Notice for the information of accepted air crew candidates
Title
Notice for the information of accepted air crew candidates
Description
Explains deferred service meaning, length and civil employment during, The covers A.T.C training, entry for wireless operator/air gunner duties, immediate employment, further education, candidates under 18 and general advice to candidates on deferred service.
Language
Type
Format
Two page printed document
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
MBakerR1549392-200303-06
Transcription
NOTICE FOR THE INFORMATION OF ACCEPTED AIR CREW CANDIDATES
1549392
No . . . Name. Baker, R.
1. Meaning of “deferred service.” – If you have been accepted for training as pilot or observer you will, normally, first of all be placed on [italics] deferred service. [/italics] This means that, although accepting for service in the Royal Air Force, you will remain in civil life until such time as you are called up for air crew training, but as you have been attested, or enlisted, and have been given a Royal Air Force number, you are an aircraftman (A.C.2), and therefore are no longer free to join the Army or the Royal Navy, or the Royal Air Force in any other capacity than that for which you have now been accepted. You will receive your orders from the Air Officer i/c Records, Royal Air Force, Reading, and if any problems arise during your period of deferred service, it is to this officer that you should write.
2. Length of deferred service. – It is expected that your period of deferred service will be [inserted] 4 [/inserted] months, but this must not be regarded as a guaranteed period, as no doubt you realise, that while you are waiting circumstances may change, and this period may therefore be either longer or shorter (than you have been told by the Attestation Officer). If, after three months from the date of your acceptance for air crew training, you are still on deferred service, you will receive a letter from the Air Officer i/c Records, giving you the latest indication of how much longer you may have to wait.
3. Civil employment during deferred service. – It is very important that you should [italics] not [/italics] relinquish your civil employment on being accepted for air crew training. Reasonable notice of calling up will be given (whenever possible at least a fortnight’s notice is given), and both you and your employer should understand that it is in the national interest (as well as your own) that you should remain in your ordinary employment until you receive notice of calling up.
4. A.T.C. Training. – If you are not already a member of the A.T.C. you are advised to get in touch with the nearest A.T.C. unit, the address of which was given to you by the Attestation Officer, and to apply to join the A.T.C. until such time as you are required for Air Force Service. The A.T.C. will be able to give you much preliminary training which will be of great assistance to you later on, and will give you a grounding in service subjects which will enable you to absorb instruction more rapidly when you begin your air crew training.
5. Entry for wireless operator air gunner duties. – Wireless operator air gunners are drawn from wireless operators employed on ground wireless duties. Air crew candidates passed by the Selection and Medical Boards as suitable for wireless operator air gunner duties are attested as aircrafthand under training wireless operator, and after a period on deferred service will be recalled for wireless training. After completing this training they will be employed as ground wireless operators until required for gunnery training, which they will enter in turn according to the date of recommendation by the Selection Board. Gunnery training may be preceded by a short course of instruction in air wireless duties.
[page break]
[inserted] RB13. 2019
6. Immediate employment. – (a) Candidates accepted for training as pilots or observers whose special circumstances constitute such as would make a period of deferred service a hardship, may be given immediate employment on ground duties on compassionate grounds.
(b) Candidates accepted for training as wireless operator and for subsequent employment as wireless operator air gunner whose special circumstances constitute such as would make a period of deferred service a hardship may be granted entry to wireless training with a minimum of delay.
(c) If such circumstances exist in your case you should explain your position to the Attestation Officer. If this does not apply to you now, but, later on, unforeseen conditions of hardship arise during your deferred service, you should write to the Air Officer i/c Records, explaining the circumstances. If you have been granted immediate entry, but can show that you require a little time to put your affairs in order, your entry can be deferred for several days for the purpose, and you should apply to the Attestation Officer accordingly.
(d) The date of your entry to air crew training will not be affected in any way by preliminary service on ground duties.
7. Further education. – If you have been placed on deferred service for further education, you will receive detailed instructions from the Air Ministry; paras. 2, 5 and 6 of this pamphlet are for general information only and not applicable to you at this stage. Whether you should join an A.T.C. unit at once or wait until you have satisfactorily completed the educational course which will be arranged for you, will depend on what spare time your civil employment leaves you. The educational course must in any case take precedence of other forms of preliminary training.
8. Candidates under 18. – If you are under eighteen years old, paragraphs 2 and 6 above need modification in your case, as follows:-
(a) It is not the usual practice to call up candidates for pilot and observer training until they have reached the age of eighteen years and three months, and consequently you will be recalled for training in your turn with other recruits only if you have then attained that age. You may, however, be accepted for ground service (on compassionate grounds) at age 18.
(b) Candidates accepted for training as wireless operator are not permitted to commence training until they have reached the age of 18 years.
9. General advice to candidates on deferred service. – Candidates accepted for air crew are naturally enthusiastic to become qualified for combatant service as soon as possible, and it is realised that a prolonged period of deferred service may prove somewhat trying or irritating. You may begin to feel that you have been forgotten or, worse still, that your offer to fly and fight in the air has been lightly regarded. This is not so: you have been accepted, your services are needed, the spirit in which you have volunteered is fully understood and greatly appreciated. This war does not always proceed according to plan and, in some cases, delays will inevitably occur. You must remember, however, the motto of the Service to which you now belong – “Per ardua ad astra.”
(56473) Wt. 23161/1271 14,000 8/41 Hw. G.37
1549392
No . . . Name. Baker, R.
1. Meaning of “deferred service.” – If you have been accepted for training as pilot or observer you will, normally, first of all be placed on [italics] deferred service. [/italics] This means that, although accepting for service in the Royal Air Force, you will remain in civil life until such time as you are called up for air crew training, but as you have been attested, or enlisted, and have been given a Royal Air Force number, you are an aircraftman (A.C.2), and therefore are no longer free to join the Army or the Royal Navy, or the Royal Air Force in any other capacity than that for which you have now been accepted. You will receive your orders from the Air Officer i/c Records, Royal Air Force, Reading, and if any problems arise during your period of deferred service, it is to this officer that you should write.
2. Length of deferred service. – It is expected that your period of deferred service will be [inserted] 4 [/inserted] months, but this must not be regarded as a guaranteed period, as no doubt you realise, that while you are waiting circumstances may change, and this period may therefore be either longer or shorter (than you have been told by the Attestation Officer). If, after three months from the date of your acceptance for air crew training, you are still on deferred service, you will receive a letter from the Air Officer i/c Records, giving you the latest indication of how much longer you may have to wait.
3. Civil employment during deferred service. – It is very important that you should [italics] not [/italics] relinquish your civil employment on being accepted for air crew training. Reasonable notice of calling up will be given (whenever possible at least a fortnight’s notice is given), and both you and your employer should understand that it is in the national interest (as well as your own) that you should remain in your ordinary employment until you receive notice of calling up.
4. A.T.C. Training. – If you are not already a member of the A.T.C. you are advised to get in touch with the nearest A.T.C. unit, the address of which was given to you by the Attestation Officer, and to apply to join the A.T.C. until such time as you are required for Air Force Service. The A.T.C. will be able to give you much preliminary training which will be of great assistance to you later on, and will give you a grounding in service subjects which will enable you to absorb instruction more rapidly when you begin your air crew training.
5. Entry for wireless operator air gunner duties. – Wireless operator air gunners are drawn from wireless operators employed on ground wireless duties. Air crew candidates passed by the Selection and Medical Boards as suitable for wireless operator air gunner duties are attested as aircrafthand under training wireless operator, and after a period on deferred service will be recalled for wireless training. After completing this training they will be employed as ground wireless operators until required for gunnery training, which they will enter in turn according to the date of recommendation by the Selection Board. Gunnery training may be preceded by a short course of instruction in air wireless duties.
[page break]
[inserted] RB13. 2019
6. Immediate employment. – (a) Candidates accepted for training as pilots or observers whose special circumstances constitute such as would make a period of deferred service a hardship, may be given immediate employment on ground duties on compassionate grounds.
(b) Candidates accepted for training as wireless operator and for subsequent employment as wireless operator air gunner whose special circumstances constitute such as would make a period of deferred service a hardship may be granted entry to wireless training with a minimum of delay.
(c) If such circumstances exist in your case you should explain your position to the Attestation Officer. If this does not apply to you now, but, later on, unforeseen conditions of hardship arise during your deferred service, you should write to the Air Officer i/c Records, explaining the circumstances. If you have been granted immediate entry, but can show that you require a little time to put your affairs in order, your entry can be deferred for several days for the purpose, and you should apply to the Attestation Officer accordingly.
(d) The date of your entry to air crew training will not be affected in any way by preliminary service on ground duties.
7. Further education. – If you have been placed on deferred service for further education, you will receive detailed instructions from the Air Ministry; paras. 2, 5 and 6 of this pamphlet are for general information only and not applicable to you at this stage. Whether you should join an A.T.C. unit at once or wait until you have satisfactorily completed the educational course which will be arranged for you, will depend on what spare time your civil employment leaves you. The educational course must in any case take precedence of other forms of preliminary training.
8. Candidates under 18. – If you are under eighteen years old, paragraphs 2 and 6 above need modification in your case, as follows:-
(a) It is not the usual practice to call up candidates for pilot and observer training until they have reached the age of eighteen years and three months, and consequently you will be recalled for training in your turn with other recruits only if you have then attained that age. You may, however, be accepted for ground service (on compassionate grounds) at age 18.
(b) Candidates accepted for training as wireless operator are not permitted to commence training until they have reached the age of 18 years.
9. General advice to candidates on deferred service. – Candidates accepted for air crew are naturally enthusiastic to become qualified for combatant service as soon as possible, and it is realised that a prolonged period of deferred service may prove somewhat trying or irritating. You may begin to feel that you have been forgotten or, worse still, that your offer to fly and fight in the air has been lightly regarded. This is not so: you have been accepted, your services are needed, the spirit in which you have volunteered is fully understood and greatly appreciated. This war does not always proceed according to plan and, in some cases, delays will inevitably occur. You must remember, however, the motto of the Service to which you now belong – “Per ardua ad astra.”
(56473) Wt. 23161/1271 14,000 8/41 Hw. G.37
Collection
Citation
“Notice for the information of accepted air crew candidates,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 26, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/29223.
Item Relations
| This Item | dcterms:relation | Item: Notice for the Information of Accepted Air Crew Candidates |
| This Item | dcterms:relation | Item: Notice for the Information of Accepted Air Crew candidates |