tqmatch,
"The rank is but the guinea's stamp - a Man's a Man for A' That !"
(Burns)
As one of (I suspect) the very last who "had a foot in both camps" - I had a year as a Sgt-Pilot, then two more commissioned in WWII - perhaps I might add a word or two.
I was told that, pre-war, the idea was that the Officer was there primarily to command troops. In the case of the RAF ("the best flying club in England"), he flew aircraft more or less as a recreation in his spare time. As there wasn't all that much flying to be done, it worked out all right. The Navy was of a like mind: an Admiral got into hot water for voicing his belief that: "A Naval Officer's ability to fly an aeroplane is of no more interest to the Navy than a Bank clerk's ability to play rugger at weekends is to the Bank".
Came the War, and suddenly there was an awful lot of flying to be done, and you would need a lot of Officers to do it - far more than you needed to issue the orders. Some bright spark thought: "Why does a pilot
need to be an Officer ?". Of course, he doesn't, and Trade Group 1 (Pilot) was established.
It was obvious: when you got your wings, the "Lord's Anointed" from Cranwell and a few public schoolboys would be commissioned. The
hoi-polloi went into T.G.1 and promoted Sergeant (F/S after one year, two [if you were still alive] to Warrant Officer). We were not alone in that, Germany and many other European countries had Corporal Pilots as well.
The US had "Flight Schools" (min: two years' College reqd for entry). You were graded as an Aviation Cadet during flying training, with your wings came 2nd Lieutenant's gold bars. The US offered the RAF places (the "Arnold Scheme") at these Schools from mid'41 to '43. We sent out 7,000+ LACs from ITWs, and got 4,000+ pilots back (the "washout" rate [40%] sounds enormous, but it was on a par with their own Cadets). Of the RAF LACs who got their dollar-silver USAAC wings, I would guess no more than 20% of us were commissioned by the RAF, the rest came back as Sergeants. (There was a rumour that we were granted honorary commissions as 2/Lts in the USAAC ! - but that lacks credence).
When I joined 110 Sqdn in India at the end of '42, the only Pilot officer on "A" Flight was (acting) Flt Lt Topley (the Flight Commander), he had one F/O Nav, all the rest of us (8-9 Pilots) were Sergeants. You must not think that the Sgt-Pilot in Britain during the war was held in any lesser esteem than his P/O counterpart. Everybody knew that many of the BoB pilots were Sergeants, they'd done as well as the officers. Socially, in class-ridden Britain, their wings "ennobled" them: a young lady of such blue blood that she could not possibly associate with the "brutal and licentious soldiery". would consent,
faute de mieux, to go to the Ball on the arm of a Sgt-Pilot or Nav or AG.
In Calcutta, the Grand Hotel would allow through its portals officers - and aircrew SNCOs (but no other Sergeants !)
The Sgt-Aircrew was much better off, too - as a Sgt I drew 13/6 a day, had a tiny Mess Bill and no exs. An Acting Pilot Officer on Probation, I believe got 11/10 to start, but had a proper Mess Bill and all the exs. I had no responsibilities - I don't think I issued a single command in my whole year.
The Sgt-Pilots continued post-war, there was a half-baked idea in the '50s to remove the anomaly by creating a separate SNCO rank structure ("The Hennessy Four-Star System" - P4, P3, P2 and Master Pilot), with no powers of command (on the ground). It was universally derided, and did not last long, but its last traces (the Master Pilots/Navs/Sigs etc) were around for quite a while until they all died out.
Then we went over to the all-officer Pilot/Nav system we have now (and the one we started with). End of story.
Danny42C