HC Deb 17 April 1946 vol 421 cc2660-1
9. Major Niall Macpherson

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air the number of equipment officers, respectively, in the R. A. F. on 1st July, 1945, released since 1st July, 1945, commissioned since 1st July, 1945, transferred from other branches or Services since 1st July, 1945, and under instruction at present.

13. Mr. G. Jeģer

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air how the average release groups for ground officers compare with those for equipment officers.

Mr. Strachey

With permission, I will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT a statement giving the detailed information required by the hon. and gallant Member for Dumfries (Major N. Macpherson). Equipment officers are at present five groups behind the general level of release, and the position will get worse before it gets better. To meet this emergency we have decided to commission more airmen in the equipment branch in addition to training every suitable general duties officer who can be made available and with these measures the position should improve, particularly when they reach the groups from 30 onwards.

Major Macpherson

In view of the answer that the Minister has already given me that it takes only six weeks to train an equipment officer, can he say why it has not been possible to improve the situation before, or to prevent it from getting worse?

Mr. Strachey

There are several answers to that question. The most general one is the very considerable speed-up of releases, which has again increased the burden on equipment officers, and has made the output from the training courses inadequate to meet the situation. We are now taking the measures just announced of supplementing our training forces by the commissioning of airmen in the branch.

Following is the statement:

R.A.F. Equipment Officers
Strength on 1st July, 1945 4,748
Released: 1st July, 1945 to 1st March, 1946 1,503
Commissioned: 1st July, 1945 to 1st March, 1946 160
Transferred or attached from other branches: 1st July, 1945 to 1st March, 1946 419*
Under training at 1st April, 1946 132
* Redundant general duties officers who are trained as equipment officers remain available for flying duties and are not formally transferred.
The figure of 419 includes 401 general duties officers.