§ 33. Sir Ian Fraserasked the Secretary of State for Air if air-crew who voluntarily join the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve may retain their rank, as is the case when air-crew reserves are called up.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Air (Mr. Crawley)Men with former R.A.F. service who join the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve are given substantive 425 rank equivalent to the rank held at the time of release. In some cases, however, officers are given lower substantive rank in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve than the temporary or war substantive ranks they held under exceptional war-time promotion rules.
§ Sir I. FraserDoes this mean that the men who are being called up from the G Reserve are being treated better by getting the highest rank they had?
§ Mr. CrawleyNo, Sir. In most cases the people in the Volunteer Reserve have the same rank as they had when they left the Forces. In some cases, where they were given exceptional promotion for exceptional war-time reasons, they get a lower rank when called up.
§ Sir I. FraserThe Under-Secretary has merely repeated his original answer and not answered my supplementary question. I asked him whether he will assimilate the conditions for volunteers to those which apply to the G reservists?
§ Mr. CrawleyNo, Sir. G reservists are specially selected men who are called up to fill special posts for only 15 days. They will hold the rank those posts carry for 15 days, but that has no relation whatever to the rank they would hold if they were called up on full mobilisation. The cases are quite different.