STATUS OF AIR CREWS

Southland Times, Issue 24875, 15 October 1942, Page 5

STATUS OF AIR CREWS

IMPROVEMENT LIKELY FOR N.Z. MEN (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, October 13. The status of New Zealand and Australian air crew members is likely to be improved as a result of the forthcoming London conference between representatives of those two air forces and the Royal Air Force, says the Associated Press. Canada, the fourth partner in the Empire air scheme, has already departed from the original policy, under which commissions are granted to air crew personnel on a fixed percentage of pilots, observers and others. A Canadian Air Force spokesman said Canada for some time had been pursuing a more aggressive commissioning policy for all air crew members than the Royal Air Force or any other Dominion. “Canadian policy is that all air crew personnel shall be commissioned if they are of commissionable quality,” he said. “They have a right to apply for commissions through the commanding officer without necessarily awaiting his recommendation.” The abolition of commissioning on a percentage basis would remove the most serious obstacle in the way of more commissions for New Zealand and Australian air crews who have earned a status equivalent to that of their American and Canadian comrades.