Rates of Pay in WW2

I am by nature a diarist and when asked a sticky question about WW2 can usually refer back to notes I have previously written and provide an answer.

Usually, but not in this case

Has anyone come across a link to a definitive list of Army Pay in WW2 ?

Wartime friends have given me some clues (the consensus of opinion is about two shillings a day) but I'd like to see it in print somewhere.

Answers to this thread please.

Many thanks

Ron

 

I've got rates of pay for cooks etc from a 1945 manual of military catering: would this be of interest to anyone?

H

 

Thought I would throw in the Australian rates of pay which seem to be on par with the British.

Pay rates for the 2nd AIF
1939 - 1945
On 20th October 1939, the Government of Australia announced new rates of pay for the members of the 2nd AIF.
<table border="1" cellspacing="1" width="80%"><tbody><tr> <td colspan="2" bgcolor="#ffffcc" valign="middle">The new rates were:
</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="13%">2nd A.I.F. Privates
</td> <td valign="middle" width="87%"> Privates: 5/- a day (unchanged) deferred pay 2/-(up from 1/-) 3/- extra if married Allowance for dependent children unchanged,
remaining at 1/- a day per child
</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="13%">Militia
</td> <td valign="middle" width="87%"> 8/- a day for 3 months camp (up 3/-) Married men 8/- a day plus 1/- a day for each child under 16
</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="13%">Compulsory trainees
</td> <td valign="middle" width="87%"> Privates: 5/- a day
</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

RAF 1940 pay rates (this changed over the course of the war):

Recruits selected as suitable for air crews are first mustered as Aircraftmen 2nd Class with pay at the rate of 2s. a day during training. Pilots are then remustered and reclassified as Leading Aircraftmen and paid at the rate of 5s. a day plus flying instructional pay at the rate of 2s. a day.

Air observers under training are also remustered as L.A/C. and paid 5s. a day plus flying instructional pay at the rate of is. 6d. during training. Other members of air crews remain A.C.2S during training with pay remaining
at 2s. a day.

When their training is complete airmen are remustered and reclassified or' promoted according to the percentage of marks they obtain on passing out of training. An airman pilot becomes a sergeant with pay at the rate of 12s. 6d. a day. An observer may be either a sergeant or an acting sergeant. If the latter, he receives pay at the rate of 9s. a day.

A wireless operator may be classified on completing training as a L.A/C, an A.C.i or an A.C.2 with pay at the rate of 5s., 4s. 3d. or 3s. 6d. a day respectively, plus air crew pay and air gunner pay of is. 6d. a day.

An air gunner is classified in the same way but receives pay of 4s., 3s. 6d. or 2s. a day, plus the air crew and air gunner pay of is. 6d. a day. In all instances pay is for a seven-day week. A certain number of airman pilots and observers are selected for commissions on the results they obtain in the examination at the conclusion of their training. The wives of married airmen are paid a family
allowance varying from 17s. to 23s. 6d. a week according to rank with
additional allowances for children.

At the same time airmen receive free accommodation, food and clothing (or money allowances instead) and medical attendance.

http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1940/1940%20-%201395.pdf

 

Thanks everyone for your most interesting input.

Because I'm strictly a "belt & braces" man I posed the same question on Peter G's WW2 Blog:
WW2 - The Second World War
and you might be interested to see the thread that developed.

 

Always remember Dad saying he was paid 14 bob (14 shillings, about 70 pence today) a week when he joined up. though he seldom received the full amount, as there always seemed to be deductions for barrack room damages. The damages usually visible when they entered and, no doubt, the same deductions were made to the previous tenants. By the time he was a Sergeant he said he then received an extra 3d (1.5 pence) a day. Of course he also got bed and board. Unfortunately I cannot substantiate those figures. Was part of the pay paid into a savings account? as I remember he had a account with £84. 10 shillings when demobbed.

 

Thanks for that 51H

One item that always used to rankle with me , and I'm sure with others, was having to buy our own Blanco from the NAAFI despite the Army's own insistence that all our webbing equipment had to be painted with the stuff.
During our Div's brief stay in Egypt it was nice to have this changed to having the webbing blancoed white and we soon realised we could get the same effect by washing the webbing, coating in sand and leaving it to dry in the sun.

 

Right, this one is for the specialists out there. I have a copy of the Manual of Army Catering Part 1 - General, dated 26th July 1945. It appears to have a document ref. number of 22377. Section 7, page 16 observes that Non-tradesman cooks (regimental personnel) receive additional pay up to 6d per day, and that Unqualified cooks recieve up to 3d per day additional. Unhelpfully, it does not indicate what the normal rates of pay were, although I imagine that is a bit of a minefield anyway. Absolutley fascinating little book, with all sorts of stuff on nutrition, mess administration, 'Prevention of Waste', and the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of serving food. Bullets and POL are all very necessary, I know, but this is the sort of stuff that is absolutely critical to morale and good health of all troops. OK, I'll step away from the soapbox now...

 

Bullets and POL are all very necessary, I know, but this is the sort of stuff that is absolutely critical to morale and good health of all troops. OK, I'll step away from the soapbox now...

Not everyone could be or even wanted to be at the front line. One thing is for certain that in most cases if there is no rear logisitical support the front doesn't stay the front for long.

I remember a friend at college who was somewhat ashamed that his father was a truck driver and not a front line soldier.

 

Not everyone could be or even wanted to be at the front line. One thing is for certain that in most cases if there is no rear logisitical support the front doesn't stay the front for long.

I remember a friend at college who was somewhat ashamed that his father was a truck driver and not a front line soldier.
At least he came home, a lot of 'front line' men didn't. If I had a choice between a dead hero and live father, I'll take the father.

Either way, he was a hero just for going.

 

At least he came home, a lot of 'front line' men didn't. If I had a choice between a dead hero and live father, I'll take the father.

Either way, he was a hero just for going.

Me too!

My father used to tell me, "I don't care what you do in life as long as you do it well".

This can be related to war as well.

 

If I could find a nice, genuine one then very probably yes, Adam. All I have found on the internerd over the last 4 years or so have been post war Czech copies and the like. Mind you, I could be persuaded to do a French Colonial set-up c 1950 something somewhere in the Far East....

 

Adam

Many thanks for that, Im sure that it will be of great interest to anyone researching a member of the Senior Service.

Ron

 

my mate reckons he was liberally pissed up most of the time,but not very much when he was fighting.he is in his 80s now,and not much has changed on the drinking front.he reckons he was skint most of the time,over there.yours,4th wilts.

 

WW2 was a team effort, I simply loath it when men say "I was only a truck driver" We all contributed to that team work more than any time in our countries history.

Ron, I have an excellent memory, but for the lfe of me, I cannot recall the pay rates. probably as we never drew any.
sapper

 

Didn't draw pay? Surely you must have done while On Active Service?