paddy joining the RAF

Remmy

Hi all

can an irish person join the RAF or do you need to be living in britain for a set number of years?

WexCan

From what I can gather, you need to be a UK citizen since birth to become aircrew or some other areas like intelligence, pretty much everything else Irish citizens can apply for.

Latchy

It's pretty much the same procedure as for joining the british police ,same background check etc, but not umcommon to hear a Dublin accent amoung the bobbies in London as i was pleasntly surprised a few years ago .

Remmy

thanks guys.

uk citizen?ah nuts!thinking it was like that alright.What about that irish chap in the RAF during the battle of britain?Can't think of it.anyone know who I'm on about?:D

WexCan

I had thought Irish citizens could become aircrew too but apparently not. Maybe they've changed it?

toomevara

A citizen of the Irish republic can join any part of the British armed forces. It's not a problem. There are many southerners serving in all arms of the British army.

Latchy

Remmy wrote: »

thanks guys.

uk citizen?ah nuts!thinking it was like that alright.What about that irish chap in the RAF during the battle of britain?Can't think of it.anyone know who I'm on about?:D

Capt paddy finnucane , a fine man indeed and his exploits are well documented in other threads/forums ,but let us also not forget the ordianary thousends of irish guys who are not so well known but also fought for the british during WW2 , afterwards in such conflicts as suez ,aden etc and serve up to the present day

WexCan

Nationality: British citizen since birth or holder of dual British/other nationality

But they can't become aircrew

Steyr

I think it has been changed and you have to be living in the UK for at least 5 years and you wont get to be a Pilot but you can become a WSO etc.



Below taken from RAF Webstie:http://www.raf.mod.uk/careers/istherafforme/nationalityandresidency.cfm

Nationality
The nationality requirements for each job are given in each of the job files on this website.

For all RAF jobs, you must have been a citizen of the UK, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland since birth, or have dual nationality with Britain and another country.

For security reasons, there are stricter nationality requirements for some jobs. For a few, you must have been a British citizen and UK resident since birth.

Residency
You must have lived in the UK for at least the three years before you apply to join.

In exceptional circumstances, there is a chance that if you don’t meet these requirements exactly, you could still be considered for service.

If you are unsure about your eligibility, please call the advice line on 0845 6055555.



Pilot
Job description: Pilot fast-jet, multi-engine or rotary-wing aircraft.


Pay after training: £31,900

Joining age: 17.5 – 23

Category: Officers

Usual service: 12 years

Open to: men or women
Similar civilian jobs:

Commercial airline pilot
Pilot trainer
Commercial helicopter pilot

Qualifications: 5 GCSEs/SCEs and 2 A-levels or 3 Highers or equivalent. GCSEs/SCEs at Grade C/3 minimum to include English language and maths

Nationality: British citizen since birth or holder of dual British/other nationality

Remmy

thanks again steyr!

sorry,what position is wso?never heard that before.so virtually every other position except pilot and intelligence you are able to join?

Captain Chaos

WSOs = Weapons Systems Officer, basically the back seater in two seat fighters. They used to be called RIOs, Radar Intercept Officers.

So that limits you to Tornado GR4, F3s and two seater Tiffies in the RAF.

Steyr

Captain Chaos wrote: »

WSOs = Weapons Systems Officer, basically the back seater in two seat fighters. They used to be called RIOs, Radar Intercept Officers.

WSO is a more "European" way of calling it a back seat Jockey and a "RIO" is the more "American" saying for it, FYI if you get WSO you can after a few years transfer to the front, remember seeing it on a prog about the RAF and a WSO guy completed his Pilot exmas and whatever else was needed and he became a front seat jockey instead of bringing up the rear, Then again i dont know if your Nationality might play into this???

cyrusdvirus

I thought RIO was a USN term rather than an American term. Don't the USAF use WSO?

Snickers Man

latchyco wrote: »

let us also not forget the ordianary thousends of irish guys who are not so well known but also fought for the british during WW2 , afterwards in such conflicts as suez ,aden etc and serve up to the present day

Why?

cp251

All aircrew jobs including WSO most of which are NCOs require British since birth or dual nationality, same as pilot. So unless you were born in Northern Ireland, no Irish need apply.

