I was searching the London Gazette for details of an aircrew officer and noted on the same page several officers who had "resigned their commissions". I didn't realise that during wartime an officer could do that ? There are some in 1940 and some in 1942 that I noted. Would they have been immediately conscripted for service in the RAF ? These are not the occasional "due to ill-health" notices which appear - or cashiered - just a simple resignation. thanks Peter
Sometimes resignation was an option to avoid cashiering and would be accepted as everyone wanted to avoid the general scandal. In some cases an officer might be getting too old to continue serving. There would be cases where no cashierable offence had been committed but it was recognised that commissioning the man had been a mistake and he wasn't up to that role - some people are temperamentally unsuited to command. There would be some cases where the man had a particular skill or knowledge that made him more valuable to the war effort in a civilian job. If the man was in the right age range and fit he would be liable to conscription however the reason for the resignation might temper the forces appetite to do so.
May just be the time of day, but I'm sure I've read of people resigning their commissions as officers to transfer to a fighting unit, rather than being posted behind a desk, that wouldn't necessarily be RAF of course. May have misread, but thought I'd voice, just in case.
Officers could choose to resign a commission as this Hansard report shows Resigned Commission, Suffolk Regiment: 1 Dec 1942: House of Commons debates - TheyWorkForYou However there were official appointments that would require the appointee to resign their commission. Some Foreign Office appointments for example. These included Consul General in a neutral country. The appointee would however retain an honoury rank and would thus continue to have the title of Captain, Major etc. The same applied to judicial appointments, including chief constables. Transfers (as opposed to secondments and attachments) to some Commonwealth forces could require resigning one commission and taking up another depending on the constitutional position of the territory concerned.
