CLEM HUNTER – Crime Fiction Writer

In the opening paragraph of Death in Blossom Hill we are introduced to Bartholomew Higgs (Squadron Leader, RAF retd), and for those of you who have no idea of what a Squadron Leader is or the significance of the “retd” in his title here is a little background reading.

Shortly after leaving university in 1976 I was commissioned as an officer in the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) the women’s branch of the regular Royal Air Force, and having had no previous military connections it was quite a culture shock. Since 1994 the WRAF as a separate entity no longer exists, thank goodness! The RAF is now open to both sexes who are subject to the same conditions of service; women can now be pilots, for instance, which wasn’t the case in the WRAF. I remained in the WRAF for five years, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant, during which time I met and married my husband, an RAF pilot, and through him my association with the Service continued for another twenty years.

The RAF, in common with most military services is hierarchical; in that respect nothing has changed. At the top are the ‘Air’ officers, Air Marshals, etc. who formulate policy, then come the ‘Senior’ officers, Group Captains etc. who write out the policy, then ‘Junior’ officers whom nobody takes seriously and who struggle to understand and implement the policy. Below them come the non-commissioned ranks: Flight-sergeants, Corporals and Airmen, the people who actually do the work. A Squadron Leader is the first rung of the Senior officer level. ‘Junior’ officers and all non-commissioned ranks must address him as ‘Sir’ and salute him and he thinks he’s fairly important, but in reality there are still many people more senior to make his life miserable and he will be trying hard to achieve promotion as quickly as possible.

Sqn Ldr Higgs joined the RAF in the 1970’s, probably as a Pilot Officer and was eventually promoted to Squadron Leader but got no further. The RAF back then stood on its traditions where status was revered and strict adherence to certain norms expected; only men were permitted to fly and only men could reach the highest ranks. If a woman in the WRAF became pregnant she had to resign. Homosexuality was outlawed. Often, in those days, wives of Senior officers adopted the privileges associated with their husband’s rank and tended to ‘lord it’ over the junior wives; Pandora Higgs was one such wife. When he retired Higgs chose to retain his title, ‘Sqn Ldr’, imagining that it conferred on him some sort of status, whereas the required emeritus suffix, (ret’d), no longer carried any kudos in civilian life and merely marked him out as a dinosaur who was out of touch with modern mores.

I’m pleased to say that the RAF of today now promotes equal opportunities and LBGT may have no fear. However, Squadron Leader Higgs left the RAF in the 1990’s – before most of the changes came into effect and we find him stuck in the past, his attitudes frozen in time.