Why is it that RAF musicians have Chief Technicians instead of Flight Sergeants?
Because, for some reason, which I have never been able to fathom out, they are a List 1 Trade, the same as engineers. They also have FSs as well.
Indeed.
Remember that Chief Tech isn’t a rank that replaces FS, but an additional one that comes between Sgt and FS.
Cheers guys. Seems odd them being a List 1 trade does it come from the RN or Army or something?
I don’t think it has any historical significance, but I could be wrong. It’s more likely that at some time in the past, someone considered the ‘technical skill’ of a musician to be similar to that of the engineering trades and decided to lump them together; there are some medical trades in List 1 as well. They may have wanted to pay musicians more too, as under the old pay bands, List 1 trades were higher than List 2.
Much appreciated just out of curiosity do the medical trades use Chief Tech too?
If they are List 1 trades, then yes, they will. Looking at the RAF Careers website, the Medical trades seem to have a mix of List 1 and 2 trades but with only a couple in List 1 - Pharmacy Tech and Operating Dept Tech. It’s a bit odd why some of the others, such as Env Health Tech appear to be in List 2.