I've recieved the service record of an uncle who was killed in WW2 and am piecing together his service.

Pre war he was a TA Sapper and his initial trade was Pioneer Fitter E111.

When war was declared he was called out to serve full time & he was re-mustered as an Engine Articifer Group A Class 111.

My question is, what did these trades entail?

In civilian life he was he was a Mechanical Engineer in a Royal Navy Torpedo Factory.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by oldbaldy

I've recieved the service record of an uncle who was killed in WW2 and am piecing together his service.

Pre war he was a TA Sapper and his initial trade was Pioneer Fitter E111.

When war was declared he was called out to serve full time & he was re-mustered as an Engine Articifer Group A Class 111.

My question is, what did these trades entail?

In civilian life he was he was a Mechanical Engineer in a Royal Navy Torpedo Factory.

Cheers.

Pioneer Fitter Class 3 is a trade where there isn't a slot to fill in a unit as they were over subscribed for in this case Fitter RE.
Historicly other arms trained in RE trades were only given short trade courses ie, Pioneer Bricklayer, Carpenter, Painter etc so I suppose your uncle's trade was ranked as pioneer until a trade slot became available and he probably got a pay increase as well.

Work wise he would have worked on nearly all of the RE Vehicles and Plant, if you have the details of the units that he served in then it would give you a better idea of the sort of thing that the Units specialised in.

Cheers Mac.
I now have another query.
He served in the TA with a Fortress and his Company is listed as 'EL & Works'. I can't work out what 'EL' means.
In 1940 the unit was redesignated as an 'E&M Coy RE' so I'm assuming the 'E' in 'EL' must be electrical.

Originally Posted by oldbaldy

Cheers Mac.
I now have another query.
He served in the TA with a Fortress and his Company is listed as 'EL & Works'. I can't work out what 'EL' means.
In 1940 the unit was redesignated as an 'E&M Coy RE' so I'm assuming the 'E' in 'EL' must be electrical.

This could be Electrical Lighting, the Corps used to have The Corps Lighting Troop based in Berlin.

Originally Posted by re-stilly

This could be Electrical Lighting, the Corps used to have The Corps Lighting Troop based in Berlin.

Hum, Herford, old chap.

They had just about every trade going at one time and even had their own ships

Originally Posted by ugly

They had just about every trade going at one time and even had their own ships

and trains, and Balloons

and trains

Hey, they even had one named after them.....46109 Royal Engineer

and don't forget the carrier pigeon service...