Sgt William Wilson 526503 RAF

[John French]

Sgt Wilson died 20/3/1942 piloting a Whitley bomber of 19 OTU. Using the previously supplied service number calculator, he is the civilian category and would have enlisted around Sep 1931 when his age would have been 15 years 5 months. What was the minimum age for RAF enlistment in 1931?

Also what does the civilian category denote (there seem to be lots of very specific categories)/

Thanks

John

[bvs]

Hi John

Apprentice or Boy Entrant minimum age would probably have been 15 in those days (although not sure if either would have fitted in with his service number).
Of course he could have lied about his age :)

[paulmcmillan]

No doubt a number those joining all armed service lied about age - mostly I assume to appear older though it was possible some were over age - not always easy to check - however I doubt for Halton entry this would have been possible as an enterence exam was needed to be passed and a school involved. RAF only took the top x by grade so I would have thought not to possible to fudge - unless the school age was wrong in first place

[bvs]

Hi Paul
He would not have had to lie about his age to be an Apprentice or a Boy Entrant as I am pretty sure the minimum age would have been 15 then (although I have not checked).
But he would have had to lie about his age if he joined straight into 'Mans Service' (adult service) where the age limit might have been 17/18.

[paulmcmillan]

I agree Halton not so easy - adult service easier

[Don Clark]

Apprentices
Entry age lower limit: 15 ½ years.

Airmen
Ground trades: enlistment and call-up age lower limit 18 years
Aircrew under training: enlistment age lower limit 18 years, call-up for flying training 18 ¼ years.

See, eg, Hammon ed. ABC of the RAF (Amalgamated Press edn c1943)

[bvs]

Just checked and it was the Boy Entrants that could join up at Age 15 - I was fairly certain that one or the other of the 'boy' schemes was 15 :)

[Marks]

Hi

Enlistment dates :-

525627 October 1935
525810 November 1935
526493 November 1935
527293 January 1936

Mark

[John French]

Thanks Mark ( and other contributors), I was obviously way out with my calculation of Sgt Wilson's enlistment date, as I used average monthly rates between 1925 and 1938 and in retrospect I can see the latter years must have experienced a surge in recruitment.

John