I will happily attempt to copy some of the photos if needed. Many of the initial Halton transferees were killed in various sea battles during the war; fifteen went down with HMS Glorious at the end of the Norwegian campaign in 1940. This request has been closed to new correspondence. He remustered to aircrew as an Air Signaller/Air Gunner in 1953 and was commissioned as an Air Electronics Ofcer in 1959. Are you the owner of any commercial copyright on this page? please The RAF Administrative Apprentice | Genealogy Ensemble Halton Apprentices - PPRuNe Forums Block 3. Only five of Haltons Polish contingent elected to return to Poland. Your help would be gratefully received. This was, in effect, a direct replacement for AA training, but required lower academic qualifications on entry. RAF apprentices were an elite band who went on to hold some of the highest ranks in the Royal Air Force, and make huge contributions to their country and the wider world. Unfortunately these . He argued that the best way to ensure that, . My thoughts on the Stirling - being a very robust aircraft and fitted with Hercules air-cooled engines, it was much the safer aircraft in which to fly. The oldest living member of the Association is awarded the honorary title "King Brat" as a mark of respect. In 1917 there was an expansion of technical training in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), and Halton became the main training unit for aircraft mechanics. The brass wheel badge, introduced in April 1919 and subsequently worn by apprentices on the upper left sleeve. Until 1951, this mark also governed the rank at which an apprentice graduated. He was rescued only to be shot down again a few weeks later and killed. Duty RAF Medics provide airfield medical crash cover and pre-hospital emergency care. My Grandmother always said that if she had her time all over again and had option to delete her war service, she most definitely would not and is rightly proud of her achievements. SERGEANT Served from 1962 - 1975 Served in RAF Apprentices. View as HTML, Please see attached response to your recent FOI request. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Since 1921, airmen had been able to volunteer for training as sergeant pilots and to serve as such for six years before returning to their ground trades, retaining their rank. Why Forces War Records? Through war-time and peace-time, being honoured by the Queen and honouring a Prime Minister, welcoming trainees from around the world and moving to bases across the UK since 1920, the RAF Apprentices have been part of significant events in history. I applied for this and was successful, so instead of being sent out to a squadron at the end of this flight-mechanic training, I had to stay on at Halton for a Fitter course and then onto St. Athen for a Flight-Engineers course specific to the aircraft I would eventually fly on, namely the Stirling. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Neville Lee. He is buried at Diego Suarez War Cemetery, near the town of Antsiranana, on the western shore of Diego Suarez Bay, on the north-east coast of Madagascar in Antsiranana War Cemetery. By creating an account you agree to us emailing you with newsletters and discounts, which you can switch off in your account at any time. To keep abreast of changes in RAF engineering practice, four different types of apprenticeships were introduced over the lifetime of the scheme. Interestingly, apprentices were the only people who continued to join the wartime RAF; from September 1939 until 1945. Thus in late 1919 the Halton Apprentice Scheme was promulgated to Local Education Authorities, and entrance examinations were held in London and the provinces. They eventually found their true vocations with the advent of the Nimrod and the Tornado in the early 1970s. A Definitive History of the RAF Aircraft Apprentice Scheme - Min Larkin, The consistent technical excellence of the RAF has rested upon the skill and high devotion to duty of those who learned at Halton their trades and first formed their sense of duty. Trenchard Museum - Visit Buckinghamshire Perhaps our founder Lord Trenchard summed up his, and the legacy of Halton in a speech he gave in the House of Lords in December 1944 on the air campaign during the war. With many apprentices now older than direct entry airmen, there was no need for any of the rules which governed the lives of their predecessors. Halton made us the people we are today. Exhibitions | RAF Apprentices Halton To meet this requirement a two-year Craft Apprentice (CA) Scheme, with a new numbering series starting with the 201st Entry, was introduced, Hunters, and the occasional Sea Hawk, in Haltons workshops. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small Recently, a member asked if we still accepted bequests or legacies and how he should proceed if he wished to make such an arrangement. CHIEF TECHNICIAN Served from 1969 - 1993 Served in RAF Apprentices. If we wish to publish summaries on-line or in print, what are the restrictions? With over 620 million military records, . Royal Air Force personnel - The National Archives But the cost issue resurfaced in a Commons debate in 1926 when MP, Sir Frank Nelson, pointed out that 230, which was estimated to be the cost of training an apprentice, is probably more than it costs a parent to send a boy to any of the four or five leading public schools of England. He went on to complain that, these apprentices at Halton get 1s a day pocket money, which, when they number 3,000, will cost the country 55,000 a year, and even now it costs between 30,000 and 35,000 a year. But, once again, the point was not pursued. AC1. On airfield, we did engine running on a Blenheim, prop swinging on Tiger Moth. World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945. The TA course, although relatively short-lived, offered unprecedented career opportunities for those apprentices who completed it. Craft Apprentices graduated as junior technicians but without formal academic qualifications, unless taken ex-curriculum. AIR - Records created or inherited by the Air Ministry, the Royal Air Force, and related bodies; Division within AIR - General records of the Air Boards and Air Ministry; AIR 2 - Air Ministry and Ministry of