All Weather and Night ratings 1950's
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All Weather and Night ratings 1950's
Got into a slight argument with another "Oldfart" over the extra amount of flying pay awarded for these flying ratings. I seem to think in 1958 the rate was an additional 28 shilling per day (£1.40 in modern money) for both.
Am I right or do owe my pal a pint?
Please forgive the intrusion but we are both now well into our ninth decade.
Am I right or do owe my pal a pint?
Please forgive the intrusion but we are both now well into our ninth decade.
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I can't comment on the pay scale, but it might have been worth more than you think - 28 shillings then is worth £33.44 now in purchasing power, or £77.56 relative to average earnings ...
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… and don’t forget the free watch! 😀
We did manage to get a couple of pirs of sunglasses for the Local Controller at Tengah, but they were on the Tower Inventory of course. 😎
We did manage to get a couple of pirs of sunglasses for the Local Controller at Tengah, but they were on the Tower Inventory of course. 😎
DOF, I don't remember this extra pay (although I did have an IR - White, then !). I do remember that my monthly pay was about £17-12s (Including flying pay!) Seemed pretty good then! as a young batchelor!
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When the Shackleton squadrons were forming in the early 1950s the individual aircraft were allocated to individual crews and not to Engineering Wing as they were later. One rather vainglorious captain had this label painted below the cockpit window of “his” Shack.
Flt. Lt. XXXXXXX,
“A” Flight Commander.
No. 269 Squadron.
To which somebody added
White Card.
The ratings went White, Green and Master Green.
Flt. Lt. XXXXXXX,
“A” Flight Commander.
No. 269 Squadron.
To which somebody added
White Card.
The ratings went White, Green and Master Green.
In 1953, 28 shillings was the weekly pay rate for aircrew cadets, increasing to 42 shillings when flying commenced. Military financial calculations seem to have little to do with reason, so 28 shillings may well have been a 'standard' amount for all sorts of functions and achievements !
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In 1953, 28 shillings was the weekly pay rate for aircrew cadets, increasing to 42 shillings when flying commenced. Military financial calculations seem to have little to do with reason, so 28 shillings may well have been a 'standard' amount for all sorts of functions and achievements !
Incidentally the argument that gave rise to this thread was: Was there a further increase if one was awarded a Master Green?
Last edited by DODGYOLDFART; 5th Apr 2022 at 10:33.
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4 shillings a day was certainly the rate for a NS AC2 in 1953. After a 3s 0d deduction for NI that left 25/-, and to make the Paying Officer's job easier you were given £1 one week and £1.10.0 the next. I think the regulars were getting 7s 0d per day at the time. As a P/O I cleared about £32 a month before the big pay rise in April 1956.
AFAIR pilots and navs got the same Flying Pay and I don't recall a variation which depended on Instrument Rating. A copy of the contemporary QRs should have the answer.
AFAIR pilots and navs got the same Flying Pay and I don't recall a variation which depended on Instrument Rating. A copy of the contemporary QRs should have the answer.
When the Shackleton squadrons were forming in the early 1950s the individual aircraft were allocated to individual crews and not to Engineering Wing as they were later. One rather vainglorious captain had this label painted below the cockpit window of “his” Shack.
Flt. Lt. XXXXXXX,
“A” Flight Commander.
No. 269 Squadron.
To which somebody added
White Card.
The ratings went White, Green and Master Green.
Flt. Lt. XXXXXXX,
“A” Flight Commander.
No. 269 Squadron.
To which somebody added
White Card.
The ratings went White, Green and Master Green.
By the time they reformed on Shackletons Changi had closed.
The ratings went White, Green and Master Green.
A Green and a Master Green both had the same decision Heights, and to gain Green or M.Green you had to fly within the same limits on the Instrument Rating Test.
An old I.R.E. was (allegedly ) asked how he decided which to award to someone who flew the test within limits. The reply was " I tell him to raise an arm. If there is a sweat patch, he gets a Green. If he did it without raising a sweat, he's a Master."
