The organization and personnel comprising the R.A.F.
SPEARHEAD OF BRITAIN’S AERIAL OFFENSIVE Bomber Command is responsible for carrying the fight to the enemy. It employs many types of aircraft including Wellingtons, Mosquitos, the big four-engined Stirlings, Halifaxes and Lancasters, and the American-built Venturas, Bostons and Marylands. The Vickers Wellington long range bomber, seen above, is bombing-up for a raid on enemy territory.
THE Royal Air Force is to all intents and purposes a world in itself. From exceedingly small beginnings it has expanded with enormous rapidity, and in this chapter it is intended to give the reader an outline of its organization and composition.
One is rather inclined, when one thinks of the R.A.F. to think in terms of pilots, air gunners, observers and other flying personnel and quite forget the fact that for every man in the air there are numerous men on the ground all of whom, in their own modest way, play as vital a part in operations against the enemy as the pilot who sits at the controls of a high-speed fighter, or the bomb aimer who releases his deadly load on an important objective.
The ground staff of the R.A.F. has to function in a multiplicity of directions; it is a great administrative and technical body, with the Air Ministry at its head, dependent upon which are all home and overseas operational commands and coastal commands throughout their formations down eventually, through areas, groups, wings and squadrons, to the smallest operational unit —the flight.
There are also training commands, both for air and ground organizations, the Maintenance Command, technical development units, reception, storage and distribution units, embarkation and port authorities, recruiting depots, and many other departments all of which fit into the vast scheme of R.A.F. organization. In addition, the R.A.F. has affiliations with the Treasury, the Admiralty, the War Office, the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Labour, and so on.
The Air Council
The Air Ministry is the headquarters of the R.A.F., but it is not the supreme controlling body. The highest power is vested in the Air Council which is composed of High R.A.F. officers, permanent civil servants and politicians. Its president is the Secretary of State for Air, and under him come the two Parliamentary Under Secretaries of State, one for the Commons and one for the Lords, the Chief of the Air Staff, the Vice-Chief of the Air Staff, three Air Members — for Personnel, for Supply and Organization, and for Training — the Permanent Under-Secretary, and three additional members, two to represent the Ministry of Aircraft Production and one to advice the Air Council on financial and any kindred matters.
The status of the Secretary of State is a Cabinet one; that of the Chief of the Air Staff is both advisory and executive. Requirements and recommendations, diplomatic and otherwise, affecting air policy are conveyed by the Secretary of State from the Cabinet to the Air Council for necessary discussion.
Air Staff and Air Ministry
The Air Staff itself is composed of seven members. At its head is the Chief of the Air Staff, and under him are the Vice-Chief, the Deputy Chief and four assistant Chiefs for General Operational Requirements and Tactics, for Radio, and for Intelligence. There are also Directorates such as Plans, Operational Requirements (Home, Overseas, and Naval Co-operation), Intelligence, Allied Co-operation, Ground Defence, Signals, and the Deputy Directorate of Air Tactics.
The Air Ministry is organized under four main departments, each controlled by a member of the Air Council, namely, the three air members already mentioned and the Permanent Under-Secretary of State. This last department deals with such matters as finance, accounts, contracts and public relations.
It will be seen, therefore, that the Air Council is kept fully informed as to all aspects of R.A.F. organization and activities through the air members from both the Air Ministry and the Air Staff.
In the case of intelligence work the Air Ministry has a separate department dealing with the affairs of every important nation of the world, and the commands, even the large commands, need maintain only comparatively small staffs to deal with such activities. At the Air Ministry there is a room full of maps covered with all sorts of secret signs including long-term preparations and forecasts of plans on the part of, say, a potential enemy, together with a comprehensive filing system extending back over years, filled with all the data supplied by countless agents working for all Government offices — the Foreign Office, for example, the War Office, the Admiralty, or the Air Ministry itself. In this room national policies are estimated or interpreted. In corresponding rooms at appropriate commands, immediate facts on the latest raids are extricated and deductions, often valuable, are made as to the enemy’s immediate intentions.
