nutloose quotes "Civvies go from GE to Air Eng in a couple of weeks" Then we must have been dummies in the RAF.
From being an ex Halton Apprentice, followed by 5 years working at all levels of GE, I applied for Air Eng as advertised. We all went through the same selection process to select Officers and Aircrew, at RAF Biggin Hill.
No matter our base fitter skills, those selected all spent a number of months at a training establishment near Blackpool....(RAF Weeton?) learning airframe and engine theory and practice. That was tough...it was summer in Blackpool!
This was followed by a similar time at RAF Melksham for Electrical and Instrument training. Swindon...not so great!
Depending on the aircraft we were selected to crew...I went on Hastings, others went on Beverly and Shackletons, determined the amount of time we waited for a conversion to type course. I think Hastings at Colerne was the longest as I did so many supernumery crew flights, being instructed by line Air Engs to see how it was done....they said I could have graduated there and then. The one consolation offered was those like me, under the rank of Sgt., were promoted to acting Sgt.
The final act was conversion at RAF Thorney Island and night sorties at RAF El Adem in Libya.
The total time was about a year before we graduated and got our proper stripes/wing, and posted to a Sqn. I went to Changi and straight into a war zone as 'confrontasi' with Indonesia had just started...and was shot at on a drop zone near Kuching...I had volunteered for Changi hoping to get a tan!
When I converted to the VC10, courtesy of BOAC at Cranebank, our class had 2 BOAC F/Es. They were embarrassed to be consistantly at the bottom of each phase class results. However, they excelled when it came to operating the simulator. I'd been on Hastings previously...and never before been in a simulator.
Later, to get my civilian CAA Flight Engineer licence, I had to sit an exam based on the BOAC VC10 A/C and Aviation Law. The only deference given to my experience was my log book time...and the RAF only count T.O to Land...... whereas Commercial Flt Eng's count chock to chock.
So to respond to nutloose comment at the front of this post....in the 1960s-1975 did discrimination prevent military aviators from easily joining civilian aviation?
Anyone have evidence?