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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: CharlotteCollins00 on Thursday 27 May 21 17:27 BST (UK)
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I have my Grandfathers RAF record (attached below) from 1947-1952 however I am having trouble understanding what some of it means and have a few questions.
The forms they refer to is there a record of these forms or will they have been destroyed?
What documents will he have needed during these times to sign up?
Would they have ensured his next of kins were who he said they were or would they have taken his word for it?
I know my grandfather wasn't best behaved so please don't worry about revealing what some of it may have been!! ;D
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I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while longer for somebody who can read the handwriting. To my mind it looks like your grandfather was conscripted nby the government and was trying to get out of the forces.
My OH was also conscripted and I know the ground force airmen started at the bottom as AC2; rising to AC1; (AC = Aircraftman);
then promotion to LAC = Leading Aircraftsman;
then promotion to SAC = Senior Aircraftman.
I can't interpret what job he had - my OH was a fireman putting out fires plus other jobs; for instance I have a photo of him driving a massive tractor flattening the ground in Malawi.
I have my OH's record book, which is blank, except for an entry in the back which states what sort of job he could do in civvy street.
P.S. Due to the fact that post war the British government needed to conscript our young men to replace those leaving the forces, they needed to ask other nationalities to take their place in civvy street making goods that we could sell at home and abroad, thus the government could expect the civilian workers to pay taxes into the government's coffers. They paid peanuts to the conscripted forces men, thus those personnel didn't contribute much to the country's coffers.
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The second record shows that he was absent from duty for 3 days, 2 hours and 25 minutes for which he seems to have been punished by detention for 7 days (that would be locked up in the guardroom) and generally involves a lot of being shouted at and marching about under escort. Then there are 2 offences of being absent without leave for which he was confined to camp for 14 days. This is followed by 3 offences of being drunk which resulted in more being confined to camp as well as a forfeit of pay. There another 2 occurrences of being confined to camp for 7 and 14 days. The odd thing is the dates all seem to mixed up. He may have been 'working his ticket', being naughty in the hope the RAF would discharge him.
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The 4th record shows he started his engagement in Belfast and on 24 Sept 1948 he went to Egypt and soon after was admitted to a hospital at Suez but does not say why. By the 10th of Aug 1949 he was in Malta and 2 more trips to Egypt, he finished his engagement at Hullavington and was transferred to the reserves. His trade was Armament assistant. His conduct assessment is a little odd bearing in mind how many times he was in trouble because it says for the first 2 years it was very good followed 2 years of just good. His trade proficiency was moderate, satisfactory, and then 2 fairly goods
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Rather than being conscripted (which was for 2 years) he has signed up for 5 years as a Regular, from 1947 to 1952. This results in his pay being double what a National Serviceman got.
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Rather than being conscripted (which was for 2 years) he has signed up for 5 years as a Regular, from 1947 to 1952. This results in his pay being double what a National Serviceman got.
You could sign up for as many years as you wanted. My OH signed up for three years = more money per annum than signing up for two years..
P.S. the brother of my sister in law signed up in the army for 25 years. Then in the 1960s he was one of the thousands of higher paid personnel who were given their marching orders out of the forces due to the government pf the day needing to dismiss a quarter of a million personnel.
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I was told that to be trained on aero-engines I had to sign on for 5 years plus 4 years on the Reserve, because following basic training the course would take almost a year & the RAF wanted a return on its investment.
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It looks like your grandfather re-mustered (changed trades) on 1/1/1949 from ach/grd (aircraft hand/ground) to flt/ord, which if it means flight orderly could be cabin crew.
Backing this up is the comment at the end of the muster columns - 'overall conduct assessment calculated IAW (in accordance with) DOM (Aircrew)(RAF) EI's' etc.
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Re the original question, probably the only papers your grandfather had to produce were his calling-up papers which would give all the details required by the Forces.
I don't think any other information such as next of kin would be checked.
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Wow, thank you so much everyone! The conduct assessment is what confused me as when I have seen other records the boxes weren't anywhere near as full ;D So would he have received calling-up papers? I don't know where he was actually living at the time would it have been within the UK? Under the first picture it says that GVE incompatible with education claims - what does this mean? and the forms they refer to would these have been destroyed?
Thank you again everyone!!!
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Wow, thank you so much everyone! The conduct assessment is what confused me as when I have seen other records the boxes weren't anywhere near as full ;D So would he have received calling-up papers? I don't know where he was actually living at the time would it have been within the UK? Under the first picture it says that GVE incompatible with education claims - what does this mean? and the forms they refer to would these have been destroyed?
Thank you again everyone!!!
I'm not entirely sure, but in the case of my OH. He worked on a farm and also attended an Agricultural College. H.M. Forces have a set standard of education, which is aligned to the education and examinations of the nation's state schools and also the nation's trade apprenticeships (e.g. engineer, carpenter, nurse, etc.).
I think this is probably the case = :- Hoping for promotion higher than the SAC grade he'd attained, my OH submitted the record of the eleven examinations he'd taken at the end of his years in the college. His superior officer made enquiries and it was discovered that the colleges exams did not align with the nation's examinations at that time. All the College's exam subjects were higher than the nation's "O" level but less than the nation's "A" level examinations and to progress my OH needed "A" levels.
Alternatively he had not finished an approved apprenticeship. I knew a few people who didn't finish apprenticeships - sometimes for allergy health reasons.