However, to my knowledge. There is some flexibility particularly with prior service and residency in the UK. But as things stand you cannot fly for the RAF anymore as an Irish citizen.

It's a pity but there you are.

Latchy

Snickers Man wrote: »

Why?

Ah why not ..

Captain Chaos

gatecrash wrote: »

I thought RIO was a USN term rather than an American term. Don't the USAF use WSO?

The USAF use the WSO term for the back seater in the F-15Es.

In the USN it has changed with the introduction of the F/A-18Fs replacing the F-14s. In the F-14s they were called RIOs as it more accurately described their task at least in the A models. Now in the SuperBug F they are WSOs.

Snickers Man

latchyco wrote: »

Ah why not ..

What I meant was do you want to remember them the way the Americans remember John Walker Lindh (traitorous bastard lock him up for 20 years) or the way Christy Moore remembers the Irishmen who joined the Republican anti-Franco forces in the Spanish Civil War, Viva La Quinte Brigada and all that?

Latchy

Snickers Man wrote: »

What I meant was do you want to remember them the way the Americans remember John Walker Lindh (traitorous bastard lock him up for 20 years) or the way Christy Moore remembers the Irishmen who joined the Republican anti-Franco forces in the Spanish Civil War, Viva La Quinte Brigada and all that?

Well that depends if your calling all the irishmen who joined the British Armed Forces traitors ? .I think we need to remember them in the same way as any scotman welshman or englisman is remembered in rememberence parades.Think it's a bit farcical that until the deaths in the Lebanon of irish un personell ,ireland only rememberd 9 deaths from those who died in the congo.
How many died serving under the british flag ?

If you look in the military threads on this forum ie ' poppy day parade/ irish neutrality etc you will see that topic has being disscussed in detail ,but i am of the opinon that it was a personell decision that these men joined up regardless of weather it was the BA/N/RAF or any other armed forces .Many have joined the US forces to. I wonder would some people consider them traitors ?

Steyr

latchyco wrote: »

Many have joined the US forces to. I wonder would some people consider them traitors ?

Oh no sure its America we love them:rolleyes: Heres a tip lads, lose the anti British sheite, get over it and move on that was the past, leave it there where it belongs, they are our closest neighbour and a huge nation that we trade with on a daily basis. They apologised for NI so leave it.

purple'n'gold

Steyr wrote: »

Oh no sure its America we love them:rolleyes: Heres a tip lads, lose the anti British sheite, get over it and move on that was the past, leave it there where it belongs, they are our closest neighbour and a huge nation that we trade with on a daily basis. They apologised for NI so leave it.

Well said.

Snickers Man

latchyco wrote: »

Well that depends if your calling all the irishmen who joined the British Armed Forces traitors ?

Well that was what I was asking you. You were the one who said "let's not forget them".

Trouble is, there are many different ways of "remembering" the past. I gave two extreme examples in my earlier post. If you call for people to "remember" things from one perspective, then you have to be prepared for other people to consider the same incident from an alternative perspective.

So don't wish too hard for what you want. You might just get it.

And incidentally, the two incidents you mentioned, Aden and Suez, are episodes that even the British are not too proud of any more. The latter incident caused a prime minister to resign, remember.

So it's not "Anti British ****e" to be a little skeptical about any glorification of those campaigns.

Latchy

QUOTE=Steyr;54704204]Oh no sure its America we love them:rolleyes:

Yeah, Otherwise so many woudent have applied for the green card to get there ,and didn't we all love dallas ? :rolleyes:

Heres a tip lads, lose the anti British sheite, get over it and move on that was the past, leave it there where it belongs, they are our closest neighbour and a huge nation that we trade with on a daily basis. They apologised for NI so leave it.

My sentiments

cp251

Don't feed the troll:rolleyes:

Latchy

Snickers Man wrote: »

Well that was what I was asking you. You were the one who said "let's not forget them".

Well it seems you have to be a Bob Geldof ,Bono or a Paddy Finiucanne to get some sort of recognition outside ireland .I was thinking of the many ordianary irishmen who fought and died in military service abroad .You will never get the first two above attending an military rememberence service.