To understand how this chain of responsibility works in actual practice, let us consider a particular instance, namely, the entry of Russia into the Second Great War. Before the crisis arose, the Cabinet would have called for reports from the heads of all services. Intelligence sections dealing with all the countries in the area of the anticipated disturbance, notably, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Rumania, Finland, and Sweden would be consulted. The information they provided would be sifted through the Chief of Staff’s departments dealing with planning and operations, although many questions would no doubt be addressed to other departments not directly concerned before the complete picture would be ready to present to the Cabinet for consideration.
The attitude Britain adopted was doubtless based on the total appreciation of all factors — military, naval, air and economic — about which it would have information in great detail. It is quite evident that both the planning and operational sides anticipated the outbreak of war by at least a week, when a new policy of intensive daylight raids came into being.
Service Organization
So much for the political aspects. Let us now consider how the various duties of the Service are organized.
Five of the Commands are operational and three, the training and maintenance organizations are non-operational. In Bomber Command there are the Lancasters, Halifaxes, Stirlings of the heavy machines, the Mosquito of the lighter types and the ubiquitous Wellington.
Fighter Command controls the large numbers of day and night fighter squadrons equipped with Spitfires, Hurricanes, Beaufighters and the latest types such as Typhoons, Mosquitos (as fighters), and Whirlwinds, whose duty it is according to type to protect Britain and the seas around it or carry out long range offensive operations and ground straffing of targets in enemy occupied country.
Coastal Command shares to some extent the protection of Britain, but its main task is the U-boat war and attacks on enemy shipping and the policy of its operations is now decided by the navy. It also carries out air reconnaissance of the enemy’s harbours and its aircraft attack the targets found. It sends Sunderlands, Catalinas and other types of flying boats, and land-based Liberators, Fortresses, Halifaxes, Beauforts and Beaufighters out over the Atlantic and the North Sea to protect convoys from submarine and air attack and to call up naval forces when the enemy is found at sea.
Activities of the Balloon Command are familiar to dwellers in big cities and to those who live near important centres of war effort. Although purely defensive, balloon squadrons fill a valuable role in ensuring that the enemy is kept at a respectful height over important targets.
Non-Operational Commands
So much for the present for the operational commands of the R.A.F. and the active war they wage. They would not be able to function at all were it not for the activities of the non-operational commands whose appropriate training schools in the Flying Training and Technical Training Commands turn out their allotted number of pilots, navigators, wireless personnel, air gunners, trained mechanics and all the other skilled men needed in the fighting units. In addition to fully-trained officers and men, the fighting units must have spares to keep their aircraft fit for flying. They must also have bombs, petrol, oil, and a thousand other requirements. All these are provided by the Maintenance Command with its vast organization of units, spread through the length and breadth of Great Britain.
The main R.A.F. Commands overseas are in the Middle East, India, and the Far East. Each of these is organized not only to meet its own local obligations, but also to be capable of meeting the wider responsibilities which the R.A.F. must bear in relation to war as a whole. The operations of these commands are not restricted to the areas in which they are located. Britain possesses a mobile air force which can be concentrated where necessary, and to this end units are able to move from one command to another, and on arrival in their new theatre of operations will find ready for them the aerodromes, the bombs, ammunition, petrol, and so on, that they will require.
The part played by pilots, observers, air gunners and other flying personnel is fairly well known to the general public, but it is not usually realized that apart from its actual flying activities, the R.A.F. represents a complete cross-section of the community as a whole. It has its own tradesmen, its own administration, its own social services, doctors, dentists, chaplains, domestic staff, and so on. It is, in feet, a world of its own.
There are about a hundred and fifty different trades for men in the R.A.F. and soe sixty, including the responsibility for maintaining engines on operational aircraft and putting them through their flying tests, for women. In subsequent paragraphs are discussed the different categories into which officers, airmen and airrwomen are divided, what they all do, how they contribute to the smooth working of the service as a whole.
The General Duties Branch of the R.A.F. provides the officers for flying duties, and it is from this branch, very properly, that the highest executive posts in the Service are filled. Officers are graded as pilots, observers or air gunners and, in the main, those possessing pilot qualifications predominate.
Commissioned Officers
In peace time officers for general duties are obtained from three sources. Permanent commissions are granted to those who pass through the Cadet College at Cranwell, entrance to which is obtained by successful candidates in open competitive examinations, subject only to medical and temperamental fitness. Permanent commissions are also given to graduates of the universities.
