Description

Description: Squadron Patch – Radio Apprentice School – 1953 to 1961

Condition: Very Good

Comments: Squadron Patch – Radio Apprentice School . 

The Radio Apprentice School was formed at RAAF Frognall in December 1947. No 1 Course (comprising 16 trainees) began training in the first week of February 1948. Formal radio training was undertaken by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and this arrangement continued for the next 26 years. From 1948 until 1960 each new intake of Radio Apprentices undertook a common course; this was the first six months of RMITs Associateship Diploma in Communication Engineering.
Those who passed this common course continued with the Diploma course for a further 2½ years followed by one year at the RAAF School of Radio (RADS) which was then located at Ballarat in Victoria. On successfully completing this four-year training period, apprentices were awarded their Associateship Diplomas. Some were selected for a further years study at RMIT to qualify for a Fellowship Diploma, after which they were commissioned. Those apprentices who failed the six month common course were streamed into RMIT’s Radio and Electronics Technician Certificate course. This was an 18 month course, and those who passed did a further eight months training in applied electronics at RADS before finally graduating. Applies stay in longer logo
In 1961 RADS moved from Ballarat to Laverton. So did the Radio Apprentice School which, on 1 May 1961, was reformed within RADS as Radio Apprentice Squadron.