We can reunite you with your friends who served at RAF Apprentices and we have a wealth of information on different units, bases and ships in the site. Halton People | RAF Apprentices Halton attached) from your system. She was on a on-way trip, we at least had a chance of getting home! Introduction of the Halton apprentice scheme. On the few occasions she spoke about her war service she expressed that they were some of the best times of her life. Source: RAF Halton Defence Aerodrome Manual [2] Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It was a point of honour for apprentices to break 27 as many of the rules as they could, hopefully without getting caught. The RAF Police could often be seen patrolling local towns, especially on Saturday evenings when their chances of nabbing a few apprentices in the local pubs or dance halls were high. Entry, September 1954. After leaving the RAF, many ex-apprentices turned away from engineering altogether and forged successful second careers in other professions including medicine and the law. The museum also records the background to Apprentice training at the Halton camp through examples of the tools, work and test pieces completed by Apprentices. In his memorandum, Permanent Organization of the Royal Air Force, which was presented to the House of Commons as a White Paper by Secretary of State Winston Churchill in December 1919, Trenchard placed great emphasis on the importance of training, particularly of skilled ground crew. The first entry numbering 235 boys were accepted for three-year apprenticeships in January 1920 and began training at Cranwell, as accommodation at Halton had not been completed. the training of our mechanics in the multiplicity of trades necessitated by a highly technical Service is to enlist the bulk of our skilled ranks as boys, and train them ourselves. However, following a concerted campaign led by the RAF Halton and RAF Cranwell Apprentices Associations, supported by some prominent ex-apprentices serving at air rank, NCO apprentice ranks and the wearing of the iconic wheel badge were reinstated in 1982. Photos - 78th Entry Royal Air Force Aircraft Apprentices Now with some 4,000 boys on strength Scarlett wanted an additional distinguishing feature on their uniforms to facilitate immediate recognition of the sections (later wings) to which they belonged. It withstood crash landings better and, whereas the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines with which the Lancaster were fitted were magnificent engines, they were liquid cooled and just a bullet or two in the cooling system would rapidly put the engine out of action; whereas I have known air-cooled Hercules engines still give out some power even with a cylinder shot away. They were the true heroes of the piece, becoming SNCOs and warrant officers whose training taught them never to accept second best in keeping our aircraft serviceable and safe. We did not charge him with being improperly dressed, recalled Air Cdre M J Evans, one of five former Halton apprentices who returned to command the station. Scarlett remained in post until 1924 which enabled him to oversee the 8 transformation of a temporary wartime military camp into the beginnings of a permanent RAF station. The introduction of the four-engined bombers in 1941 brought an urgent need for an additional crew member, a flight engineer. Finlay arrived at RAF Halton as an Apprentice in 1925. There is a label at the Imperial War Museum which reads;- please notify the sender and then delete the e-mail (and file(s) if Get up and make beds, all blankets and sheets folded to make a neat sandwich. Sgt App F M Hines of the 63rd Entry receives the Colour for No 1 School of Technical Training from HM Queen Elizabeth II on 25 July 1952.