For short-service commissions there is no entrance examination. Candidates appear before selection and medical boards, and those chosen are gazetted as pilot officers on probation, and are confirmed in rank on completion of a year’s intensive course of instruction at a flying training school.
In wartime entry for air-crew duties is exclusively by way of the ranks, the only exception being in respect of already qualified pilots.
Non-flying officers are employed in either the Technical, Administrative and Special Duties, Balloon, Accountant, Equipment, Medical, Dental, Legal, or Chaplain’s Branch.
A high degree of skill is demanded from officers of the Technical Branch of the R.A.F. In the main they are recruited from those who have engineering or science degrees, hold engineering certificates, or are members of approved institutions with at least some practical experience in their respective crafts.
Ground Personnel
The Administrative and Special Duties Branch provides officer personnel for the varied ground duties required by a large operational force. For such duties those with managerial experience in civil life are fitted. This branch includes not only officers for purely administrative duties, but also officers required for intelligence work, marine craft duties, photographic work, physical training, catering and police duties, all of whom are required to have already some knowledge of the particular subject. For example, intelligence officers should be able to speak fluently one or more foreign languages, collect and appreciate the value of information, and have the ability to interrogate officers and others.
Officers for marine craft duties are required to have at least a second mate’s Board of Trade certificate. They man the sea rescue services around Britain’s coasts and search for aircraft in high-
speed launches flying the R.A.F. ensign. For photographic duties the potential officer should have a theoretical training in photography. He it is who supervises the processing of air photographs from which so much can be learned. Physical training officers are required to supervise physical training and games and must possess the personality and ability to encourage all forms of physical development.
Balloon Branch
Officers of the Balloon Branch are responsible for deciding at what height the balloons shall fly according to meteorological and other factors, for their tactical employment, for maintaining supplies of hydrogen for inflation and “topping up”, and for numerous other duties. Officers for this branch are recruited mainly from the ranks, and it would be possible to say the same of all other branches, had sufficient airmen the necessary qualifications.
Equipment officers are responsible for provisioning the stations not only with foodstuffs but also with aircraft, aircraft spares and components, transport vehicles, clothing, fuel, furniture, and in fact all the multitudinous assortment of stores necessary for the life and efficient operation of a unit. The absence of even a spare sparking plug might lead to an aircraft being grounded; conversely, large accumulated stocks are wasteful and uneconomical.
LONELY SENTINELS OF BRITAIN’S SKIES. This barrage balloon, which is being filled with hydrogen, will soon be on guard above some vital objective. Although the role of the Balloon Command is purely defensive, the balloon squadrons play a valuable part in Britain’s defence by discouraging enemy raiders from approaching too close to important targets. They effectively stop dive bombing.
We must now turn to the many spheres of activity open to airmen. Those fortunate enough to possess necessary qualifications to be chosen for air crews perhaps steal the limelight from their less fortunate comrades on the ground; but it is a point to remember that an aircraft cannot even take off until a veritable army of unheralded and unsung individuals performs considerable feats of unromantic, unexciting, and very often, unnoticed work behind the scenes.
Trades of the R.A.F.
The trades of the R.A.F. are divided into five groups according to the degree of skill demanded, rates of pay being scaled. In addition there is a medical group for the health of the service and the treatment of casualties.
Group 5. Aircrafthand;, armament assistant; barber; batman; C.W. fighter; driver (M.T.); ground observer; groundsman; gunner; maintenance assistant; messing duties; motor cyclist; musician; packer; physical training instructor; pigeon keeper; R.A.F. police; safety equipment assistant; station police; telephonist; torpedoman; works hand.
Medical Group. Chiropodist; dispenser; laboratory assistant; masseur; medical orderly under training; mental nursing orderly; nursing orderly; operating room assistant; optician orderly; radiographer; sanitary assistant; special treatment orderly; trained nurse; dental clerk orderly; dental mechanic: dental orderly under training.
Some of these trades are for the R.A.F. Works Service, an organization whose main function is the speedy repair of aerodromes and buildings damaged by enemy attack, the construction of new aerodromes and the maintenance of buildings in which personnel is housed. In addition there are the members of the R.A.F. regiment who are responsible for the defence of air stations.