Trouble is, there are many different ways of "remembering" the past. I gave two extreme examples in my earlier post. If you call for people to "remember" things from one perspective, then you have to be prepared for other people to consider the same incident from an alternative perspective

There always was two sides of the fence. An example would an irish person who has lived on the island of ireland all /most his life and those that dont .Somtimes it's easier to have a different perspective outside your own original community/culture which you were born into and somtimes the two meet up and even agree on certin things.

So don't wish too hard for what you want. You might just get it.

?

And incidentally, the two incidents you mentioned, Aden and Suez, are episodes that even the British are not too proud of any more. The latter incident caused a prime minister to resign, remember.

So it's not "Anti British ****e" to be a little skeptical about any glorification of those campaigns.

Anthony Eden if i remember ? but yes i take your point.If you look back another poster (remmy) who mentioned the flying irish ace .... ........ and i put a name to it as the famous RAF irishman but was just pointing out the many others who did not get any recognition except at the rememberence parades in London and the more recent one in Belgium which is incidently attended by the irish president .

DublinWriter

Remmy wrote: »

uk citizen?ah nuts!thinking it was like that alright.What about that irish chap in the RAF during the battle of britain?Can't think of it.anyone know who I'm on about?:D

Spitfire ace Paddy Finnucane. Re-wrote the rules on aerial combat and established his own flight-school within the RAF. Churchill mentioned him several times in debates in the House of Commons. Absolute legend and died aged 21.

AFAIK, Irish can apply to arms of the UK defense forces and police, but posts within MI5/MI6/GCHQ are strictly limited to UK born residents and are tightly vetted.

Remmy

Thanks guys eventually found it in the RAF website for a pilot.

Nationality: British citizen since birth or holder of dual British/other nationality.

If you cant join the RAF, why not apply for the AAC? While you dont fly as much as the RAF, there are plenty of nifty toys to play with (AH-64, Lynx).

bunny shooter

"Taking the Queens shilling" in certain circles

Snickers Man

latchyco wrote: »

somtimes the two meet up and even agree on certin things.

Indeed. Or they could agree to differ amicably and respectfully.

Who's the muppet who called this trolling?

latchyco wrote:

I.. was just pointing out the many others who did not get any recognition except at the rememberence parades in London and the more recent one in Belgium which is incidently attended by the irish president .

I'm going to duck out of this now because it is off topic (how do you get to fly Tornados if you're Irish) but I just want to say that I absolutely think that Irish people should be AWARE of our compatriots who fought in other armies and to be able to draw their own conclusions about why they did so and to what extent they should be praised.

I just don't like to fall in with any cosy consensus, which is often based on a highly edited understanding of what went on.

cp251

Muppet or no I know a troll when I seen one. An internet staple the troll. For what it's worth, your viewpoint is essentially the cosy consensus. It's only in recent years that we Irish could even admit that serving in the British forces was not the act of a traitor.:rolleyes:

The British AAC will take Irish citizens. You can go in as an officer to the AAC but you have to spend time ground pounding before flight training. Or you can enlist in the AAC and go for flying selection as an NCO pilot. It's not a direct route as they prefer their pilots to be soldiers first and pilots second. But apparently being an NCO or Warrant Officer pilot is the best job because unlike officers there is no secondary desk job to do on your downtime.;)

Remmy

Ah sound man cp251!apache's nice!:D
So the AAC is the airforce inside the british army and the RAF is a seperate entity?just trying to clear it up.
cheers

Steyr

bunny shooter wrote: »

"Taking the Queens shilling" in certain circles

Never heard that one before..besides who honestly cares? A job is a Job and were all going to end up in a hole in the ground in a box one way or another and Britain is a part of the EU just like us so essentially we are all family and the way things are going in Europe it seems one day or another we will all be Governed by Brussels.


OP best of luck whatever you do.

bunny shooter

Lots of Irish, myself included, British Civil Service for 2 x years, have taken that shilling, and only for it the country would have been in deep sh..t.

bunny shooter

bunny shooter wrote: »

Lots of Irish, myself included, British Civil Service for 2 x years, have taken that shilling, and only for it the country would have been in deep sh..t.

I myself am having a little jaunt over to Engerland in January on behalf of the Queen to see if Ruledbyjames is the material she wants to lead her men into battle!

