From the Ground Up: The training of RAAF technical ground staff 1948–1993

Price: $16.00 (for hard copy)

For 45 years, from 1948 until 1993, the Royal Australian Air Force conducted an apprentice training scheme to provide skilled tradesmen for its engineering and radio musterings. The many thousands of youths who passed through the scheme comprised not just Australians but Pakistanis and New Zealanders too, and in its later years included girls as well as boys. For such a technical service as the RAAF, apprentice training was a key element in providing a solid foundation for supporting and maintaining an increasingly complex range of aircraft and other equipment systems.

This book, specially commissioned by the RAAF to commemorate the unique contribution apprentices made to the service over nearly half a century, provides a documented record of the scheme's origins, rationale and development. It also traces the debate which gave recognition to the service's changing requirements and ultimately led to the termination of the apprentice training.

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BOOKS  Historical