RAF Crew Briefings

Small correction I’m a kiwi (New Zealander) sorry the websites
are misleading. Thanks for the replies, clearly ranks aren’t my
area of expertise but I’ll pass the info along to the author who
asked me in the first place.
Cheers

Having just read ‘View from a Birdcage’ by Flying Officer J M Catford (which I can thoroughly recommend) he describes the briefings in great detail and how the WHOLE crew attended them.

Ah!!! But Webpilot. Is the Handling Pilot allowed near the stewardesses ???

WebPilot, Brilliant!!!
Pse send that to the Daily Telegraph. The General Election is already getting up most folk’s noses! We need some light relief!!
Rgds
Resmoroh

Simon Beck is American and it was their practice that pilots and navs were commissioned and the rest of the crew were other ranks.

Thanks, Peter, I’d surmised as much.:)

As an aside, for the first 6 months or so after getting my ‘wings’ I held a Corporal’s rank, as did a number of my colleagues, We even flew together as Cpls, although one was authorised as Captain. This caused a few raised eyebrows when visiting RAF stations.

The Luftwaffe had yet a different structure where an NCO pilot could have commissioned officers as part of the crew, but the senior rank would be the aircraft commander rather than the pilot.

In a slight drift from the thread, the following has probably been seen before but still raises a smile:

The titles P1, P2, and Co-Pilot will now cease to have any meaning, within the British Airways operational manuals. They are to be replaced by

– Handling Pilot,
– Non-Handling Pilot,
– Handling Landing Pilot,
– Non-Handling Landing Pilot,
– Handling Non-Landing Pilot,
– Non-Handling Non-Landing Pilot.

The Landing Pilot is initially the Handling Pilot and will handle the take-off and landing except in role reversal when he is the Non-Handling Pilot for taxi until the Handling Non-Landing hands the handling to the Landing Pilot at 80 knots. The Non-Landing (Non-Handling, since the Landing Pilot is handling) Pilot reads the checklist to the Handling Pilot until after Before Descent Checklist completion, when the Handling Landing Pilot hands the handling to the Non-Handling Non-Landing Pilot who then becomes the Handling Non-Landing Pilot. The Landing Pilot is the Non-Handling Pilot until the “decision altitude” call, when the Handling Non-Landing Pilot hands the handling to the Non-Handling Landing Pilot, unless the latter calls “go-around”, in which case the Handling Non-Landing Pilot, continues Handling and the Non-Handling Landing Pilot continues non-handling until the next call of “land” or “go-around”, as appropriate.

In view of the recent confusion over these rules, it was deemed necessary to restate them clearly.

– British Airways memorandum as quoted in Pilot Magazine.

Absolutely right!
In the RAF the practice was quite different and it was quite possible to have a sergeant pilot with commissioned officers as part of his crew. The pilot was the captain regardless of rank.
And then they confused things by introducing what used to be known as a “Mission Commander”. Too difficult! Front (or Left Hand) Seat – everybody do as he say!!
HTH
Resmoroh

Simon Beck is American and it was their practice that pilots and navs were commissioned and the rest of the crew were other ranks.
In the RAF the practice was quite different and it was quite possible to have a sergeant pilot with commissioned officers as part of his crew. The pilot was the captain regardless of rank.

I was curious to know, did the entire crews of RAF Bomber planes
attend crew briefings or was it just the officers, ie pilots, navigators
etc.?

A great many pilots and navigators were NCO aircrew.

There is a great documentary called ‘Night Bombers’ which was shot in colour at RAF Hemswell in 1943, and goes through the various stages of preparation for a ‘maximum effort’ raid on Berlin for Lancaster squadrons.
The aircrew attending the main briefing were pilots, navigators and bomb aimers, a mixture of NCOs and officers. The briefing starts as the base commander, station commander and squadron commanders enter the room.
First brief is performed by the ‘Met’ man, then the flying Control Officer, the intelligence officer, a squadron commander, the station commander, then finally a word from the base commander, an AOC.
The aircrew then depart to pick up personal items such as their Irvine suits, Mae Wests, parachutes, etc…