It will be noticed that most R.A.F trades have approximate equivalents in civil life, and, therefore, to bring a skilled civilian into line with his Royal Air Force counterpart all that is necessary is for him to have a short course of instruction to adapt him to service equipment and procedure. The foregoing list shows that there is a grading of skill. In Group 2, for example, there are the separate trade of blacksmith and of acetylene welder, and again of coppersmith and of sheet-metal worker, whereas in Group 1 the pairs of trades are amalgamated to form one highly skilled trade. A man’s service usually has an upward tendency; a flight mechanic in Group 2, after being trained and gaining some experience may, for example, be up-graded to fitter in a Group 1 trade.
Without going into too much detail, the reader may be interested to have a brief summary of the functions of those trades that are peculiar to the R.A.F.
The Fitter Group
The fitter group of trades comprises, as is natural in such a mechanized service, the bulk of R.A.F. tradesmen. There are many kinds of grades of fitters — the fitters who work on actual aircraft, fitters who specialize on armament, fitters who are responsible for the efficiency of high-speed launches, fitters who keep mechanical transport on the roads, fitters who ensure that when a torpedo hits a warship “something disintegrates”. Also included in the fitter group are the less skilled flight mechanics — both for engines and air-frames.
Briefly, the less skilled man in Group 2 confines his activities to testing and minor overhauls, inspections and maintenance requirements. To the flight mechanic (engine) falls the happy lot of being permitted to sit in the pilot’s cockpit and run the engine, and to the armourer (guns) during his testing activities, that of imagining himself to be blazing merrily away at an enemy machine.
Tradesmen in Group 1 are required to undertake major repairs and overhauls, and supervise less skilled men. How thorough and competent was the work of our fitters was clearly demonstrated during the Battle of Britain when our aircraft were refuelled and rearmed time and time again without developing technical defects.
Radio-mechanic and radio-operator trades are of comparatively recent institution and are of the highest importance in the defence of Britain. These are the trades about which some publicity has been given under the term radiolocation — one of the best-kept secrets of the war. For most purposes the details of radiolocation are still a jealously guarded secret, but we have been permitted to learn, very broadly, how this entirely new form of military science works.
Radiolocation
Ether waves, which are unaffected by darkness or fog, are constantly sent out to act as scouts beyond the limits of our shores. Day and night distant outposts of the ether are perpetually “manned”, so to speak, by wireless electronic watchmen ever ready to flash us tidings of the enemy’s approach with the speed of light itself. Radiolocation makes it largely unnecessary to maintain standing patrols and so has saved Britain immense expenditure on petrol, engines, and wear and tear of aircraft. It has also obviated the tremendous strain on personnel which, otherwise, would have been unavoidable.
The duty of radio mechanics is to maintain at one hundred per cent, efficiency the delicate and intricate radiolocation apparatus. Anything less, throughout twenty-four hours a day might well have serious consequences.
Wireless mechanics test, install, set up, maintain and repair the varied wireless apparatus used both on the ground and in aircraft. They are required to have a knowledge of radio telephony procedure sufficient to carry out tests on equipment, and to be capable of Morse code flashing at a speed of eight words a minute.
Wireless operators are required for operating, inspecting, maintaining and testing of wireless, visual signalling and intercommunication equipment.
Link-trainer instructors are, as an Irishman might say, “ground flying instructors”. Their work is designed to reduce considerably the amount of instruction which would otherwise have to be given in the air to an embryo pilot. With the help of their ingenious apparatus they are able to correct flying faults, eliminate “ham-handedness”, and inculcate in the pupils an air sense of untold benefit to them when actually aloft.
Airmen mustered for armoured car crews are called upon to drive, maintain and operate armoured cars, more often than not over the sandy wastes of the desert — an exciting life both in peace and war. Balloon operators are skilled tradesmen who possess the qualifications of rigger, fabric worker, driver (winch) and driver (M.T.). They are required to supervise the handling, flying, and general maintenance of balloons. In addition, they must be capable of driving and maintaining various transport vehicles allotted to balloon units.
