ROYAL AIR FORCE.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20497, 16 March 1932, Page 15

ROYAL AIR FORCE.

NEW REGULATIONS. SHORT SERVICE COMMISSIONS. (raou oub own cokrzspowdbxt.) LONDON, February *2. The following announcement has been issued by the Air Ministry:— As from April Ist, 1932, short service commissions in the Royal Air Force will be granted for a period of six years on the active list (instead of five as at present), followed by four years in the reserve. Since the first year ia spent in training as a pilot, this scheme will allow of five years' employment in a fighting unit and the Air Force will gain in efficiency by the increased experience of its short service officers.

The rank of Pilot Officer will be subdivided, and short service officers on entry vil, be commissioned as Acting Pilot v itioers oil ;t standard rate of pay of liis per .day (amounting to lis 6d per day at present current rates), and will be promoted to Pilot Officer on a standard rate of pay of 16s (present current rate 14s 2d) after period of 12 months' approved service. The expenses of mess life in the Air Force are strictly regulated, so that officers, even in the lowest ranks, shall be able to live on their pay without difficulty, and the Air Ministry is satisfied that at the new rate applicable to short service officers during the year of initial training they will be able to take their full and proper share m the social life of their units. . Officers entered under this scheme will be paid a gratuity of £SOO on transfer to the reserve on completion of their six years of active service, as compared with the gratuity of . £370 payable at present on completion or five years' service. Officers selected for medium service from short service—i.e., for a further five years on the active list —will earn £IOOO gratuity for the complete term of servieeaa at present. , . ~ The slightly reduced number of officers required for short under this scheme will normally permit of a higher percentage being selected f° r medium service, and also for retention

on permanent commissions for * Kfe career in the Air Force. * As recently announced, the upper age limit for entry on a short service commission is now 22 —i.e., candidates must not have passed their twentysecond birthday; the lower age hmit is 18. With this lower age of entry, officers when transferred to the reserve will not be older, and may well be younger, under the six-year scheme now to be adopted than has beten the case in the past tinder the five-year scheme; the additional year shotdd therefore give rise to no special difficulty in obtaining civil employment on. leaving the service. _ They will,, 113 heretofore, have the assistance in doing bo of the Royal Air Force Officers' Employment Association if they so desire.