ranks and medals?

[Jmac]

can you rank up your privates and do they earn medals?

[TornadoADV]

They gain ranks as they advance in their training, but no medals as far as I can see.

[Armandeus]

It seems they are all enlisted (sergeants). Were British bomber crews all enlisted? Weren't there any officers? I'd expect the pilot to be one, at least.

[TornadoADV]

Originally posted by Armandeus:

It seems they are all enlisted (sergeants). Were British bomber crews all enlisted? Weren't there any officers? I'd expect the pilot to be one, at least.

They'll gain ranks as their skills in their MoS increase. (Generally when they gain clickable abilities.)

[Pete Forster]

During the Second World War RAF aircrew were a mixture of commissioned officers and other ranks. Pilots would be promoted to sergeant (if they were not commissioned) on receipt of their wings. Navigators (or observers) were usually similarly promoted when they qualified.

Interestingly the captain of the aircraft would usually be the pilot once the aircraft was in the air and would outrank any other member of the crew even if, for example, the pilot was a sergeant and the rear gunner was a wing commander - unlikely but could happen.

One exception to this was in pathfinder squadrons where the navigator captained the aircraft.

[brak97]

Why would a wing commander be a gunner and not, say, in command of a wing?

[alexandrebestetti]

+1 for medals. Maybe a crew profile with number of missions done, kills and medals based on actions.

[EarthN]

Originally posted by alexandrebestetti:

+1 for medals. Maybe a crew profile with number of missions done, kills and medals based on actions.

That would be great. So far (just a few hours into the game = noob) I cannot tell if my crew gets better in any way (apart from the special skills they get, like focus for gunners, ect).
Do they get better in any way ?!?

[Pete Forster]

Originally posted by brak97:

Why would a wing commander be a gunner and not, say, in command of a wing?

Wing Commander is a rank. In the same way a naval captain isn't necessarily the Captain of a ship a Wing Commander may not command a wing ( i.e. A number of squadrons).

[brak97]

Originally posted by Henry Beauchamp:

Originally posted by brak97:

Why would a wing commander be a gunner and not, say, in command of a wing?

Wing Commander is a rank. In the same way a naval captain isn't necessarily the Captain of a ship a Wing Commander may not command a wing ( i.e. A number of squadrons).

Right, I'm fairly familiar with the UK ranks (still don't understand coronet but, I guess, it's no different from our Navy Ensigns. My point is, you wouldn't have someone of such a high rank working as a simple gunner. Not sure why you would have any grade of officer with a sole of function as gunner. US bomber crews typically had officers as Pilot, Co-Pilot, Navigator and Bombadier. Enlisted soldiers usually filled then engineer (crew chief) and gunner roles. If I remember correctly, the only enlisted pilots were on observation/reconnaissance aircraft.

[Pete Forster]

Originally posted by brak97:

Originally posted by Henry Beauchamp:

My point is, you wouldn't have someone of such a high rank working as a simple gunner. Not sure why you would have any grade of officer with a sole of function as gunner. US bomber crews typically had officers as Pilot, Co-Pilot, Navigator and Bombadier. Enlisted soldiers usually filled then engineer (crew chief) and gunner roles. If I remember correctly, the only enlisted pilots were on observation/reconnaissance aircraft.

Such extremes were uncommon but did happen. In the Second World War the fast training of a pool of aircrew meant that the divide between commissioned and non-commissioned ranks in the RAF was more diluted than before or since. Many fighter and bomber pilots were sergeants and other positions in the aircraft were filled similarly. It is fair to say that there were very few instances of senior commissioned officers taking air gunner positions but my main point above was how the captaincy of the aircraft was unrelated to rank.

I guess a more likely scenery would be a wing commander riding along as a spare for one reason or another but depending on their experience they may end up taking over another role.

All of the above is based on my father's recollections. He was a navigator but not a commissioned officer. Similar a friend of his who I met a couple of times was a sergeant pilot of a Lancaster who flew a whole tour getting the DFC and was only commissioned towards it's end.

I suppose another thing to consider is the enormous attrition rate of aircrew in RAF Bomber Command.

Good to chat.

[horrid74]

@Henry Beauchamp

You have it right there regarding captains, in command rather than rank holding authority. Some air military tradition is derivative of naval tradition. Air being the younger of the two and sharing crew positions like onboard a ship held on to some of those of the senior service. Command of a vessel/ship in practice trumps rank with the commanding officer holding authority of the platform. The Commanding officer in spite of a senior ranking officer's presence would remain the de facto head of operations.

[brak97]

Originally posted by horrid74:

@Henry Beauchamp

You have it right there regarding captains, in command rather than rank holding authority. Some air military tradition is derivative of naval tradition. Air being the younger of the two and sharing crew positions like onboard a ship held on to some of those of the senior service. Command of a vessel/ship in practice trumps rank with the commanding officer holding authority of the platform. The Commanding officer in spite of a senior ranking officer's presence would remain the de facto head of operations.

Totally true but you wouldn't have a visiting Admiral to a ship take over the cooking duties. And protocol aboard ships are totally different from aircraft. You don't have inspection tours on planes or DV's showing up while the bomber is "under way". Ultimately, it sounds like the RAF behaved very differently from the US Navy of the time.

[brak97]

Originally posted by Henry Beauchamp:

All of the above is based on my father's recollections. He was a navigator but not a commissioned officer. Similar a friend of his who I met a couple of times was a sergeant pilot of a Lancaster who flew a whole tour getting the DFC and was only commissioned towards it's end.

I suppose another thing to consider is the enormous attrition rate of aircrew in RAF Bomber Command.

Good to chat.

Thanks for sharing your Dad's and his friend's amazing and unique experiences. If possible, thank them for their service for me.

[Pete Forster]

Sadly both now gone but I appreciate the thought.

[Nikinikolakakis]

Dont have have any relatives that where ever in a air force, but my great grand father was in the Greek army during WWII and he survived