MPlN11 (#12010),
In those days, the average working man's weekly wage did not reach £3 pw until the war. Income tax was not levied on such small amounts: you had to be "posh" (ie professional type) to have an income high enough to be taxed. National Insurance was paid by a weekly NI stamp on your Card. From memory I think it was 1/10d pw, of which the employee only had the 10p deducted from his wages.
As LACs (5/6d a day, £1/18/6 pw) we paid no tax, the RAF presumably paid the NI. At $4.08/£. that would work out as a dollar a day. in the States, that was what we were paid. (An American Cadet on the same Course was paid seven times as much).
In India, as a Sgt/Pilot on 13/6 a day, we were only paid by the RAF the rough rupee equivalent of our £4/18/6 pw , about Rs60 pw after deductions, as I remember. Commissioned, it was a whole new ballpark: you were now paid by the Government of India on a much more generous scale - a P/ O was on Rs500 pm (about £36 pm); a F/O on Rs600 and a Flt Lt on Rs700 pm. They would not dream of taxing a British officer of the Raj !
That was fine - but you caught a cold when you got home !
Danny.