VR(T) Commission Change

The Aims of the Air Training Corps as laid down in its Royal Warrant

To promote and encourage among young people a practical interest in aviation and the Royal Air Force

To provide training which will be useful in the Services and civilian life

To foster the spirit of adventure and develop qualities of leadership and good citizenship

I think the original one I remember when I joined (and must have a copy somewhere) referred to ‘young men’, thus I feel this is the modified 1967 version, adapted for having boys and girls in the 80s, hence the term ‘young people’.

The original one had FOUR aims also…!

The agreement for girls to join was made in 1980. First girls in my wing was late 81. When i joined in 82 there were only two sqns in the wing with girls. The aims must have changed around about then.

These are the revised aims from 1947. I love the wording and terminology and wouldn’t it be great to go back to these.

a. To promote and encourage among young men a practical interest in aviation and to fit them to serve their country in Our Air Force, its reserves and auxiliaries, and also in the Air Branch of Our Navy or in Our Army.
b. To provide training which will be useful both in the Air Service and in civil life.
c. To foster the spirit of adventure, to promote sports and pastimes in healthy rivalry and to develop the qualities of mind and body which go to the making of a leader and a good citizen.

I’m pretty certain the ‘new ones’ came about as a part of the Morris Report in 1967 and have been tinkered with to fit in with the changes in membership and ways of referring to youngsters.

Just got this off CRAFAC’s Twitter!
“Officer and SNCO insignia have both been updated to remove VR(T) and ATC and have been replaced with ‘RAF Air Cadets’ to strengthen the branding between different volunteer cadres.”

Glad to know we have gone through all this “to strengthen the branding”! Which cadres is she talking about?

Currently she refers to two the officer and the SNCOs

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The Air Force Board Decision to remove VR(T) Commissions has now been added to the CFC document site.

Looks like the Warrant for the CFC come in on 20 October, so no idea what they delay was…

Same as your appointment date, these come out in Wing Routine Orders months after your appointment date.

But you might have thought this would have had been notified in advance, given they’d had months and months and months to plan it.

They may need to look up the phrase “plan it”, though.

How many have managed to plan and execute a Christmas Do for work?

From an academic viewpoint… Where does this leave SIs? If CFAVs are no longer under military law, where does that leave their authority with us?

The answer is in the new warrant. None at all. There is no mention of serving or reserve staff or authority over said persons.

Why don’t we club together and get legal advice on this

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Well that should be interesting…

We don’t need them, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t in charge at a squadron or event an SI might be working with.

We have no authority to mess around with an SI’s work life but plenty to manage their RAFAC involvement.

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the AEF did,
the vast majority of VGS transferred over, I think it was about 6 staff had to keep their VR(T) commission

AEF staff are to keep the VRT Commission for now

AEF staff pilots will retain VRT commissions.
The six VRT commissions retained at 2FTS are gliding examiners posts. They have full time jobs at Syerston and have VRT commissions. Without military commissions they wouldn’t be able to exercise their duties. For example, the Robin tug at Syerston is civilian registered, military owned so the same rules as the Tutor apply.

I realise there’s a physical difference between an airframe and a weapons system but why are military commissions still required for the aviation aspects but not for shooting activities Cadet Forces undertake?

109115 has pretty much answered the question, but I don’t think you’ve understood it. A military commission is simply not needed for shooting.

The VRT commission is not being retained for all aviation activities, as the officers on the VGS units have moved over to the CFC.

The AEF Staff Pilots and the 6 Central Gliding School Examiners are a very specific case. They fly civilian registered aircraft which are operated and owned by the MOD. If they did this with a CFC commission (civvy status) they would be required to have a private pilots license (ppl) and be governed by civil law. Because they have a military commission and subject to the AFA, they do not need a ppl and can fly these aircraft on “brevet”.

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