RFC Special Reserve 1912-1913

[Moonraker]

Researching the death of Major Alexander Hewetson RFA in 1913 (there's a thread in Skindles), I was intrigued to see a reference in The Times account of his accident to the Bristol flying instructor Collyns Pizey being a member of the Royal Flying Corps Reserve. At that time, Pizey was a civilian and had no military service - though he did teach various officers to fly. And the RFC had only been formed in April 1912, hardly long enough for enough men to have served with it and then left - which, I naively thought, was how the Army Reserve was constituted.

I searched The Times archive prewar and came across this on September 11, 1912:

This reference suggests that appointments to the Reserve could be made almost on an honorary, certainly on a temporary, basis, if one had relevant experience, not necessarily military. Presumably this was to ensure the Reservist was fitted into the system status-wise, not least when it came to messing?

Any better-informed comments?

Moonraker

[tintin1689]

No you could enlist directly into the Special Reserve (the old Militia), that is why it was Special. You had to undertake to train to such an extent that you could be used as an individual replacement for the Regular Army. Senior Division OTC cadets who had obtained both Certificate A and B of military training were encouraged to seek appointment as officers in the Special Reserve on leaving College. OR's had to attend basic training (for which they were paid) and then periodic camps. Call out conditions were more broader than Territorials, but not as broad as the Army Reserve although an efficient militia man could enlist in the Army Reserve.

There were Special Reservists for Cavalry, Infantry, RA, RE and RAMC

I had not heard of RFC Special Reserve before - presumably a pool of qualified aviators rather than a formed unit. This makes a lot of sense as then as now it is a pretty specialised skill and there cannot have been too many pilots available.

[Staffsyeoman]

Well, there was a Territorial Force unit of the RFC at the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough as well. T/RFC/HANTS was the shoulder title. All fits as specialist pool (as it would be called now)?

[tintin1689]

The Hampshire unit was an "Aircraft Park" a non-flying unit comprising a store of spare aeroplanes and parts of aeroplanes with specialised O/Rs to store/maintain/repair. I believe it was formed very close to the outbreak of war and then disappeared in the huge expansion of the RFC.

It does make sense. SR to act as a pool of spare pilots, TA to form a home base centred round the fledgling aviation industry. I wonder if there are any surviving papers to show how the War Office envisaged its air arm expanding if war had not intervened?

[PhilB]

The 1914 Army List shows officers of the Military Wing, then the Reserve of Flying Officers, then the Special Reserve of 2nd Lts on probation. (Some Infantry Regiments also show a Special Reserve of probationary officers while the RE eg show a SR of all ranks.) Presumably a probationary period in the RFC SR was a requirement for all RFC officers? Phil B

[tintin1689]

I don't know about the RFC's, but you could enter the infantry and cavalry as a regular officer by satisfactory performance as a Special Reserve officer - the other route was via the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. There were two schools of thought - one, including many Sandhurst graduates, regarded it as a back door for the less academically bright - the other, including many SR officers, regarded it as preferable for the maturer type of man for whom Sandhurst was too like being back at School.

This SR path is usually neglected by historians of the training/development of officers. In fact the SR is almost ignored by writers as almost all its units did not serve as such in action, rather acting as pools of replacements.

If you look at the book "The Aristocracy in the Great War" which has lots of potted biographies it is surprising how many officers entered through the SR, what prestigious units many were in and how far many climbed.