Educational Officers - Jack of All Trades

[Dave Homewood]

A little snippet from the EVENING POST, 26 JULY 1944

Jack-of-all Trades.
Educational officers of the R.N.Z.A.F. educational services scheme often find themselves carrying out a multitude of tasks, many of which would not normally be associated with their calling. One such officer on a Pacific station is entertainments officer, officer in charge of the marine section (for the arranging of launch excursions), "O.C. pigs" (with one native boy, one boar, five sows, 12 porkers, and 26 piglets under his control), gardens officer, bar officer, officer-in-charge of technical and recreational libraries, orchestra loader, and deputy personal services officer. All these duties he carries out on top of his routine work of arranging study courses, current affairs discussions, technical and other classes, film services, sports, hobbies, vocational guidance, and preparation for rehabilitation, to mention only a few.

[davidd]

Sounds like a very busy man (and hopefully also an extremely good organizer!) Just kidding, he would just HAVE to be a good organizer, or perhaps nobody else in his unit/station HQ was keen on volunteering outside their areas of interest. A most remarkable list of varied and often unrelated duties.
David D

[Dave Homewood]

I find it amazing how the newspapers during the war seemed to detail all sorts of interesting aspects of RNZAF life back then, with articles like this about various people and trades, and yet they do not seem to ever have covered anything on the Operational Training Units (all four of them) which were all crucial periods in the training of pilots and aircrew members. There's so little on the OTU's.

[camtech]

I guess, Dave, unlike the front line units who were covered by journalists supplying news for those back home, there were no journalists given access to these and many other units of the armed forces.
Like you, I have been frustrated by the lack of coverage of activities within New Zealand. Even aircraft accidents were only given minimal exposure. Sometimes a coroners report in a paper gives more details.

[Dave Homewood]

But I have seen a number of articles about ITW, EFTS, SFTS, No. 1 RD, etc, etc. Just nothing on the OTU's.

[camtech]

Actually, thinking back, you are correct. Nothing on the OTU's.
There were articles on some of the fighter squadrons at Whenuapai, particularly in the Weekly News.

[pjw4118]

Dave , my headmaster at Mt Albert "Nero" Nairn was an RNZAF Ed Off in Auckland in the 1940s and helped many get through their 12 week assignments so they could join the RNZAF . Sadly of the almost 200 Albertians that died in WW11 , some 60% were RAF Bomber Command aircrew.

[Dave Homewood]

Sad.