Air Force Act 1955

PART IEnlistment and Terms of Service

Enlistment

1Recruiting officers

The following persons may enlist recruits in the regular air force and are in this Act referred to as recruiting officers, that is to say,—

(a)whether within or without Her Majesty's dominions, any officer authorised under regulations of the Air Council,

(b)in a colony, any person authorised by the Governor of the colony,

(c)outside Her Majesty's dominions, any British consul-general, consul or vice-consul, and any person duly exercising the authority of a British consul.

2Enlistment

(1)A person offering to enlist in the regular air force shall be given a notice in the prescribed form setting out the questions to be answered on attestation and stating the general conditions of the engagement to be entered into by him; and a recruiting officer shall not enlist any person in the regular air force unless satisfied by that person that he has been given such a notice, understands it and wishes to be enlisted.

(2)The procedure for enlisting a person in the regular air force shall be that set out in the First Schedule to this Act.

(3)A recruiting officer shall not enlist a person under the minimum age for man's service unless consent to the enlistment has been given in writing—

(a)if the person offering to enlist is living with both or one of his parents, by the parents or parent;

(b)if he is not living with both or one of his parents, but any person (whether a parent or not) whose whereabouts are known or can after reasonable enquiry be ascertained has parental rights and powers in respect of him, by that person ;

(c)if there is no such person as is mentioned in paragraph (b) of this subsection or if after reasonable enquiry it cannot be ascertained whether there is any such person, by any person in whose care (whether in law or in fact) the person offering to enlist may fee.

(4)Where the recruiting officer is satisfied, by the production of a certified copy of an entry in the register of births or by any other evidence appearing to him to be sufficient, that a person offering to enlist has or has not attained the minimum age for man's service, that person shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have attained, or as the case may be, not to have attained, that age.

A document purporting to be a certificate signed by the recruiting officer, stating that he is satisfied as aforesaid, shall be sufficient evidence, until the contrary is proved, that he is so satisfied.

(5)In this Part of this Act the expression " minimum age for man's service " means the age of seventeen years and six months, except that in such classes of case as may be prescribed it means the age of seventeen years.

Enlistment for general or corps service

3Enlistment for general or corps service

Recruits may, in pursuance of regulations of the Air Council under this Part of this Act, be enlisted for service in particular corps, but save as may be provided by such regulations recruits shall be enlisted for general service.

Terms and conditions of service

4Terms of enlistment

(1)The term for which a person enlisting in the regular air force may be enlisted shall be such term, beginning with the date of his attestation, as is mentioned in the next following subsection.

(2)The said term shall be—

(a)where the person to be enlisted has attained the minimum age for man's service, such term not exceeding twelve years as may be prescribed, and

(b)where he has not attained the minimum age for man's service, a term ending with the expiration of such period, not exceeding twelve years, beginning with the date on which he attains the age of eighteen years, as may be prescribed,

and shall be either a term of air-force service or a term being as to such part thereof as may be prescribed a term of air-force service and as to the remainder a term of service in the reserve.

5Change of conditions of service by extension of term or of air-force service

(1)Where a person in air-force service who enlisted for a term ending before the expiration of the period of twelve years beginning with the relevant date makes a written application in that behalf to the competent air-force authority and the authority consent, then on his making such a declaration before his commanding officer as may be prescribed, the term for which he enlisted may be extended so as to end at such time, not later than the expiration of the said period, as may be specified in the application and so as to increase the period of his air-force service, his service in the reserve, or both, as may be so specified.

(2)In this section the expression " the relevant date " means—

(a)if the said person enlisted after attaining the minimum age for man's service, the date of his attestation ;

(b)if he enlisted before attaining that age, the date of his attaining the age of eighteen years.

(3)Where the term for which a person in air-force service enlisted, or that term as extended under subsection (1) of this section, includes a period of service in the reserve and he makes a written application in that behalf to the competent air-force authority, his period of air-force service may with the consent of that authority be increased, according as may be specified in the application, so as to extend to the whole or a specified part of the first-mentioned period.

6Change of conditions of service by transfer to or from the reserve

(1)Where a person in air-force service makes a written application in that behalf to the competent air-force authority he may with the consent of that authority be transferred to the reserve with liability to serve therein until the expiration of the term for which he enlisted (including any extension thereof under subsection (1) of the last foregoing section).

(2)Where a person in the reserve makes a written application in that behalf to the competent air-force authority he may, with the consent of that authority, re-enter upon air-force service for such term as may be specified in the application, being a term ending not earlier than the term for which he enlisted nor later than the expiration of the period of twelve years beginning with the relevant date.