Having said that, most people who talk sh1t to me about it are a bunch of feckless idiots who never served a day making this country safer/a better place to live.

Best of luck OP!

Remmy

Remmy wrote: »

Ah sound man cp251!apache's nice!:D
So the AAC is the airforce inside the british army and the RAF is a seperate entity?just trying to clear it up.
cheers

The Army Air Corps is seperate to the RAF. They fly Lynx and Apache helis for the most part. There are no fast jets. The AAC have roughly 60 odd AH-64's and over 100 Lynxs. There are other rotary aircraft but not in the same number. If you join up, the minimum term for an Officer is 6 years I believe.

Steyr

Deleted User wrote: »

The Army Air Corps is seperate to the RAF. They fly Lynx and Apache helis for the most part. There are no fast jets. The AAC have roughly 60 odd AH-64's and over 100 Lynxs. There are other rotary aircraft but not in the same number. If you join up, the minimum term for an Officer is 6 years I believe.

Dont forget the Gazelles and Islander Aircraft too.

cp251

Indeed it is as James says. Talking to some AAC pilots they have claimed it's one of the best flying services. A lot of low level and a lot of fun to be had. Plus the bonus that Norn Iron is over and you don't have to spend a lot of time buzzing around South Armagh. Years ago one AAC heli got lost and was running out of fuel and had to land at Monaghan barracks:eek:

I applied myself but amazingly was a few months over the age limit. If only I'd thought of it sooner:(

Mick86

cp251 wrote: »

Plus the bonus that Norn Iron is over and you don't have to spend a lot of time buzzing around South Armagh.

Yeah. You can spend a lot of time buzzing around Helmand Province instead.:D

sink

I always wanted to be a fighter pilot when I was a young lad. Would have applied to the RAF but my eyesight deteriorated in my teens which counted me out.

Thing is i'm Irish born lived here all my life and only hold irish nationality, but my father holds dual citizenship and my Grandfather who was Scottish was a fighter pilot with the RAF in WWII. He flew Bristol Blenheims during the battle of Britain, 219 squadron. My Grandmother also served in the WRAF during the war. Since I don't hold British citizenship would I not be eligible as a fighter pilot even consdering my family history? Just curious.

bunny shooter

Deleted User wrote: »

I myself am having a little jaunt over to Engerland in January on behalf of the Queen to see if Ruledbyjames is the material she wants to lead her men into battle!

Having said that, most people who talk sh1t to me about it are a bunch of feckless idiots who never served a day making this country safer/a better place to live.

Best of luck OP!

Jolly good show, old boy, very toffee nosed affair there. Micks might not be popular in that line of work.

Fratton Fred

Don't forget the Fleet Air Arm as well.

Captain Chaos

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Don't forget the Fleet Air Arm as well.

Yeah, they have no fast jets untill they get the F-35B in 2014. The RAF is filling the gaps with GR7 and 9s untill then.

bunny shooter

bunny shooter wrote: »

Jolly good show, old boy, very toffee nosed affair there. Micks might not be popular in that line of work.

Ha! Gave me a bit of a giggle.......

We'll just see how this Mick gets on! I've already had my Army khakis fitted as I'm preparing for many tours in the Raj, taking the fight to those beastly "natives". I'll give Her Majesty your regards!

Remmy

thanks guys real great information off this thread!Im really going to try my best with cadetship in the air corps but if that doesnt pan out i'll look towards the AAC.
Ruledbyjames, what regiment are you thinking of heading into?

At the moment I'm just focusing on getting accepted TBH. Saying that, I'm looking at the Royal Irish or the Rifles!

bunny shooter

Deleted User wrote: »

Ha! Gave me a bit of a giggle.......

We'll just see how this Mick gets on! I've already had my Army khakis fitted as I'm preparing for many tours in the Raj, taking the fight to those beastly "natives". I'll give Her Majesty your regards!

Haven't met her, met Charles (away with fairies) and the late Queen Mother (lovely woman). Tell 'em I was asking for 'em

cp251

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Don't forget the Fleet Air Arm as well.

The Navy have the same citizenship rules. It's a no go area for Irish just like the RAF, sadly.

James, have you considered the Irish Guards? You might as well aim for the top.