Talk:Aircraftman

Use as generic term

Note that the Oxford English Dictionary only lists Aircraftman as an RAF rank, not as a generic term. Please provide reliable evidence that it is used as a generic term or I will revert it again. -- Necrothesp 18:16, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

I have reverted your edit, because Clerk (in 1918), Air Mechanic, Private (in 1919) and then Aircraftman (in 1919) were not ranks. They were prefixes to which was added the suffix of "1st Class" or "2nd Class". The source of RAF ranks is Air Memorandum 1. This lists the ranks, and most importantly for the men concerned, it also lists the pay grade for each of these ranks. This information is recorded for each non-commissioned airman who transferred across from the RFC & RNAS in the RAF Muster Roll. This document is accessible via the RAF Museum website and via the FindMyPast website.

It can be seen that the legacy of this approach to junior ranks has its origins with the Royal Navy, where its ratings have a trade prefix and a suffix of "1st Class" or "2nd Class".

If you can provide substantive evidence from a Royal Air Force document that "Aircraftman" existed as a definitive and not generic rank, without prefixes, then please revert. Keith H99 (talk) 17:35, 27 July 2017 (UTC)

Erk

The word "erk" is likely a phonetic spelling of an east-Londoner's pronunciation of the abbreviation, "airc".

This seems unlikely as the OED gives an earlier usage for a Naval rating, it just has the origin as obscure. (OED 1925 FRASER & GIBBONS Soldier & Sailor Words 89 Erk, a rating. (Navy). Lower deck colloquialism for any ‘rank’ not that of an officer.) --jmb 08:26, 14 May 2007 (UTC)