The duties of motor boat crews commend themselves to airmen with a love of the sea. Various types of marine craft are in use with the R.A.F. from the high-powered speed launches to powered dinghies. An airman of this trade is not promoted corporal until he possesses a second-class coxswain’s certificate. A rather gruelling test for this trade is swimming fully dressed.
R.A.F. photographers carry out all photographic processes and production, and maintain photographic equipment and records. Clerks are classified for general and accounting (pay and equipment) duties, similar to those undertaken by civilian clerks but adapted, of course, to service requirements. A clerk for the Special Duties Branch is required for plotting work in various operations rooms. Equipment assistants keep equipment section records and books and prepare forms for accounting for equipment and handling storage and care of equipment.
Teleprinter operators require a thorough knowledge of R.A.F. signalling procedure and must be capable of passing signals traffic over line circuits terminated by teleprinters at a proficiency of forty words a minute. Ground gunners and ground observers are primarily concerned with the defence of aerodromes. Parachute packers are required for the care, maintenance, packing and fitting of parachutes — all responsible tasks and ones upon which the lives of flying personnel depend.
Titles of the medical trades clearly indicate the duties performed.
Entry into the R.A.F. in wartime is principally by way of the R.A.F. Volunteer Reserve. Commissions in the General Duties (Flying) Branch are given to men in the ranks of the Reserve, but in the Technical, Administrative and Special Duties, Equipment, Accountant, Medical, Dental and Legal branches they are granted direct from civil life.
The R.A.F.V.R. was instituted in 1936 and was open to men in civil life with no experience of flying. It was originally formed to provide pilots only. Later sections were formed for most other categories of airmen.
Auxiliary Air Force
The Auxiliary Air Force bore the same relationship to the R.A.F. as did the Territorial Army to the Regular Army. It was brought into being in 1924 under the Auxiliary Air Force and Air Force Reserve Act, and included flying and balloon squadrons. Enrolment for officers in peace time was for five years on the active list, to be followed by a similar period on the Auxiliary Air Force Reserve. Airmen were required to join for four years after which they could either apply for extension or for transfer to the reserve.
The value of this organization was shown when war broke out in 1939, the Auxiliary Air Force being able to put twenty flying and forty-four balloon squadrons into immediate operational use. On the outbreak of war all recruiting for the A.A.F. was stopped. Pre-war volunteers can be recognized by the “A” badge worn on the lapel.
The W.A.A.F.
It is the aim of the R.A.F. in wartime to employ women to the greatest possible extent, and the ideal towards which the service is progressing is that no man should be employed on work which can be undertaken equally well by a woman.
Women form part of station personnel, and the W.A.A.F. officer in charge of a detachment is responsible to her R.A.F. officer commanding for the efficiency, discipline, well-being and training of all ranks of her detachment, generally complying with orders, rules and regulations and instructions laid down for the R.A.F. itself. The W.A.A.F. are separately messed and accommodated.
The duties on which W.A.A.F. officers can be employed are being increased in the light of experience, and though originally, with the exception of code and cypher officers, women were employed only on administrative duties, they are now being substituted for R.A.F. officers in the Accountant and Equipment Branches, and in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch in which duties include intelligence work, catering and photography.
Radiolocation is a job to which women are well suited. They are employed largely in R.A.F. subterranean operations rooms where they plot the course of enemy aircraft on huge maps.
Trades Open to Women
The process of substitution is being widened in respect of airwomen, as the rank and file are known, and the trades in which they are employed are given opposite. Constant consideration is given to the practicability of employing women in still more trades either exclusively or in co-operation with men of the R.A.F. Women work in the following trades:
W.A.A.F.’S TRACK DOWN GERMAN RAIDERS. Radiolocation is a job for which women are particularly well suited. The girl operators work in subterranean operations rooms where they plot the movements of enemy aircraft. The girls above are working in one of the detection posts. Here the personnel keeps watch day and night, while the actual operation is done by specially selected and trained girls.
A number of jobs detailed above are undertaken by women in civil life, and no doubt it will be claimed that such jobs as clerical duties, telephone operating, teleprinter operating, and domestic organizing are really more suitable to women than to men. Many trades have been started for which they can be trained and in which they have already proved highly successful.