(3)In this section the expression " the relevant date" has the same meaning as in the last foregoing section.

7Re-engagement

(1)Where a person in air-force service has completed four years' service from the date of his attestation or (if he enlisted before attaining the minimum age for man's service) the date of his attaining the age of eighteen years, and makes an application in that behalf to the competent air-force authority, he may, with the consent of that authority and on making such a declaration before his commanding officer as may be prescribed, be re-engaged—

(a)for a further period of air-force service ending twenty-two years after the said date,

(b)for any shorter period being either a period of air-force service or a period comprising a term of air-force service and a term of service in the reserve; or

(c)for a further period of air-force service ending on the date on which he attains the age of fifty-five years or any lower age.

(2)In relation to a person who, having been re-engaged, is transferred to the reserve under subsection (1) of the last foregoing section, that subsection shall have effect as if for the reference therein to the term for which he enlisted there were substituted a reference to the term for which he was re-engaged or any shorter term.

(3)In reckoning for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section the period of service completed by any person since the date mentioned in that subsection there shall be included any period so served by him in the reserve and, if before his attestation he has at any time served in air-force service as an officer or airman of the regular air force or the reserve, or the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, any period so served by him before his attestation other than—

(a)any period served while undergoing training as an officer or airman of the reserve or the Royal Auxiliary Air Force,

(b)any period served before attaining the age of eighteen years in service in the regular air force as an apprentice or a boy entrant.

Extension of service

8Continuance in service after term of re-engagement

(1)An airman of the regular air force who has been reengaged under the last foregoing section may, at any time during the last twelve months of the period for which he has been so re-engaged, give notice to his commanding officer of his desire to continue in air-force service after the end of that period; and, if the competent air-force authority consent he may, after the end of that period, be continued as an airman of the regular air force in all respects (subject to the next following subsection) as if his term of service were still unexpired.

(2)Where a person is continued in service under this section sections five and six of this Act shall not apply to him but he may claim his discharge at the expiration of any period of three months beginning with the date on which he gives to his commanding officer notice of his wish to be discharged.

9Postponement in certain cases of discharge or transfer to the reserve

(1)Where at the time at which apart from this section an airman of the regular air force would be entitled to 'be discharged, or would fall to be transferred to the reserve, a state of war exists between Her Majesty and any foreign power, or men of the reserve are called out on permanent service, or he is serving outside the United Kingdom, he may be retained in air-force service for such period as is hereinafter mentioned and his service may be prolonged accordingly.

(2)No person shall be retained in air-force service by virtue of this section later than the expiration of twelve months after the date on which apart from this section he would be entitled to be discharged.

(3)Subject to the provisions of the last foregoing subsection, a person who apart from this section would be entitled to be discharged may be retained in air-force service for such period as the competent air-force authority may order.

(4)Subject as aforesaid, a person who apart from this section would fall to be transferred to the reserve may be retained in air-force service for such period, ending not later than twelve months after the date on which apart from this section he would fall to be transferred to the reserve, as the competent air-force authority may order or for any period or further period during which men of the reserve continue called out on permanent service.

(5)If while an airman is being retained in air-force service by virtue of this section it appears to the competent air-force authority that his services can be dispensed with, he shall be entitled to be discharged or transferred to the reserve as the case may require.

(6)Where, at the time at which under the foregoing provisions of this section an airman is entitled to be discharged or transferred to the reserve, a state of war exists between Her Majesty and any foreign power, he may, by declaration made in the prescribed form before his commanding officer, agree to continue in air-force service while such a state of war exists; and if the competent air-force authority approve he may continue accordingly as if the period for which his term of service could be prolonged under the foregoing provisions of this section were a period continuing so long as a state of war exists:

Provided that if it is so specified in the declaration he shall be entitled to be discharged or transferred to the reserve, as the case may require, at the expiration of three months' notice given by him to his commanding officer.

(7)In relation to airmen serving outside the United Kingdom, references in this section to being entitled to be transferred to the reserve shall be construed as references to being entitled to be sent to the United Kingdom with all convenient speed for the purpose of being transferred to the reserve.

10Continuation of air-force service in imminent national danger

(1)In the case of imminent national danger or of great emergency Her Majesty in Council may by proclamation order that airmen who would otherwise fall to be transferred to the reserve .shall continue in air-force service; and thereupon the last foregoing section shall apply to such airmen as it applies while men of the reserve are called out on permanent service.