Defence: Registered Files; Subseries within AIR 2 - Non-coded sequence (files registered from 1953, with some earlier files) The aircraft industries were naturally the first port of call for many ex-apprentices where they made magnificent contributions on the shop floor, at all levels of management, and in the boardrooms. On the 17th May 1945 they were married in St Nicholas Church in Witham, Essex. Two hundred of these Polish boys, 14/15 year olds and one only 13, were selected to train at Halton as aircraft apprentices, and another 100 at Cranwell. Several hundred ex-apprentices serving on these engagements at the start of hostilities were, however, retained in flying posts. For these reasons and others, Trenchard instituted the Aircraft Apprentice Scheme to be based at RAF Halton No. The rigorous selection procedure 13 ensured that recruits would be of the highest quality, and because of their resourcefulness and intelligence, they could be expected to complete their apprenticeships in three years rather than the five normally served by civilian engineering apprentices. British Path video of the Apprentice training scheme at Halton in 1938. please notify the sender and then delete the e-mail (and file(s) if . Age 15- 17 for a a three year course. To help find them, these trips were always in full moonlight and at low level, generally 500ft, so that the parachutes were in the air for the shortest possible time to avoid detection. An Olympian and an inventor, Dam Busters and Great Escapers come and meet the boys who truly took off! The end of an era. One or two of the photos, have all the names on the back, a group, with names, is dated 28th Aug. Cosford. Apprentice Flight Commanders were always busy during lunch hours hearing charges but never. If you were a 'Trenchard Brat' and not already a member, why not join this elite . Entry, September 1954. To ascertain we had the right spot, we had to look for a small light (mainly small electric hand torches) flashing a previously agreed letter or letters, which we had to recognise immediately or we were instructed to fly on and bring the load back. He had left school in July 1964 and was headed off to join the Royal Air Force at RAF Hereford to enter a one-year Administrative Apprentice training course as part of the 301 st cohort known as an 'entry' (1) A week later, on the 2nd of September 1964, he took the Oath of Allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen. The cost of running Halton was a contentious issue in the early days. Thank you. Bucks HP19 0GF. In February 1920, still known as Boy Mechanics, the first intake of 235 was accepted at Cranwell for a three-year apprenticeship. 6d. Our barrack room had 30 boys in it. Unit History: RN Air Station Holton - Forces War Records These boys moved to Halton in the late summer of 1917 where, by the end of the 4 year, 2,000 boys were under training as air mechanics living in Spartan conditions in dilapidated wooden huts previously occupied by infantry troops. Sqn Ldr Donald Finlay, of the 12th Entry, a triple Olympian well known to the public as one of the countrys top athletes, commanded Nos 41 and 54 Sqns in the Battle of Britain shooting down four enemy aircraft and winning a DFC. At the end of 2017, only 45 ex-AETs were still serving, of whom some twenty were holding commissions, with several at senior officer level and seven at air rank. Sometimes rifle drill or PT before breakfast, later march to workshops with our own band with bugles, bagpipes, trumpets and drums. This site uses cookies. He has also told us in Family . Some of this Entry were only 16, officially still boys but now serving as airmen on the front line. Our navigator, Peter Ashford, was excellent; throughout every flight, even when he knew fairly certainly where we were, he continually checked his calculations. Technician apprentices were recruited with a minimum of four GCE O-levels and more emphasis was placed on their academic training to ensure that most graduated with a National Certificate. The museum is named in honour of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Viscount Trenchard, who is regarded as the Founding Father of the Royal Air Force, who also launched the Aircraft Apprentice scheme which brought worldwide recognition to RAF Halton. The RAFs previous reliance on maintenance by repair was being superseded by a new concept of repair by component change. About half way through this course an appeal was launched for training as Flight-Engineer. With the rapidly growing numbers now joining the Service, thousands of ex-apprentices ,who had been corporals for years, suddenly found themselves racing through the ranks to SNCO and warrant officer, providing a vital source of experienced technical supervisors on front line squadrons, maintenance units and as instructors for the increasing number of technical training schools. He had always intended that the best of each Entry should be awarded cadetships at Cranwell, but were he alive today he would be amazed to discover that well-over 20% were commissioned, with 110 attaining air rank. In his memorandum, Permanent Organization of the Royal Air Force, which was presented to the House of Commons as a White Paper by Secretary of State Winston Churchill in December 1919, Trenchard placed great emphasis on the importance of training, particularly of skilled ground crew. mySociety If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers and the free to access part of the website is funded by donations from our visitors. Of the five ex-apprentice flight engineers who flew in the Dams Raid, only one returned. We wish to have access to records, manuals, policy statements, annual reports, developments, evolution.. especially with respect to the care and education of the apprentices. Military Unit - Unit - Forces War Records This Atlantic Star (1939-1945) was sent to the next of kin of Sergeant 570858 Dennison Pierce Broomfield, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action on 8 September 1942, aged 22 years, while serving with No 209 Squadron. In January 1920, the 1st Entry of 235 recruits began their three-year apprenticeship at Cranwell, whilst permanent accommodation was being completed at Halton.

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