raf halton apprentice records

Use tab to navigate through the menu items. At the navigators order to go, I pushed the package out and she immediately followed. The original Aircraft Apprentice (AA) training started in 1920 and continued until December 1966, with the graduation of the 106th Entry. As a result, the single-skill Aircraft Apprentice was replaced by a new breed, the Technician Apprentice (TA), who trained in the four trades of airframe, propulsion, electrical and weapons. It is not just about the quality and depth of professional training but the development of personal qualities and friendships that have shaped the whole of our lives. These publications are free to members and assist in keeping us all in touch. They eventually found their true vocations with the advent of the Nimrod and the Tornado in the early 1970s. 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. - RAF Malton, in A Squadron initially. Why Forces War Records? Following a visit by members of a Parliamentary Select Committee in 1923, they reported that they were; [] of the opinion that the management and training of these boys is conducted in a very efficient manner; they were much struck with the discipline, with the order which was kept, and the arrangement by which they were efficiently taught a trade [and they] receive a payment of 10s. The idea was to create future leaders of the technical branch with an appreciation 51 of the challenges faced by aircrew. To meet the immediate need for these 61 skills, volunteers were invited from the 35th, 36th and 37th Entries to transfer to the Royal Navy, and 160 of Haltons apprentices answered the call. Promoted to substantive Corporals on graduation, after two years satisfactory productive service they could look forward to being promoted to Sergeant. Another short-lived course training medical admin apprentices for one year starting with the 301st Entry in 1964 ended in 1969. Your help would be gratefully received. We couldnt load the mail server logs for this message. Below are just some of our members who have served at RAF Apprentices. 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. This kind of improvisation could not provide all of the men the RFC needed and rationalisation of the training machine became an urgent requirement. Like this page to receive our updates. You have only to look at the promotions and honours gained. on to dismantling engines first De Havilland Gypsy engines, then Rolls-Royce Kestrel and Merlin engines and reassembling them, also Bristol Pegasus radial engines, carpentry, blacksmithing, pipework etc. AETs enjoyed the highest level of aircraft engineering training during the life of the various 49 apprentice schemes. Of those apprentices who became Cranwell cadets, thirteen won the Sword of Honour, giving credence to Trenchards vision that the new Service should base the selection of its future leaders on ability and merit, and not class and social background. On the 13th of January 1931, a month shy of his 16th birthday, my father started a three-year apprenticeship at the Royal Air Force's No. Royal Air Force Administrative Apprentices Association With an average of 2,000 boys in residence at any one time, the establishment of RAF Police at Halton, known as Snoops to apprentices, was higher than normal. This was, in effect, a direct replacement for AA training, but required lower academic qualifications on entry. 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. Initially, aircraft apprentices graduated as an Aircraftman Second Class (AC2), an Aircraftman First Class (AC1), or a Leading Aircraftman, (LAC), depending on their final trade test results. Oct 2004. What courage! 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. 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. From 1919 to 1993, the No 1 SoTT was based at RAF Halton and from 1920 until 1993 the School was the home of the Aircraft Apprentice Scheme. 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. This very deliberate commissioning from the ranks was an outstanding example of social mobility, uncommon for the time. Cliff Michelmore as an apprentice. The museum was named in honour of the man who is regarded as the Founding Father of the Royal Air Force, and also who founded the Aircraft Apprentice scheme with which the good name of Halton has often been synonymous. Sgt Samuel Butterfield destroyed eight enemy aircraft in 14 days of intensive operations in May 1940 accounting for four EA on a single day before being shot down himself over the Channel. Ironically, many of the apprentices serving at this time were keen to see these symbols of their past heritage restored. Peter was an expert astro-navigator, in fact after we finished our operational service, he went to the Air