(2)Any such proclamation may enable the Air Council from time to time to give, and when given to revoke or vary, such directions as may seem to them necessary or expedient for causing all or any of the airmen mentioned in the proclamation to continue in air-force service.

(3)The danger or emergency which is the occasion of a proclamation under this section shall, if Parliament is then sitting, be communicated to Parliament before the proclamation is issued, and shall if Parliament is not then sitting be declared in the proclamation.

Discharge and transfer to reserve

11Discharge

(1)Save as hereinafter provided every airman of the regular air force, upon becoming entitled to be discharged, shall be discharged with all convenient speed but until discharged shall remain subject to air-force law.

(2)Where an airman of the regular air force enlisted in the United Kingdom is, when entitled to be discharged, serving out of the United Kingdom then—

(a)if he requires to be discharged in the United Kingdom, he shall be sent there free of cost with all convenient speed and shall be discharged on his arrival there or, if he consents to his discharge being delayed, within six months from his arrival; but

(b)if at his request he is discharged at the place where he is serving he shall have no claim to be sent to the United Kingdom or elsewhere.

(3)Except in pursuance of the sentence of a court-martial (whether under this Act, the Naval Discipline Act or the Army Act, 1955), an airman of the regular air force shall not be discharged unless his discharge has been authorised by order of the competent air-force authority or by authority direct from Her Majesty; and in any case the discharge of an airman of the regular air force shall be carried out in accordance with Queen's Regulations.

(4)Every airman of the regular air force shall on his discharge be given a certificate of discharge containing such particulars as may be prescribed.

(5)An airman of the regular air force who is discharged in the United Kingdom shall fee entitled to fee conveyed free of cost from the place where he is discharged to the place stated in his attestation paper to be the place where he was attested or to any place at which he intends to reside and to which he can be conveyed with no greater cost.

12Transfer to the reserve

(1)Every airman of the regular air force upon falling to be transferred to the reserve shall be transferred to the reserve but until so transferred shall remain subject to air-force law.

(2)Where an airman of the regular air force, when falling to be transferred to the reserve, is serving out of the United Kingdom, he shall be sent to the United Kingdom free of cost with all convenient speed and shall be transferred to the reserve on his arrival there, or if he consents to his transfer being delayed, within six months from his arrival:

Provided that if he so requests he may be transferred to the reserve without being required to return to the United Kingdom.

(3)An airman who is transferred to the reserve in the United Kingdom shall be entitled to fee conveyed free of cost from the place where he is transferred to the place stated in his attestation paper to be the place where he was attested or to any place at which he intends to reside and to which he can be conveyed with no greater cost:

Provided that he shall not be entitled to be conveyed to any place outside the United Kingdom.

13Postponement of discharge or transfer pending proceedings for offences

(1)Notwithstanding anything in this Part of this Act, an airman of the regular air force shall not be entitled to be discharged or transferred to the reserve at a time when he has become liable, as a person subject to air-force law, the Naval Discipline Act or military law, to be proceeded against for an offence against any of the provisions of this Act, the Naval Discipline Act or the Army Act, 1955:

Provided that if it is determined that the offence shall not be tried by court-martial this subsection shall cease to apply.

(2)Notwithstanding anything in this Part of this Act, an airman of the regular air force who is outside the United Kingdom and serving a sentence of imprisonment or detention awarded by a court-martial under this Act, the Naval Discipline Act or the Army Act, 1955, shall not be entitled to be discharged or transferred to the reserve during the currency of the sentence.

14Right of recruit to purchase discharge

(1)A recruit shall be entitled to claim his discharge at any time within three months after the date of his attestation, and if he makes such a claim he shall on payment of a sum not exceeding twenty pounds be discharged with all convenient speed:

Provided that if the claim is made at a time when airmen are required by a proclamation under section ten of this Act to continue in air-force service, he shall not be entitled to be discharged so long as they are so required to continue in air-force service.

(2)In this section the expression " recruit" means a person enlisted in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act who has not been previously so enlisted.

15Right of warrant officer to discharge on reduction to ranks

A warrant officer of the regular air force who is reduced to the ranks may thereupon claim to be discharged unless a state of war exists between Her Majesty and any foreign power or men of the reserve are called out on permanent service.

16Discharge of airmen of unsound mind

(1)Where it appears to the Air Council or any officer deputed by them that an airman of the regular air force is—

(a)a dangerous person of unsound mind; or

(b)a person of unsound mind requiring treatment in a mental hospital and having no relative who claims to take charge of him ; or

(c)a person of unsound mind having no relative willing to take charge of him,

the Air Council or officer deputed by them may if they or he think proper cause the airman on his discharge to be received in a mental hospital in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

(2)Where the airman has a home in Great Britain, the Regional Hospital Board for the area in which his home is situated shall, on request made by the Air Council or officer deputed by them, forthwith designate a mental hospital in their area, and the Air Council or officer shall by order direct that the airman shall be received into that hospital.

