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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1319.PDF
FLIGHT, 6 July 1950 in times of peace. In May, 1946, therefore, the Governmentannounced that the Women's Forces would be continued on a voluntary basis as a permanent feature of the armed forces. During the war the women's Service, starting as a completelyseparate entity with its own rules and regulations, gradually became integrated with the R.A.F. This policy has now beencarried "to its logicaF conclusion; since February, 1949, women have been commissioned and enlisted in the R.A.F. undersubstantially the same terms as the men. The policy of the R.A.F. is to employ women in substitutionfor men not merely because there is a manpower shortage, but to provide a career in which women will work side by sidewith men in a wide variety of duties and trades. There is, however, no intention of departing from the principle thatwomen's special interests should be safeguarded by women, and the R.A.F. rules and regulations have been modified insome cases to meet the specific needs of women. For instance, women who marry whilst serving may either continue to serveor may leave the Service by giving 28 days' notice at any time within three months after the date of marriage. Over 60 R.A.F. trades have been opened to women, who aretrained side by side with men and must attain the same standard of trade skill and knowledge. On R.A.F. stationsat home and overseas, they are employed on the same* jobs as the men. During the Berlin Air Lift a W.R.A.F. corporalwas in charge of a gang of men fitters working on the repaii and servicing of aircraft engines. Her success is apparentfrom the fact that she was awarded the B.E.M. for her work. Since the end of the war the women have been concentrated on fewer stations owing to their comparatively small numbers,as this makes for greater ease of administration and economy in women officers. Airwomen are usually accommodated inbrick-built barrack blocks and take their meals in the main mess with the airmen. W.R.A.F. corporals now becomemembers of the corporals' clubs and VV.R.A.F. sergeants of the sergeants' messes. The R.A.F. education scheme is opento women, as are classes in dressmaking and domestic science. Airwomen serve overseas in Germany, the Middle East(including the Suez Canal Zone), Aden, Habbaniya, and Singapore, but no girl is posted abroad before het nineteenthbirthday or before she has been in the Service lor six months. The normal commissioning policy is to select a large per-centage of officers from among serving airwomen for commis- sions in the Equipment, Secretarial, Provost, Physical Fitness,Education, Fighter Control and Catering Branches. There are, however, two schemes whereby women with the necessaryqualifications are able to join the W.R.A.F. either directly in commissioned rank or with a view to training for commis-sioned rank. Under Scheme 1, women with professional qualifications may be selected for direct appointment to short-service commissions in the Technical, Medical, Denta!, Equip- ment, Secretarial, Catering and Educational Branches. UnderScheme 2, candidates must have been educated at least to the school certificate standard and enlist in the VV.R.A.F. ona normal four years' engagement, but after recruit training they are posted as cadets for professional training and thento an O.C.T.U. Successful candidates are then commissioned either in the Secretarial or Equipment Branch. ROYAL OBSERVER CORPS \ From Air Commodore R. B. Jordan, C.B., D.F.C., A.D.C., Commandant, Roya' Observer Corps THIS year the Royal Observer Corps has celebrated its silver jubilee after 25 years ofservice in the air-defence organization of these islands. I wonder how much theBritish public knows of the history of this Corps, which won the title '' Royal'' for the part it played in the Battle of Britain? How many realize that hundreds of its members were on board the ships that on D-day sailed across to Normandy? These members of the R.O.C., the experts in aircraft recognition, were also employed on British and American defensively equipped merchant vessels to help the sailors to discriminate •-between friend and foe in the air. These are only two examples from the war history of this Corps, but I think they show the part it played in World War II. Now, to-day, despite radar, the Royal Observer Corps is still an essential part of our air- defence system and as such comes under the direct control of the Commander-in-Chief, Fighter Command. The Corps—which covers the whole of England, Scotland and Wales —is organized in five Areas, which are in turn divided up into 39 Groups. The personnel are citizens from every profession and walk of life who unite under the Royal Observer Corps ensign into a well-trained team which functions smoothly and efficiently. Our job is a team job and we are dependent on every individual pulling his or her weight and fitting himself or herself into the particular job allotted. The Corps is divided into two main branches—posts and operations rooms. The duty of the posts is to report aircraft, their height, direction of flight and position, to the operations room: the operations room puts this information on a plotting table and it is then available for Fighter Command. The Royal Observer Corps, like all voluntary institutions, needs recruits^, but it needs only those who are really keen to serve in the air defence of our country and who are prepared to see the job through. We in the Corps still prefer quality to quantity. THE Royal Observer Corps, in peace-time, is a uniformedCorps .of part-time volunteer officers and observers—both men and women—controlled by a nucleus of whole-time officers. The primary function of the R.O.C. is to provide the airdefence organization with information as to the type and movements of both hostile and friendly aircraft flying overGreat Britain. Their secondary function is to act as a report- ing organization, in all aspects of the air situation—the droppingof parachutes, fall of bombs and location of crashed aircraft are examples of the kind of information dealt with. In peace-time the Corps is concerned with practice and training as a vital component of air defence, and it becomes fully operationalonly during evening and week-end exercises. Both operationally and administratively the Royal ObserverCorps is under the direct control of the C.-in-C. Fighter Com- mand. Such control is exercized through the Commandant ofthe Corps, who is a serving air commodore of the R.A.F. Having a status approximating to that of a Group underFighter Command, the Corps' Headquarters is situated adjacent to H.Q., Fighter Command, and, under the direction of theCommandant, R.O.C. officers control the various branches— operations, signals, equipment, etc. Administrative duties aredischarged by Civil Servants. Below the Corps' H.Q. the country is divided into five areas,each under the control of an Area Commandant and Area Staff Officers. The Area H.Q.s are located adjacent to the corres-ponding level within Fighter Command. Within each Area are a number of R.O.C. Groups (a total of thirty-nine throughoutEngland, Scotland and Wales) under the control of a Group Commandant, who is directly responsible to the appropriateArea Commandant. Each Group is an operational unit com- posed of upwards of 48 posts, linked by a telephone network,and reporting to an operations room where the information is co-ordinated and sifted before being passed to the R.A.F. The R.O C. posts, where the actual spotting and reportingtakes place, are deployed throughout the country at intervals of eight to ten miles. Each site is chosen to give the mostcomplete coverage of the surrounding countryside. Apart from the highly skilled job of aircraft recognition, postprocedure is relatively simple. It is this very simplicity that accounts for the particular value of the work. Aircraft arereported visually in re^tion to their ground position, height, direction of flight, and the number and type being given. Inthe case of aircraft which are plotted by sound, the track is determined by intersecting bearings given from a number ofdifferent posts. Procedure within the operations room is more complicated.
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