I wonder if anyone can help me, please. I've got the war record of a man who enlisted into the RAOC on 3 Sep 1939 as an electrician. He passed several trade tests as electrician at Manchester then was posted to No.1 Training Battalion RAOC at Woolwich. On 26 Apr 1941 he transferred to the Military College of Science, Fire Control Instruments Branch then 3 months later moved to Bury in Lancashire (Woolwich, along with the rest of London was being heavily attacked at the time). All this time he was a Private soldier. He then passed the 5th Anti Aircraft fitters' electrical course at Leicester, graduating as an Armament Articifer (Electrical) with the rank of Staff Sergeant on 5 Aug 1941. 10 Jul 1942 sees him posted to the 1st AA School at Sidcup and a couple of weeks later he is promoted again to Armament QMS (WO Class II) which was back-dated to 24 Apr 1942. Why would he have suddenly jumped from Private to SNCO? Any ideas? Regards, Jack
Hi, I note he enlisted on the outbreak of war. The "technical" army would have grown manyfold in the following years and would have required senior ranks to fill the newly raised unit's establishment. Your man clearly had the technical knowledge and would have been ideally placed to rise through the ranks in a "technical" role. Similar "rapid rise" promotions were not unusual in fighting units over the same period as the army grew. It was the same story in WW1! Steve Y
Jack similar rapid promotions in the fighting units depended largely on how many N.C.O.'s were killed as well as the size of the Army Cheers
Like they said above, you would enter as a private/craftsman and once you had completed your trade & done the trade tests you automatically earned the sgt rank and due to the fact it was just after dunkirk i would imagine there would be a shortage of ncos
Strictly dealing with my own experience it was a question of a role carrying a rank, in my case Corporal. When fighting ceased, most of those with any rank whatsoever were due for Python and posted home in preparation for demob. As a direct result, quite a few Squadron posts were up for grabs and this included Tech Corporal. Bearing in mind that I had never had any engineering experience, I was surprised when the Squadron SSM put me up for the position and I was sent on various courses to bring me up to scratch. Each course that I passed carried with it a stripe and within months I was a qualified Tech Corporal in charge of all stock holding and ordering of vehicle parts, including all the tanks. When I was finally demobbed myself I found that my Squadron Leader, Loopy Kennard, had given me a glowing report and I was quite touched. http://ww2talk.com/forums/gallery/image/333-army-records-ron-sheet-13/ Ron
Many thanks for all your replies. I'm now easier in my mind that this "fast-track" promotion was actually quite normal. Regards to you all, Jack
Not WW2 but it may have been the same. I understand that In the TA a Medical student serving as a Private gets an automatic Commission on gaining his or her Doctorate usually to Captain.
Staff Serjeant was entry level for an artificer. When the exams had been passed and one became an artificer one also became a Staff Serjeant. Only slightly earlier he would have started as WOII since staff serjeant rank did not exist and artificers held a warrant. Sounds as if he would be a radar technician. Somewhat scarce at the time. Mike
Once again, thanks for all your comments. Mike, you've hit the nail on the head as he was at the radar school at Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. He was snapped up by Ferranti as soon as hostilities ceased - and then it all got very hush-hush. We still cannot find exactly what he got up to although we think it was to do with the radar on the Bloodhound surface to air missile. Regards, Jack