Ministry and produced a training manual on the subject, which was used as a basic training manual for years afterwards. On 5th January 1942 she moved to RAF Tain near Thurso, a Fighter Station, she was Appointed Section Officer on 21st of June 1942. Dennison Pierce Broomfield 209 Squadron (d.8th Sep 1942). Our navigator, Peter Ashford, was excellent; throughout every flight, even when he knew fairly certainly where we were, he continually checked his calculations. In 1919 Lord Trenchard established the No. He has also told us in Family . Photographs at RAF Halton 1954 - 1957 Official photographs. Halton Apprentice Roll of Honour This is now on the net www.oldhaltonians.co.uk then look in the Tribute section. The trades taught evolved with the ever developing advances in aeronautical engineering but they were principally engines, airframes, armaments, instruments, electrics and wireless. Thank you. AETs were trained as dual-trade airframe and propulsion technicians and initially followed the National Certificate curriculum in their academic training as their predecessors had done. With ever increasing numbers now volunteering for the RAF, the size of Halton intakes ballooned, in 1936 reaching over 1,000 boys per entry. after leaving RAF Halton, but whilst stll serving in the Royal Air Force, click here. - RAF Halton during the Second World War -. The January 1973 Entry, the 123rd, was the first to undertake AET training. The two views shown are the front and reverse faces of 'The Tribute'; a sculpture which is located in front of Kermode Hall, previously Patron - Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Armitage - Obituary, The Royal Air Force Apprentices' Association (RAFHAA), the Old Haltonians, was. While many of their colleagues were fighting in the air, thousands of former apprentices were working tirelessly on the ground to ensure their aircraft were in fighting condition. addressed. Halton Apprentice Roll of Honour - rafcommands.com Was she captured by the Germans? Ironically, the TAs gradated in the rank of Junior Technicain but unsurprisingly, produced the highest number of commissioning candidates. 81st RAF Halton apprentice - British Genealogy Finlay arrived at RAF Halton as an Apprentice in 1925. For these reasons and others, Trenchard instituted the Aircraft Apprentice Scheme to be based at RAF Halton No. Academic training was comparable with that of a good technical college and was to National Certificate level. Records of RAF Halton apprentice scheme - WhatDoTheyKnow Photos - 78th Entry Royal Air Force Aircraft Apprentices The rear gunner reported seeing both parachutes open but as we were very low and had to fly straight on, that was all we saw. 1 School of Technical Training at Halton in southern England. The CA Scheme lasted ten years, ending with the 231st entry in 1974. Why Forces War Records? Need more information, contact the General Secretary by email to secretary@rafhaa.co.uk. Duty RAF Medics provide airfield medical crash cover and pre-hospital emergency care. The most famous of the aircraft apprentice alumni is Air Cdre Sir Frank Whittle who gave the world the jet engine. Gp Capt Min Larkin CBE MRAeS Min joined the RAF as an aircraft apprentice in 1949. This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. There was absolute secrecy about this, no mention of it in squadron operational records or our log books - she did not in fact exist. He ew in Shackletons with 224, 205 and 201 Sqns, and Nimrods with 201 Sqn as Air Electronics Leader and aircraft captain. In March 1920 No 1 School of Technical Training was established at Halton, the future home of aircraft apprentice training. It was clear that Trenchard wanted highly skilled men at a price the Service could afford from its very meagre budget, and men who would foster an Air Force spirit. Former Halton apprentices were ideally suited to this new challenge and volunteered for it in their thousands. Some of this Entry were only 16, officially still boys but now serving as airmen on the front line. Join | The Old Haltonians Some who graduated as LACs 33 in the 1920s were given immediate further training at Henlow and took up their first appointments as corporals. Given that, at the end of the war, only some 20,000 apprentices had graduated from Halton, it is clear that their contribution to WW II had been impressive and this was acknowledged by many senior commanders. The Oath of Allegiance. A Definitive History of the RAF Aircraft Apprentice Scheme - Min Larkin However, many apprentices believe that this antiestablishment activity contributed as much to the development of the famous Halton Spirit as did all of the communal living, sporting activities, marching with bands and discipline. Craft Apprentices graduated as junior technicians but without formal academic qualifications, unless taken ex-curriculum. We had to polish all our floors, clean bathrooms. Unit History: RN Air Station Holton - Forces War Records In order to find the thousands of skilled men demanded by the rapidly growing Service, the RFC expanded its training programmes, basing these new units wherever suitable sites could be found, an unavoidable but random process that scattered the schools across the country. Nevertheless, I feel justified in saying that the experiment has richly justified itself. Most exapprentices did exactly that. please notify the sender and then delete the e-mail (and file(s) if One of these, MRAF Sir Keith Williamson, a Cranwell 67 apprentice, became CAS, and several others served on the Air Force Board, including Air Chf Mshl Sir Michael Armitage who was AMSO in the early 1980s and has been the Patron of the RAF Halton Apprentices Association since its foundation in 1980. The 74th Entry Graduation Invitation. In 1943 hundreds of boys, many orphans, were driven out of Poland by Hitler and, after a tortuous journey through the Middle East, ended up in the UK. I passed out AC1. Of the Halton apprentices who achieved air rank, thirteen were knighted. In an article he wrote for the Halton Magazine while in Halton Hospital for a short period in early 1944, Whittle explains the advice he was given by a flight sergeant physical training instructor which enabled him to add three inches to his height, enough to be accepted for the 8th Entry in September 1923. The first TA intake (the 107th Entry) started training in October 1964 but, along with many others in the Service, they were dismayed in April 1965 when the Wilson government scrapped the TSR2 programme. 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. However, certain aspects of the original scheme were retained such as the apprentice entry numbering system and AETs were accommodated separately from airmen. His recommendation to the Air Ministry of distinctive coloured hatbands was approved in 1920 and this too became a permanent feature of an apprentices uniform. Most pre-war apprentices soon attained LAC rank but, following the Great Depression, from the late 1920s to the start of WW II, many did not advance beyond corporal, unless selected for flying training. One, Sir John McGregor, left the RAF as a sergeant after WW II, emigrated to Hong Kong where he joined the colonys Civil Service in a lowly position and made his way up the promotion ladder to become head of the Hong Kong Executive Council and adviser to the last Governor, Mr Chris Patten, during the negotiations leading to the transfer of the colony to China in 1997. By the end of 1919, 26,000 of the 27,000 serving RAF officers had been discharged, and it is largely their service details which are held in this series. 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. Schools', as it was known by apprentices, was held in a purpose-built college building which had a well-stocked library and excellent engineering science laboratories. Mine Laying - it may not be generally known but at least three quarters of all mines laid within enemy waters were dropped by the RAF. The Royal New Zealand, Pakistan, Ceylon and Royal Rhodesian Air Forces, and the Burmese, Malayan and Venezuelan Air Forces all sent boys to Halton to train alongside British apprentices. They were woken with Reveille at 0630hrs, called on colour hoisting 18 parade at 0730hrs and sent to bed at 2145hrs. Above, a Wallace, 605M (previously K3664) and, To keep abreast of technical developments Halton had state-of-the-art Blenheims to work on as early as 1937. Since then he has been Haltons historian and archivist and in 1995 he founded the Apprentice Museum, renamed the Trenchard Museum in 1999. The arrival of the first RAF Commandant, Air Cdre F R Scarlett CB DSO, in December 1919 heralded many improvements to all aspects of boy training, in particular the tightening of disciplinary standards which had been allowed to drift downwards after the armistice. It is tomorrow we must prepare for and so the success of Halton as the birthplace of the RAF, mind and spirit is of the most vital importance. The top rank, normally flight sergeant apprentice, was in effect the head boy of the School. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. The official contact address for the RAFHAA is as follows: 2021 The Old Haltonians | All Rights Reserved. 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. Workshops entailed basic fitting, lectures on metallurgy, heat treatments etc. The first entry numbering 235 boys were accepted for three-year apprenticeships in January 1920 and began training at Cranwell, as accommodation at Halton had not been completed. In the latter respect, two Cranwell apprentices excelled, one becoming a bishop and another followed in Lord Trenchard's footsteps by becoming head of the Metropolitan Police. They have records for every single engineering apprentice that went through RAF Halton. Several hundred ex-apprentices serving on these engagements at the start of hostilities were, however, retained in flying posts. 