ministry Works Department. He decides whether a certain job of work shall be put in hand at once as an emergency measure or whether it must be referred to the Air Ministry. The R.A.F.W.S. are organised in so many Works Squadrons, in different parts of the country, and each squadron has one Squadron Leader, one adjutant, three Flight Lieutenants or junior officers doing the duty of Flight Lieutenants, and ten Warrant Officers. The last- named are naturally highly qualified men, and their capa bilities make it possible for a squadron to work with such a small establishment of commissioned officers. The trades recognised in the R.A.F.W.S. are : Carpenter, bricklayer, plumber, works electrician (not to "be confused with aircraft electrician), steel erector, concretor, drain layer, groundsman, blacksmith, and plant-operator (i.e., operator of caterpillar vehicles and allied equipment). Fore men of trades and general foremen are emphatically desir able, and are always given N.C.O. rank. In addition, some other R.A.F. tradesmen are employed by R.A.F.W.S., such as clerks and motor transport drivers, but they do not need to be specially recruited or remustered. The Works Services train only a very small percentage of their men. There would not be time for them to do so, unless the war goes on very much longer than any of us would care to -contemplate. For instance, when I visited one of the Works Squadrons I learnt, much to my sur prise, that in civil life it takes four years before a bricklayer can earn LEVELLING A NEW AIRFIELD : A caterpillar tractor equipped with hydraulic angledozer filling in a hollow. " Total war does not mean total misery," said Mr. Morrison. Th Airmen making a drain for an officers' quarters. MAKING A NEW AIR obliterating an,„J>ld ro
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