I'm in the process of having my fathers medals re-mounted and cased, I have an Air Gunners brevet for which he qualified, but as he was a Flight Engineer on Coastal (120 Squadron) would he have been entitled to wear the E brevet or was it just for Bomber Command aircrew Flight Engineers? Another question re the E brevet, when was it first awarded as my father was lost in August 1942 and if it was awarded after that date.....? Regards. Peter
“E” brevet not being designed until 1942.” Thanks Tom, I’m wondering when in 1942 was it issued, that would determine if my father was entitled to wear the brevet. Regards, Peter
Peter, Your father was lost as a Flight Engineer and would have been entitled to wear the FE brevet. The establishment of a aircrew position designated as Flight Engineer was a task that the AM were aware of in 1940/1941 but with the introduction of the 4 engined types,structured training became focused and a training policy was initiated which up to that time,demand was served on an ad hoc basis from ground trades.Consequently,if you look at the establishment of the Flight Engineer training you will find that the training was subject to continual changes in the light of experience.The BC approach was different to the CC approach but by mid 1942,the training structure was standardised for both commands.The Lancaster squadrons were crewed with a FE and the conversion to Lancasters on operations started in earnest in the new year of 1942 so the brevet would be issued then and I would think that those serving in a flight engineer capacity at the time on Sunderlands and Liberators would also be entitled to a FE brevet. At first Flight Engineer training was restricted to certain ground trades but later direct entry of candidates were admitted after this pool of potential FEs was recognised as shortfalling requirements and from June 1943 direct entry for FE training was established. The main training was undertaken at St Athans and training courses were appropriate to the candidates technical background.Course lengths were. Direct Entry ..............17 weeks Airframe Mechanic....13 weeks Engine Mechanic ......7 weeks Fitter11 (A).................8 wweks In my time in the RAF,a FE course was 12 weeks as Direct Entry,then on to an OCU....that was for Lincolns and I would think it was the same for Shackletons .On passing out, the FE would be posted to B.C or C.C.as appropriate to requirements.(That compares with my technical training as an Air Radar Mechanic (CMS H2S4A) of about 22 weeks.) Interestingly,as an aside, regarding Coastal Command tour survival rates,a note I have read infers that a C.C tour was 800 hrs and the highest survival rate was with the Catalina at 55.5%.
Thank you Harry, I appreciate your input, to be honest, you seem to have given me the answer I wanted. I too have always believed a tour with Coastal was 800 hours which one would think was rather a lot of hours, but considering the time some of the larger aircraft were out on patrol puts it into context. I have it somewhere a 120 Sqd Liberator I was out for just over 20 hours on one patrol. Once again Harry, thank you Regards Peter