1 School of Technical Training at RAF Halton (see aircraft apprentice) which remained at the Station until it moved to RAF Cosford in the early 1990s. If we wish to publish summaries on-line or in print, what are the restrictions? This site uses cookies. Aylesbury This custom continues at RAF Cosford today, 75 the current home of No 1 School of Technical Training, where young men and women are trained as aircraft engineering technicians on a modern apprenticeship course. On the 22nd July 1941 she was posted to RAF Peterhead in North East Scotland, aFighter Station. Contact us if you think it should be reopened. Other tours included, Apprentice Flight Commander at Locking, avionics development at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, and Deputy OC Brawdy. Sometimes rifle drill or PT before breakfast, later march to workshops with our own band with bugles, bagpipes, trumpets and drums. The Chairman advises: 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. The museum also records the background to Apprentice training at the Halton camp through examples of the tools, work and test pieces completed by Apprentices. Permanent workshops were constructed to house the RFC's many trades. Printed from https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/records_of_raf_halton_apprentice on May 01, 2023 15:11. The first four intakes trained at Cranwell, and it was not until January 1922 15 that the first cohort arrived at Halton to become the 5th Entry. Despite the harsh standards of discipline, most ex-apprentices are only too willing to tell you about the occasions when they broke bounds, climbed in and out through windows stealthily in the dead of night, to avoid being caught by patrolling RAF Police. This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and His role was to assist the pilot to manage the complicated systems in these more advanced aircraft. services through our wholly owned subsidiary Interestingly, apprentices were the only people who continued to join the wartime RAF; from September 1939 until 1945. By the early 1970s, RAF apprentice training had reached a crossroads. This Colour is unique in being the only one to be awarded to a youth training school in any of the armed forces and, having been received from Her Majesty by a sergeant apprentice, a unique custom was established that it may, on occasions, be carried by an NCO. In 2007 he created the Station Archives. Gp Capt Min Larkin CBE MRAeS Min joined the RAF as an aircraft apprentice in 1949. He became Sergeant 570858 of 209 Squadron RAF Volunteer Reserve. We also have our own garden of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum. Dennis died in 1942, in an aircraft accident. Nevertheless, by combing through the ranks for skilled artificers among those already in uniform and identifying likely candidates among the many volunteers who were joining the colours, most of the shortfalls during the first two years of WW I were overcome. Our Association details are provided on the rear page of the Haltonian and are sufficient for most lawyer's needs. Finlay was one of 116 former apprentices who flew as pilots in the Battle; several of them became aces, some destroying more than 12 enemy aircraft. Posts. He died in 1950, polio, having left the RAF in approx.1949. On the 21st of February 1945 she moved to RAF Rivenhall near Witham in Essex with 38 Group. Dear Royal Air Force, When will the RAF conduct a full investigation into the sexual abuse and cover up of such by staff at RAF Halton during the years of it's existence. Your donations keep this site and others like it running. 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. 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) Indeed some AETs were married during training, had children and lived in MQs. Super Moderator. intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is Apprentice Flight Commanders were always busy during lunch hours hearing charges but never. The brass wheel badge, introduced in April 1919 and subsequently worn by apprentices on the upper left sleeve. These had to be accurately placed and this called for very accurate navigation. Applicants for Friend Membership must supply details of their relationship with the deceased (wife, brother, sister, etc) together with their service details (Service Number, Apprentice Entry and Rank) if . On-going research indicates that 1,000 have been awarded State Honours. Perhaps the most resented rule, especially by older apprentices in their third year of training, was lights out at 21:45hrs, when their former school chums were still out enjoying themselves with their girlfriends. HRH The Duke of Gloucester reviewing the nal graduation parade, that of the 155th Entry in June 1993. monitoring, recording and auditing to secure the effective operation of Halton Apprentices - The State Awards and Honours, Wing Commander Taffy Holdens inadvertent flight in Lightning XM135, The Stained Glass Windows of St. George's Church (Part 2), The Stained Glass Windows of St. George's Church (Part 1), The Halton Grove at the National Arboretum, The Halton Tribute to the Apprentice Scheme, The official contact address for the RAFHAA is as follows: AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR MICHAEL ARMITAGE, who has died aged 92, began his long RAF career as a Halton Apprentice, one of "Trenchard's Brats" under the scheme established by Lord Trenchard in 1920 which saw apprentices trained at RAF Halton. The information was collated from graduation records, confirmed by research at the PMA. 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. Welcome to Forces Reunited the place where you can find information and friends from RAF Apprentices. Uniquely, at the moment (2016) two former Halton Craft Apprentices hold high executive 69 positions in the two principal RAF Charities: Air Mshl Sir Dusty Miller 210th, is President of the Royal Air Forces Association, and Mr Lawrie Haynes 216th, CEO of Rolls Royce Nuclear and Marine, is Chairman of the Trustees of the RAF Benevolent Fund. The move to Halton coincided with the 5th Entry in January 1922 when the rank of Aircraft . He went on to say that apprentices would form 40% of all ground crews in the Royal Air Force, and 62% of all the skilled tradesmen. Their adult status was recognised by the discontinuance of the apprentice NCO ranks and the removal of all apprentice insignia from uniforms. Supply Drops - again very small targets often just a map reference in the middle of a wood. The Halton trained men have provided the nucleus on which the great expansion of the air force was centred. Joining the RAF as an aircraft apprentice at RAF Halton, Buckinghamshire. Download The 40th Entry, which enlisted in August 1939, was the largest ever with 1,285 boys taking the Kings shilling. Of the five ex-apprentice flight engineers who flew in the Dams Raid, only one returned. The Halton Apprentices Contribution to WW II. RAF Recruitment | RAF Medic | Royal Air Force I was up in the NAAFI listening to the wireless. We provide commercial A squadron. At Halton, they eventually joined the 49th and 50th Entries which graduated in the late 1940s. The maximum age of recruitment of apprentices was raised to 18 and, exceptionally, 21. Scarlett remained in post until 1924 which enabled him to oversee the 8 transformation of a temporary wartime military camp into the beginnings of a permanent RAF station. Military Unit - Unit - Forces War Records A.C.I/LAC Donald George Porritt MU/MEF 107 B Squadron. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources. On arrival at Halton, apprentices were signed-on for twelve years from the age of 18, allocated accommodation and kitted out and they very soon found their lives falling into a well-ordered routine governed largely by bugle calls. There is a label at the Imperial War Museum which reads;- 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. and a limited company (03277032). When control of the Fleet Air Arm passed to the Royal Navy in January 1937 it lacked the facilities for training its own aircraft engineering apprentices. On 25th October 1942 she moved to RAF Hurn near Bournemouth, Hants. These targets were small and did not reveal themselves by searchlight / flak etc, hence accurate navigation was needed. 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. christanel. Many were soon commissioned rising quickly to executive positions on operational squadrons. To see photographs of our reunions and of ex 78th entry members . If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. These are a daily record of events in each Command or Force entered on form 540, often with appendices which contain documents illustrating and expanding the record. Halton apprentices loyalty and devotion to duty during WW II was recognised by the large number of decorations they received. While ex-Halton apprentices who became high achievers contributed much to its legacy, Trenchards original aim in founding the apprentice scheme was to produce a cadre of wellmotivated, highly trained airmen capable of becoming competent supervisors in the direction of work and control of men.

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