Americans in the RAF

[Chris Goss]

Bit of a strange one about which I have no idea. Those Americans who joined the RAF pre-7 Dec 41, did they have to temporarily relinquish US citizenship and were their rates of pay the same as their British counterparts?

[RSwank]

This does not fully answer your questions, but is of interest:

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/20...yal-air-force/

I don't think any of them "temporarily" gave up US citizenship since for the most part they never said they were Americans, rather they "claimed" to be Canadians, etc.

While nothing is said about pay rates, I would be very surprised if they were paid any differently.

By the time the Eagle Squadrons were being formed the U.S. government had decided to "ignore" the citizenship issue.

https://www.historynet.com/a-few-ame...of-britain.htm

"By the fall of 1940, dozens of Americans, inspired by the widely reported exploits of RAF pilots that summer, were defying American neutrality laws and making their way to Britain. (In 1941, as the first Eagle squadron garnered hugely favorable publicity in the United States, the State Department decided not to prosecute any of the American pilots in the RAF, no doubt for fear of a public outcry but also because isolationist sentiment in the United States was waning.)"

This site (while at the moment seems very slow) has several links also:

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/researc...air-force.aspx

A review of the book "The Few" by Alex Kershaw: https://www.denverpost.com/2006/11/2...-save-britain/

He says they were paid $80 a month.

[Buckeye30]

As an aside these are the 11 US citizens who flew in the BOB. Always been some problems with "Canadian" or "American" titles.
Davis was born in S. Africa to US parents.
Donahue and Fiske claimed to be Canadian to join RAF.
Peterson is on the BOB Monument as Canadian.
Zatonski is on the Alamein Memorial as Canadian; his Polish parents were Canadian citizens.

In addition Hugh W Reilley (born Canada to American father, British mother) had a Canadian passport and listed on the Memorial as Canadian but CWGC as American; his family agreed to regard him as Canadian.
3 died in the BOB and 6 were killed later.
Nick

[Frank Olynyk]

Chris,
I am sure the rates of pay for Americans in the RAF were the same as for any other member of the RAF. This is why many of them switched to the AAF once the USA had entered the war, and provisions for the switch had been made. The AAF rate of pay was noticeably higher than RAF pay (Over Here, Over Sexed, Over Paid).

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Chris Goss]

Thanks all-most enlightening

[Buckeye30]

Americans commissioned into the RAF or RAFVR received the same rates of pay and allowances ( quarters, rations and uniforms) as the British; for some reason the RCAF rates were higher than the RAF and Dominion AFs.

On the other subject the Citizenship Act of 1907 stated that "..any American citizen shall be deemed to have expatriated himself ...when he has taken an oath of allegiance to any foreign state"; ie. to the King when joining the British services. Immediately after the fall of France in 1940 the attitudes changed , the British stating " oaths of allegiance to the Crown were no longer required of American citizens who entered the army or air force". So they could keep their US citizenship ( I suspect few would want to swear anyway).
Regards
Nick

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Nick

[Nick Beale]

Another possible factor. US law stipulates that one may forfeit one’s citizenship by enlisting in the armed forces of another country if you are recruited on US soil. Hence, I suppose the personnel who went to Canada to join up. Also the State Department guidance seems to make some distinction between serving as an officer or NCO rather than in the ranks, even if the nation concerned isn’t engaged in hostilities against the USA. This is all hedged about with a lot of legal verbiage, so I doubt that the question was straightforward.

[Buckeye30]

Hi Nick B. The same law (or version of it) applied at the start of the war ( Sept. 1939 that is) by "forbidding any recruiting within the United States or any territory over which the United States had jurisdiction for service in the armed forces of a foreign government". Hence the efforts to join the RCAF via Canada , but only until Britain was alone after June 1940 when the restrictions of the Neutrality Acts were relaxed somewhat; before that a few US citizens had been turned away at the border including Chesley Peterson.
There were 4 Americans who joined the RAF pre-1939 , one had British citizenship and possibly 2 more who had British parents; the 4th was Carl Davis who was still serving at the start of the BOB. I don't know whether dual-nationality was possible at the time.

Nick