flight mechanic (e) ww2 , [ groundcrew ? ]

many thanks

Hi All,
Many thanks for the replies
& thanks slipstream for the info. 🙂
Just need to find what ‘ B / 467 ‘ meant at RAF innsworth in 1942 .
And research a ‘ K Pearce ‘ the one time owner of the ‘standard notes ‘
Anyone know if RAF innsworth was a training base.
Cheers
Jerry

Flight mechanic ( E ) = engine fitter, (A) = airframe, I think electrics were designated (L). These were ground trades as opposed to ‘Flight Engineer’ which was later to become ‘Air Engineer’ and was aircrew.

I don’t know, but a couple of thoughts…

In early W.W.II, the British often referred to ‘Motors’ rather ‘Engines’ for aircraft. (Although I’m not sure how far each term was popular or official.)

I’d suspect that the ‘E’ might be for ‘Engineer’, but I’m guessing.

“Flight Mechanic (E)” sounds much like an in-aircraft, in-flight rating… much like the US “Crew Chief” designation… which can be of any rank from E-3 (USN: Airman /USMC: Lance Corporal /USA: Private First Class /USAF: Airman 1st class) to E-7 (USN: Chief Petty Officer /USMC: Gunnery Sergeant /USA: Sergeant First Class /USAF: Master Sergeant), depending on the aircraft & other factors.

The (E) part does indeed seem like a “specialty designator”, unless it is to differentiate from an Officer type Flight Mechanic.