RAF Abbreviation Reference

[PennfieldParish]

http://www.heritagecharlotte.com/documents/Military-Abbreviations.pdf

Regards,
G Christian Larsen
President Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society

[munro]

Thank you all for your contributions.
Can anyone help with an explanation of the role of this unit for better understanding and subsequent translation into my mother language?
wbw
Milan

[malcolm_raf]

Some more I've just noticed missing from Steves' list

AOA - Air Officer i/c Administration
AMP - Air Member for Personnel
ASP - Air Stores Park
CAS - Chief of the Air Staff
DCAS - Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
MCU - Marine Craft Unit
R & SU - Repair and Salvage Unit
SP - Staging Post
SPSO - Senior Personnel Staff Officer
SESO - Senior Equipment Staff Officer
SMSO - Senior Maintenance Staff Officer

Malcolm

[Marco]

Hi,

Very interesting.

I would like to understand more the differences between a Sergeant and a Flight Sergeant, if possible! Thanks.

[G3XOI]

Flight Sergeant is one rank above Sergeant, wears a crown over chevrons.

JT - Junior Technician
Cpl Tech - Corporal Technician
Snr Tech - Senior Technician
Ch Tech - Chief Technician

CFE - Central Fighter Establishment which had
ITS - Instrument Training Squadron
NFDU - Night Fighter Development Unit
NAFDU - Naval Air Fighter Development Unit - though no one thought that Jack needed to be TAUGHT to fight!
DFLS - Day Fighter Leaders Squadron.

PM - Princess Mary's RAF Hospital, and also the nurses therein/thereat

[Steve Davies]

Did you know that in April the RAF Regiment introduced the rank of Lance Corporal?

[Resmoroh]

I hate to be parochial but:

MetO = Meteorological Officer
SMetO = Senior Meteorological Officer (often of an RAF Station)
GMetO = Group Meteorological Officer
CMetO = Command Meteorological Officer
MAO = Meteorological Air Observer (aircrew - wearing the half-brevet "M")

HTH
Peter Davies

[alieneyes]

Thank you all for your contributions.
Can anyone help with an explanation of the role of this unit for better understanding and subsequent translation into my mother language?
wbw
Milan

We seem to have hijacked Milan's thread and original question about the Base Personnel Depot and what it did.

Can someone assist him?

Regards,

Dave

[Oggie2620]

I wonder if it means exactly what it says (a bit unusual for the RAF but it might) in that it is the Depot where they send out the personnel for the RAF bases. I presume it wouldnt apply to the aircrew but someone must have sorted out who was posted where amongst groundcrew etc. Nowadays its done from a central point but in those days maybe it was done by region.
As to Milans question of the difference between a Sgt and a FS it was a matter of experience and longevity and responsibility. There is a huge gap from SAC to Cpl and an even huger one between Cpl and Sgt but not so great a leap between the next three ranks. The Lance Cpl rank has been brought in the RAF Regt to get them in line with the army but also to give those senior SACs who were doing a 2i/c role some training to help them with their leadership skills as well as learning it on the job (good for them in the long run).
Dee

[David Duxbury]

Cannot resist another correction: DNCO = Duty Not Carried Out (and NOT as suggested) - this abbreviation normally appears on Form 541 as well as in aircrew logbooks. The original Form 541 (companion to Form 540 "Operations Record Book", was headed (from memory) "Details of Duty Carried Out", thus the abbreviations "DCO' and "DNCO" frequently appearing in this context. Another abbreviation which appears in pilot's logbooks postwar is MCT = Monthly Continuation Training. MCT was intended to keep aircrew current on type and in role, even if there was no other "real" work available, and also provided opportunity to practice such things as single-engine flying (on multi-engine aircraft only!), as well as various route flying, instrument flying and approach procedures, etc.
David D