character creator here! can i get some info from someone with knowledge of the RAF in the WWII era and how its ranks worked?

by tentaclecuddles

hiya! so to get to the point, i like to create my own characters and one of them is a retired WWII RAF pilot. he enlisted when he was in his teens and left/retired once the war was over (he lives in europe, so on/shortly after ve-day) when he was 27. i want to know the following in order to flesh out his character and get as accurate with the history as i possibly can:

  • the character was born in germany and he and his family fled to britain. what is the latest possible time they could have left germany before it was difficult for people to emigrate?
  • the latest possible time to enlist in the RAF at that time
  • what rank would he start out as
  • what he would have to do to climb the ranks
  • at what rank would he start piloting a plane and going into battle with it (the timeframe of the above events, ie. how long it would take for him to become a war pilot)
  • what the uniforms/badges looked like back in the WWII era and which one(s) he’d have
  • what type of plane he would have in that era and what it would look like / could do
  • if war pilots suffer from ptsd more/less than ground troops

if you have any answers (or suggestions for better places to ask these questions; i've kinda just started to use reddit), please share! i want to make this character as accurate as i possibly can. i'm sorry if it's a lot at once; i'll accept as many answers from as many people as possible, provided a good source is attached! i may not be able to reply right away but any bit of info helps!

thanks in advance!

Bigglesworth_

A German émigré throws a bit of a proverbial spanner in the works. Though the RAF was a multinational outfit, with Polish, Czech, Dutch, French, Norwegian, Greek, Belgian and Yugoslav-manned squadrons in addition to the Commonwealth, German pilots were extremely unusual. German, Austrian and Italian nationals were viewed with great suspicion (even though many were Jewish refugees bitterly opposed to Hitler's regime) and many were [interned] (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a6651858.shtml) at the start of the war; the situation gradually relaxed, though enemy aliens were initially limited to service in the Pioneer Corps before they were [permitted to transfer to other services in 1942] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8635541.stm). Few went to the RAF as pilots, though, only a few examples spring to mind:

[Count Manfred Beckett Czernin] (http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Czernin.htm), son of the World War I Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Otto von Czernin and his English first wife Lucy Beckett. Manfred was born in Berlin in 1913, his parents divorced in 1914 and he subsequently lived with his mother in Italy and attended school in the UK, joining the RAF in 1935 and returning from the reserve to become a Battle of Britain Ace.

[George Hein] (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-35630172) was a German Jew who was sent to London in 1934 by his family and adopted the identity of a dead British schoolfriend, avoiding the possibility of internment. He joined the RAF and became a bomber pilot, was shot down over Europe and taken prisoner, but his original identity remained hidden.

The best, possibly only, examples of German nationals knowingly recruited as pilots were the Oscar-winning production designer Sir Ken Adam and his brother Denis. Born Klaus Hugo Adam, Ken was also a German Jew who moved to England in 1934 at the age of 13. He was refused entry to the RAF in 1940 so enlisted in the Pioneer Corps, but was determined to fly and persisted with the RAF, eventually being accepted in 1941. After training Ken joined 609 Squadron flying Typhoons, attacking targets in preparation for D-Day then moving to France to continue supporting the Allied armies; his brother also flew Typhoons in 183 Squadron, part of the same Wing. James Holland wrote about Ken Adam in [Heroes] (http://www.griffonmerlin.com/books/heroes/), and put up [an extensive piece on his site] (http://www.griffonmerlin.com/2016/03/12/ken-adam-oscar-winning-set-designer-german-raf-typhoon-pilot/) when Adam died earlier this year.

Broadening out from pilots alone, there were other aircrew; 101 Squadron flew Lancasters equipped with jamming equipment known as "Airborne Cigar" that disrupted communication between German night fighters and their controlling stations, and the operators of the equipment had to have a reasonable command of German to be able to react to broadcasts; some of them [seem to have been of German extraction] (http://www.lancaster-archive.com/bc_abc.htm).

Anyway, in terms of recruitment, training, uniform, ranks, insignia, aircraft etc., I'd recommend Mark Barber's [RAF Fighter Command Pilot: The Western Front 1939-1942] (https://ospreypublishing.com/raf-fighter-command-pilot), assuming you're after a fighter pilot (I don't think there's an equivalent for Bomber Command yet).