(3)Where the airman has a home in Northern Ireland—

(a)the secretary or other officer of the Northern Ireland Hospitals Authority shall, on request made by the Air Council or officer deputed by them, forthwith designate a mental hospital in Northern Ireland, and the Air Council or officer deputed by them shall by order direct that the airman shall be received into that hospital; and

(b)the Air Council or officer deputed by them shall, if the case so requires, inform the welfare authority and that authority shall take such steps as may in their Opinion be necessary to secure the welfare of the wife and children of the airman.

(4)An order made under subsection (2) of this section shall have the like effect, and the like proceedings shall be taken thereon, as if it were an order made under section sixteen of the Lunacy Act, 1890, or in Scotland an order of the sheriff made under section fourteen, or in the case of an airman being a dangerous person of unsound mind, section fifteen, of the Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1862; and an order under paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of this section shall have the like effect, and the like proceedings shall be taken thereon, as if it were an order made by a judicial authority under section ten of the Mental Health Act (Northern Ireland), 1948.

(5)Any question arising under this section whether, and if so where, a person has a home in Great Britain or Northern Ireland shall be decided by the Air Council or an officer deputed by them, and for the purposes of this section a person with no home in Great Britain or Northern Ireland may be treated as if he had a home in such area as may be determined by the Air Council or an officer deputed by them.

Miscellaneous and supplementary provisions

17Forfeiture of service for desertion and restoration of forfeited service

(1)Where an airman of the regular air force is convicted of desertion by court-martial, the period of his service as respects which he is convicted of having been a deserter shall be forfeited.

(2)Where any of an airman's service is forfeited the provisions of this Part of this Act (except those relating to discharge by purchase) shall apply to him, and he shall be liable to serve, in like manner as if the appropriate date were the date of his attestation and he had, on the appropriate date, been duly enlisted to serve for the like term (both as respects duration and as respects liability to air-force service and any liability to serve in the reserve) as that for which he was in fact serving at the date of his conviction:

Provided that where at the date of his conviction the airman was serving a term ending with the expiration of a period beginning with the date of his attaining the age of eighteen years and he had attained that age when he was convicted (whether or not he had attained it when the offence was committed) the duration of the term for which he is liable to serve shall be equal to that period and the time for which he is required to serve in air-force service shall be reduced accordingly.

(3)In the last foregoing subsection the expression " the appropriate date "—

(a)if in consequence of subsection (1) of this section and an award of the court-martial under Part II of this Act the whole of his previous service is forfeited, means the date of his conviction;

(b)if in consequence of the said subsection (1) or that subsection and an award of the court-martial part only of his previous service is forfeited, means a date earlier than the date of his conviction by the length of service not forfeited.

(4)The Air Council may by regulations make provision for the restoration in whole or in part of any forfeited service to an airman in consideration of good service or on other grounds justifying the restoration ; and any service restored to an airman under this subsection shall be credited to him for the purpose of determining for the purposes of this Act the amount of service, air-force service, or service in the reserve, as the case may require, which he has served or is liable to serve.

(5)Nothing in this section shall require a person who has been re-engaged under section seven of this Act for a period ending on the date on which he attains a specified age to serve for any period after that date.

18Validity of attestation and enlistment

(1)Where a person has signed the declaration required by the First Schedule to this Act, and has thereafter received pay as an airman of the regular air force,—

(a)the validity of his enlistment shall not be called in question on the ground of any error or omission in his attestation paper;

(b)if within three months from the date on which he signed the said declaration he claims that his enlistment is invalid by reason of any non-compliance with the requirements of this Act as to enlistment or attestation, or any other ground whatsoever (not being an error or omission in his attestation paper) on which apart from this subsection the validity of his enlistment could have been called in question, the claim shall be submitted as soon as may be to the Air Council, and if the claim is well founded the Air Council shall cause him to be discharged with all convenient speed ;

(c)subject to the (provisions of the last foregoing paragraph, he shall be deemed as from the expiration of the said three months to have been validly enlisted notwithstanding any such non-compliance or other grounds as aforesaid;

(d)notwithstanding any such non-compliance or other grounds as aforesaid, or the making of a claim in pursuance of paragraph (b) of this subsection, he shall be deemed to be an airman of the regular air force until his discharge.

