WW1 Comissioning Process

[charliegolf]

Aces High just came on the box, and the film opens at a public school recruiting fair: "Enlist Now!" and all that.

Question is, did all those lovely posh boys simply walk into comissions; or was there a selection process? Was there even a playing field, let alone a level one? More simply, was it a formality?

CG

[dakkg651]

It was if you rode a horse!

[green granite]

To get on in the army in those days.
"You had to look like a horse, think like a horse and smell like a horse" Quote attributed to Air Chief Marshall Harris.

[Pontius Navigator]

Certainly public schools has Officer Cadet Training Schools, not CCF etc. The presumtion was that you were being trained as an officer. I think that was the basis for the selection but you could still get washed out in training.

[Archimedes]

CG - if you can get your hands on a copy, Denis Winter's The First of the Few is pretty good about the commissioning/training aspects that were in place at about the time Aces High is set.

Procedure for commissioning was a bit lax in 1914, though. Maurice Baring, the journalist and author was a good chum of Sir David Henderson (GOC RFC) and wanted to 'do his bit' even though he was 40 years old.

He went and saw Sir David, who promptly commissioned him (to be his MA). Henderson sent Baring off to Gieves & Hawkes to get kitted out, along with a couple of his SO3s (who knew what Baring had to buy).

When it came to putting the rank onto the uniform, they realised that Henderson hadn't said what rank Baring should hold. The SO3s conlcuded he was a bit old to be a 2nd Lieutenant, so told the tailor to sew on the pips for a Lieutenant...

And then we get Jack Slessor. Slessor wanted to join the RFC, and it was discovered that a close friend of his uncle (an army officer) was the chap in charge of selecting officer candidates. Slessor's aptitude test was - I kid you not - to walk across the room in a straight line. He passed, and was told to obtain the signatures of his father (a retired Colonel recalled to the colours) and his former headmaster (Haileybury), then attend a medical board.

The medical board declared Slessor "totally unfit for any form of military service", but his Uncle's friend managed to lose the paperwork and instead sent Slessor orders to report to Brooklands to learn how to fly. Slessor later recorded "I do not hold that out as the ideal method of the selection of officers" - but I guess that was a relatively easy thing to say when writing that as MRAF Sir John Slessor GCB, DSO, MC....

[exscribbler]

I think it was like that right at the beginning but, as the war went on and the officers were being killed in droves (in 1916 the average life expectancy of a subaltern on the Western Front was two weeks) the War Office had to turn to the rude mechanicals from north of Watford.

The Pals' battalions had their own officers from their own areas and it came as a bit of a shock to the top brass that men from the northern wastes made just as good officers as those from Public Schools who spoke nicely and knew which knife and fork to use.

[Mad (Flt) Scientist]

The Pals' battalions had their own officers from their own areas and it came as a bit of a shock to the top brass that men from the northern wastes made just as good officers as those from Public Schools who spoke nicely and knew which knife and fork to use.

I doubt it came as any surprise at all to the man who was CIGS for most of the war, seeing as how he came from Lincolnshire (which is certainly north of Watford) and enlisted as a private soldier!

[DeepestSouth]

Possibly slightly off-thread, but in the early 1970's I was lucky enough to meet a friend of my parents, an RFC pilot and founder member of the RAF, Percy Alderton. He told me that he was already in the Army when he wished to remuster to the RFC - I don't know whether or not he was already commissioned at that stage. His selection process was, however, quite simple. He was sent to an indoor riding school in the basement of an MoD building in Central London (I can't recall which one) and given a fairly comprehensive riding test. He was told that, as he had a good 'seat', he should be ideal for flying duties and that was that - he was remustered. He later flew Sopwith Dolphin's and eventually ended up as a Wg Cdr Education Officer at RAF Jurby before retiring.

[Viola]

According to a recent TV documentary, one squadron would not accept an excellent pilot who had shot down many German aircraft because he had not been to public school.

Is this true?

[Mahogany_Bomber]

As previously stated, not every officer resembled even remotely the stereotype:

William Robertson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Robertson)

CIGS 1916-1918 and the first soldier to hold every rank from Private to Field Marshal. Famously he once removed one of his Generals (and friend) from his appointment with the words "you're for 'ome 'orace". One of Licolnshire's finest.

MB

[GeeRam]

According to a recent TV documentary, one squadron would not accept an excellent pilot who had shot down many German aircraft because he had not been to public school.

Is this true?

You are referring to the treatment shown to Maj. James Thomas Byford McCudden, V.C., D.S.O. & Bar, M.C. and Bar, M.M., Croix de Guerre (France), and yes it's sadly true.

[Avitor]

There was a horse called 'Establishment' If you had ridden and mastered it, you were in.

[Jackonicko]

McCudden joined as a mechanic, became an observer, and was commissioned about seven months after re-training as a pilot, spending some time as a sergeant pilot.

The 'turned down by No.85 Squadron' story is interesting - but history records that he commanded 60, instead - an even more prestigious squadron (the former squadron of Bishop and Albert Ball.....)

In any case, command of 85 was given to Mick Mannock - equally middle class, equally non public school and who had also risen through the ranks - and who was an ardent Socialist to boot!

[GeeRam]

McCudden joined as a mechanic, became an observer, and was commissioned about seven months after re-training as a pilot, spending some time as a sergeant pilot.

The 'turned down by No.85 Squadron' story is interesting - but history records that he commanded 60, instead - an even more prestigious squadron (the former squadron of Bishop and Albert Ball.....)

In any case, command of 85 was given to Mick Mannock - equally middle class, equally non public school and who had also risen through the ranks - and who was an ardent Socialist to boot!

Yes, although McCudden's 'stigma' it appears, to those in 85 at the time, was that he was 'born in barracks'.....:rolleyes: