Aviation Militaire (RAF) – Entraînement /Ecolage : Divers, 1938-1939. - 14 photos - Photo n° 596133
Photo n°
596133
:
Training observers for the expanded Royal Air Force. Young men recruited from ail trades. The first batch of the 1,500 new observers for the Royal Air Force, recruited from all classes of young workers such as clerks and shopwalkers between the ages of 17,5 and 25, are nearing the end of three months' navigational training at flying schools throughout England. The youths are being trained in navigation at Desford, near Leicester, under the new direct entry scheme for air observers. Later they will have two weeks' course in gunnery and bombing at an observer school. Air observer's duties include navigation, bomb-aiming, aerial photography, gunnery and reconnaissance. On the completion of the course the recruits enter the R.A.F. as sergeant-observers at a pay rate of 12 shillings and 6 pence a day, with quarters, uniform and mess. The new observers enlist for four years' regular service and six years on the reserve. Photo shows: A young recruit receiving navigational instruction in the cabin of a R.A.F. plane at Desford. January 12th 1939 PN.g. [Planet News Ltd.] [Sipho]