In the case of a person who when he signed the said declaration had not attained the minimum age for man's service, paragraph (b) of this subsection shall have effect as if for the words " he claims" there were substituted the words " he, or any person whose consent to the enlistment was required under subsection (3) of section two of this Act but who did not duly consent, claims ".

(2)Where a person has received pay as an airman of the regular air force without having previously signed the declaration required by the First Schedule to this Act, then—

(a)he shall be deemed to be an airman of the regular air force until discharged;

(b)he may claim his discharge at any time, and if he does so the claim shall be submitted as soon as may be to the Air Council, who shall cause him to be discharged with all convenient speed.

(3)Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall be construed as prejudicing the determination of any question as to the term for which a person was enlisted or as preventing the discharge of a person who has not claimed his discharge.

19False answers in attestation paper

(1)If a person appearing before a recruiting officer for the purpose of being attested knowingly makes a false answer to any question contained in the attestation paper and put to him by or by the direction of the recruiting officer, he shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(2)For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that a person may be proceeded against under this section notwithstanding that he has since become subject to air-force law.

20Special provisions as to National Service men

(1)The following provisions of this Part of this Act shall not apply to persons enlisted in pursuance of the National Service Act, 1948, that is to say, sections four to six, section thirteen, section seventeen and subsection (2) of section eighteen ; and section nine of this Act shall not apply to such persons by reason only that they are serving outside the United Kingdom.

(2)Where a person enlisted in pursuance of the National Service Act, 1948, having been discharged from that enlistment before the end of his term of whole-time service under that Act for the purpose of entering on a regular engagement, enters on such an engagement at a time when he has not attained the age of twenty-one, the competent air-force authority shall give to the said person's next of kin a notification in the prescribed form stating that the said person has volunteered for a regular engagement and explaining the effect of the next following subsection.

(3)Within twenty-eight days of the giving of a notification under the last foregoing subsection, any person entitled under the provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act to object to the said engagement may object thereto by notice in writing given to the prescribed air-force authority; and if such an objection is duly made the person to whom the objection relates shall be deemed not to have been discharged from his enlistment in pursuance of the National Service Act, 1948, or to have entered on the said regular engagement, but to have continued to serve under that enlistment.

(4)Any notification or notice under this section may be given by post.

(5)In this section the expression " next of kin ", in relation to any person, means the person recorded as his next of kin in pursuance of the requirements as to records applying to airmen of the regular air force, and references to entry on a regular engagement are references to being enlisted for any such term as is mentioned in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section four of this Act.

21Service of aliens in regular air force

(1)Subject to the provisions of the two next following subsections the number of aliens who at any one time are serving (whether as officers or airmen) in the regular air force shall not exceed one-fiftieth of the aggregate number at that time of that force.

(2)In reckoning the number of aliens serving as aforesaid there shall be excluded persons enlisted outside the United Kingdom and serving in such units (if any) as may be prescribed, and officers serving in such units.

(3)The Air Council may by regulations provide that at any time at which a state of war exists between Her Majesty and any foreign power or while men of the reserve are called out on permanent service subsection (1) of this section shall have effect with the substitution for one-fiftieth of such other fraction as may be specified in the regulations.

(4)Nothing in section three of the Act of Settlement (which provides among other things that aliens are incapable of holding certain offices or places of trust) shall apply to an office or place of trust in the regular air force so long as the limit having effect under the foregoing provisions of this section is not exceeded.

(5)The Air Council may by regulations provide that in such cases as may be prescribed by the regulations it shall not be necessary to administer the oath of allegiance to an alien on his enlistment; and in relation to cases so prescribed this Act shall have effect with the omission of references to the administration and taking of the oath of allegiance,

22Regulations as to enlistment

The Air Council may make such regulations as appear to them necessary or expedient for the purposes of, or in connection with, the enlistment of recruits for the regular air force and generally for carrying this Part of this Act into effect.

23Interpretation

(1)In this Part of this Act:—

• " competent air-force authority " means the Air Council or any prescribed officer ;

• " date of attestation ", in relation to any person, means the date on which he signs the declaration and takes the oath mentioned in paragraph 3 of the First Schedule to this Act;

• " minimum age for man's service " has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (5) of section two of this-Act;

• " prescribed " means prescribed by regulations made under this Part of this Act;

• " recruiting officer " has the meaning assigned to it by section one of this Act;

• " reserve " means the air force reserve.

(2)References in this Part of this Act to airmen shall include references to warrant officers and to non-commissioned officers.