Mr. MALONEasked the Secretary of State for Air the number of officers and men in the Royal Air Force, showing how many are fully qualified pilots and how many are employed in the British Isles?
Captain GUESTThe answer to the first part of the question is: officers 2,926, airmen 26,207. Of the total number of officers, 2,398 are on the General List and 528 are on the list for non-flying duties, namely, stores, medical, etc. As regards the second part of the question, all officers on the General List are liable to employment on flying duties if medically fit, and, at present, 1,862 are fully qualified pilots. The remainder, namely, 536, are not qualified pilots and consist partly 55W of observers and partly of technical officers who were retained for the interim period only, including 200 naval warrant officers completing their time to qualify for pension. The answer to the third part of the question is, 2,069 officers, 19,506 men and boys. These figures include officers, airmen and boys under training.