Radio operators and clerks, special duties, must be of high character and integrity, able to assume responsibility under active war conditions, and mentally alert and accurate. They must have exceptionally good eyesight and sound nervous control as their occupations are a severe test of fitness.
Teleprinter operators can be trained quickly if they are competent typists with a speed of not less than thirty words a minute. Clerks, general duties, should be able to type at thirty words a minute and/or write shorthand at 120 words a minute. Girls who have book-keeping or company experience, such as hotel cashiers and ledger clerks, can very quickly be trained as clerks, accounting, and those with experience of handling goods and accounts in stores, shops or warehouses make ideal equipment assistants. The trade of fabric worker commends itself to seamstresses, upholsterers or tailors. They are mainly employed on the maintenance of barrage balloons, aircraft fabric or as upholsterers at aircraft maintenance and repair units. The jobs of wireless operator and slip-reader operator call for a high degree of skill and ability to co-ordinate hand and eye. A knowledge of Morse is, of course, necessary. The slip reader must be a touch typist; her job is an exacting one, as she has to read Morse tape as it emerges from the Creed receiver and simultaneously convert it to typescript.
Cooks must be accustomed to dealing with large numbers. Restaurant, hotel or catering cooks are admirable for this work. Sparking-plug tester duties consist of dismantling sparking plugs taken from aircraft, cleaning and reassembling them and adjusting the spark gap. For this work a girl must have a high sense of responsibility. Slovenly work might have tragic consequences. Skilled hands from gramophone factories or wireless assembly shops are particularly well fitted for the trades of instrument mechanic and instrument repairer.
An ideal type of woman for the trade of sick quarters attendant is she who is capable of tending members of her family during minor ailments, whilst a woman who has had experience as a receptionist or clerk to a civilian dentist is suitable for the work of dental clerk orderly.
Aircrafthands must be strong, intelligent, and active. They are employed on the following duties: all forms of domestic duties, cleaning and so on; in workshops (including unskilled duties); as waitresses (including cleaning of mess-rooms); as orderlies (including messenger duties); and as parachute packers.
The administrative trade is open to women who have held positions of control, and who are willing to start “on the ground floor”, in order to adapt themselves to the ways of the service and such women are rapidly earmarked for promotion to positions of control in the W.A.A.F.
The comparative ranks of the W.A.A.F. are:
W.A.A.F. RANKRELATIVE R.A.F. RANK
Commandant-in-Chief Air Marshal, or above
Air Chief Commandant Air Vice-Marshal
Air Commandant Air Commodore
Group Officer Group Captain
Wing Officer Wing Commander
Squadron Officer Squadron Leader
Flight Officer Flight Lieutenant
Section Officer Flying Officer
Assistant Section Officer Pilot Officer
Under Officer Warrant Officer
Senior Sergeant Flight Sergeant
Sergeant Sergeant
Corporal Corporal
Aircraftwoman, 1st Class Aircraftman, 1st Class
Aircraftwoman, 2nd Class Aircraftman, 2nd Class
Air Training Corps
Before closing this chapter mention should be made of the Air Training Corps which was formed in February, 1941, its aim being to act as a reservoir from which the R.A.F. can draw in the future for its air and grown crews. All physically fit boys of sixteen and upwards who would like eventually to join the R.A.F. or the Fleet Air Arm are eligible for the A.T.C. The training consists first of all of drill, mathematics, Morse code and lectures of general interest. Later the cadets take specialized courses to prepare them for the branch of the service for which they are best fitted.
PILOTS OF TOMORROW These young members of the A.T.C. are receiving instruction in the principles of flight in the shadow of a Hurricane fighter. The lectures are made interesting by giving practical as well as theoretical instruction.
These specialized courses fall under two main headings, namely air crews and technical occupations. The former comprises such subjects as mathematics, navigation, Morse code, aircraft identification, etc., whilst the latter includes courses for wireless operators, wireless mechanics, flight mechanics, riggers, instrument repairers, electricians and motor transport mechanics.
A.T.C. units are organized by university and school authorities, while local units are raised by civic authorities. Uniform is issued free, and each efficient cadet receives an annual grant of £1.
