Help needed in interpreting WWII RAF record

[rafcommands]

No.16 Aviation Candidate Selection Board
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7160883

Looks like he volunteered for Aviation Candidate, was rejected by the selection board and joined 3 months later as either call up or volunteer.

F2171 is the Air Ministry/RAF Form 2171 that contained the detail. Long since destroyed.

The Form 543 (F543a) is the only surviving part of a service record that was kept for pension purposes.

Ross

[Wolseley]

Thanks for that, Ross.  In that case we can forget about the second line of that entry, as it isn't going to lead us anywhere, and I'll get back to working on the only remaining document we have.

That third line intrigues me though......

Jim

[rafcommands]

Without sight of the F 2171 you will never know the reason.

ACSB criteria changed as the war progressed - mostly it was an interview and an appraisal by the board as to the man's survivability.

So first cut was accepted for aviation training or rejected.

Early war all initially started as Pilot but at various stages washouts then restreamed for Observer or Air Bomber.

As war progressed then additional task was given to the ACSB of classification of those accepted - Pilot, Navigator, Air Bomber (PNB) and training in dedicated streams was followed.

Chapter 1 in this volume of the RAF Air Historical Branch Narrative on Flying Training gives a primer.
https://www.raf.mod.uk/our-organisation/units/air-historical-branch/second-world-war-thematic-studies/flying-training-volume-ii-organisation-part-1-basic-training-in-the-united-kingdom/

Ross

[Wolseley]

Thanks for that, Ross.  That is a fascinating document, although it doesn't really give me an answer to my question, so I guess I'm now into the realms of speculation, so maybe it's best for me to just be thankful that he ended up being a ground based wireless operator rather than air crew, and leave it at that.

He was, as far as I know, always in perfect health from childhood until the infirmities of old age took their toll and he had no issues with his eyesight either.  As for education, he finished High School with good marks in all the usual subjects, plus French, Latin and Art, and was undertaking tertiary studies when he enlisted.  Maybe he was just deemed to have a definite natural aptitude for work as a ground based wireless operator, we will never know, it seems.......

Jim

[Crumblie]

Colour blindness is a possible reason but I don't know if that was tested for then, I know people wishing to become aircrew nowadays are tested. It also prevents you working in electronics trades in the RAF as well.

[rafcommands]

Not a factor Crumblie.

His medical category was 1 so fit for Full Flying Duties.

Only fitness for flying duties (A) had numeric sub category eg
1 Full Flying Duties
2 Limited Flying Duties
3 Combatant passenger
4 non-combatant passenger

Ground duties was (B)

The letter "p", "t" or "h" is added after both "A" and "B" to indicate limitations of fitness, as follows:-

p permanently unfit
t temporarily unfit
h home service only

Example: A2hBh indicates fitness for limited flying at home and ground duties at home. ("p" and "t" are not employed in conjunction with a numeral.)

 The following is a list of the limitations which a medical board may apply in the case of category A.2 :-

i) Duration of flight - this should be stated both as regards individual flights and the total flying permitted in any one day.
ii) Limitation in height
iii) Limitation in aerobatics
iv) * Light aircraft only (aeroplanes which are or have been in use in the service for elementary training)
v)* Single-engined aircraft only: this limitation is chiefly used in connection with certain ear defects.
vi) Dual fitted aircraft only, and with another pilot.

Ross

[Wolseley]

Colour blind?  Whether it was a criteria they used or not, he wasn’t colour blind, so we can forget about that possibility.  After his release from service, he completed his studies and was awarded a Diploma of Art from Dundee Art College and a Diploma of Education and spent his working life as a secondary school art teacher, first in Scotland and, from 1959, in Australia.  As I sit here at the computer, I have four of his paintings in the room, and they are, I think, evidence that his colour vision was not impaired.

The whole thing gets, to quote Lewis Carroll, curiouser and curiouser.  It’s a pity that the records that could give us the answer no longer exist.  Was it some odd thing he said during one of the aptitude tests that maybe led them to say this, or was it possibly something that marked him out as someone who might be more of an asset performing the sort of work that was undertaken in 367 and 368 Wireless Units?

He never said anything to me about the enlistment process (or for that matter, much about the war itself, although he did talk about the places he had been) so I don’t even know if he even wanted to be flying or not.

Jim

[Wolseley]

As an aside, here are a couple of my father's photos, taken somewhere in Burma: