raf halton apprentice records

Notable among them was Sgt Gray of the 20th Entry, an observer, who was, along with his pilot Fg Off Garland, awarded one of the first two air VCs of WW II. 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. intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. We are interested in the apprentice scheme run at RAF Halton No1 Technical Training School from 1922 until closure in 1993. 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. An Olympian and an inventor, Dam Busters and Great Escapers come and meet the boys who truly took off! Recipients should note that e-mail traffic on MOD systems is subject to 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. I can just remember her small white face behind her goggles as she dropped into the night. 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. We are now on Facebook. Reply 13th Jun 2019, 07:36 . It was a great experiment and was bitterly criticised at the time. Rowland James George Bazell B Flight 90 Squadron. I passed out AC1. Thirty-eight years later he was promoted to Air Chief Marshal to be a member of the Air Force . Details of HLF award to RAF Museum Hendon. The Imperial War Museum holds all of his documents including his flying log, photographs of his funeral & personal potographs letters etc. Its trainees graduated as LAC with many of them still less than 17 years of age. This aid could be unreliable but when it was used mainly over this country and into France, we found it to be very accurate. 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. Royal Air Force Apprentices were a breed apart, a cut above, a group of boys who went on to become highly skilled craftsmen and airmen. With over 620 million military records, . For these reasons and others, Trenchard instituted the Aircraft Apprentice Scheme to be based at RAF Halton No. Over 1,000 other 65 gallantry awards went to former aircraft apprentices and some 3000 were Mentioned in Dispatches. Once you have catered for your loved ones, a generous bequest would help us achieve our Heritage plans. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Supply Drops - again very small targets often just a map reference in the middle of a wood. The Royal Air Force Apprentice scheme began in 1920, having been devised by Chief of the Air Staff Hugh Trenchard and approved by Winston Churchill. Every November we organise the annual Apprentices Service of Remembrance at the Halton Tribute. Apprentices were not allowed time to dwell too much on 19 their personal thoughts, as evenings and most of the weekends were taken up with room cleaning, inspections and parades. Your help would be gratefully received. On 25 July 1952, No 1 School of Technical Training, RAF Halton received the highest accolade that any unit in the RAF can receive the award of a Queens Colour. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy, Please enter a password with 6 characters or more. In 1930 he won the first of his 8 Amateur Athletic Association titles and represented his country at the Empire Games. World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, Need more information, contact the General Secretary by email to secretary@rafhaa.co.uk. It was opened by his grandson on the 26 June 1999. 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. It was in the earliest days of the aircraft apprentice scheme that the term Trenchard (or Halton) Brat came into vogue, initially as a term of derision used by old sweats who took a rather jaundiced view of these clever young upstarts who were destined for rapid promotion to corporal. The Halton trained men have provided the nucleus on which the great expansion of the air force was centred. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. Permanent workshops were constructed to house the RFC's many trades. The top rank, normally flight sergeant apprentice, was in effect the head boy of the School. Nevertheless, I feel justified in saying that the experiment has richly justified itself. 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. 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. caused as a result of any virus being passed on. The CA Scheme lasted ten years, ending with the 231st entry in 1974. He ew in Shackletons with 224, 205 and 201 Sqns, and Nimrods with 201 Sqn as Air Electronics Leader and aircraft captain. Block 3. He remustered to aircrew as an Air Signaller/Air Gunner in 1953 and was commissioned as an Air Electronics Ofcer in 1959. However, the latter improved with the opening of large training workshops in 6 early 1918 which had been rapidly constructed with the help of thousands of German POWs. What are the limitations? Under the guidance of his Flight Commander and the NCO instructors, he was taught drill, physical training and Air Force Law. We can reunite you with your friends who served at RAF Apprentices and we have a wealth of information on different units, bases and ships in the site. Since then he has been Haltons historian and archivist and in 1995 he founded the Apprentice Museum, renamed the Trenchard Museum in 1999. For the many who were selected for promotion it gave greater responsibility as they progressed through the ranks. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 261373 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. No.1 Parachutists School. Printed from https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/records_of_raf_halton_apprentice on May 01, 2023 15:11. On the 17th May 1945 they were married in St Nicholas Church in Witham, Essex. to help with the costs of keeping the site running. He remustered to aircrew as an Air Signaller/Air Gunner in 1953 and was commissioned as an Air Electronics Ofcer in 1959. addressed. We are interested in the apprentice scheme run at RAF Halton No1 Technical Training School from 1922 until closure in 1993. A group of dedicated retired service personnel and proud ex-Brats came together to ensure that the story was told of how thousands of boys were trained to levels of excellence which led to them to make huge contributions to the Royal Air Force, to science, and to Great Britain. 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. 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. Leadership and management experience were Time-expired airframes were used to provide hands-on experience. Another short-lived course training medical admin apprentices for one year starting with the 301st Entry in 1964 ended in 1969. The January 1973 Entry, the 123rd, was the first to undertake AET training. Of the five ex-apprentice flight engineers who flew in the Dams Raid, only one returned. 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. The whole estate was purchased by the British Government for the nascent Royal Air Force at the end of the First World War for ?112,000. Join Date. On 25th October 1942 she moved to RAF Hurn near Bournemouth, Hants. 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. However it accepts no liability for any loss or damage howsoever 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. 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. His name is Ian Henderson cairms and joined the 81st RAF Halton apprentice. 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. Then on 25th November 1943 she moved to RAF Ringway near Manchester, 38 Group. He would get me to take endless star-shots and he continuously consulted his GEE box - a very useful early electronic navigation aid. 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. Neville Lee. 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. To keep abreast of changes in RAF engineering practice, four different types of apprenticeships were introduced over the lifetime of the scheme. The heavy losses sustained by Bomber Command are reflected in the 2,000 casualties listed in the Apprentices Roll of Honour in St Georges Church at Halton. Ironically, the TAs gradated in the rank of Junior Technicain but unsurprisingly, produced the highest number of commissioning candidates. Medically fit potential recruits were offered training in the trade of their 12 choice, or one the selectors thought more appropriate for them. 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. Suitable adults proved difficult to recruit after WW1, but he persuaded Mr Winston Churchill, then Secretary of State for Air, that boys between the ages of 15 and 17 years should be recruited to be trained at Halton; and the Halton Apprentice was born. The 103rd Entry has an active Association and has held a number of reunions. Catalogue description Records of the Royal Air Force. 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. Their success in the air and on the ground pays a finer tribute than any words of mine to the standard of Haltons achievements., One thing is absolutely true, the air battles of Burma were won in the classrooms and workshops at Halton; won not just by knowledge and skill of your maintenance crews, it was won by the spirit that Halton produced., Halton has given the Royal Air Force not only its hard core of efficient technical NCOs and airmen but also a magnificent core of officers many of whom are in high rank in all branches of the Service., 2021 The Old Haltonians | All Rights Reserved. Other tours included, Apprentice Flight Commander at Locking, avionics development at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, and Deputy OC Brawdy. When RAF Halton closes (circa 2025), the Association wants to create a Heritage centre in St George's Church where the contents of the . Add a Name to this List. John Rogers succeeded Richard Martin (6th . Aylesbury The original Aircraft Apprentice (AA) training started in 1920 and continued until December 1966, with the graduation of the 106th Entry. Bucks HP19 0GF. 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. All apprentices studied the same mathematics, mechanics and engineering drawing syllabuses, but engineering science was tailored to suit an individuals trade. This move coincided with the adoption of the rank of Aircraft Apprentice. We are interested in the apprentice scheme run at RAF Halton No1 Technical Training School from 1922 until closure in 1993. 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. 1 The curriculum was a mix of traditional schooling and technical apprenticeship in the various air force trades such as engine maintenance and repair, and airframe rigging. Most post-1951 AAs were corporals within a year of graduation. Hopefully this site will also be of interest to others who trained as Trenchard's "Brats", and to anyone with an interest in RAF Halton. Engine running was done on the airfield. I have moved your post to a thread of its own in the Military - Royal Air Force forum where it will get more attention. Your help would be gratefully received. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources. 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. They were the true heroes of the piece, becoming SNCOs and warrant officers whose training taught them never to accept second best in keeping our aircraft serviceable and safe. It is the responsibility RAF Database Global Search: Enter a name, number or an Aircraft Serial to search all our databases! The oldest living member of the RAF Halton Apprentices Association (Old Haltonians) is John Rogers, who was born in October 1908, and who became a member of the 12th entry of apprentices in 1925.
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