Career Before World War II
In 1930, he went to went to sea as an apprentice with the Clan Line. Like many merchant navy officers Lamb joined the Royal Naval Reserve, appointed a midshipman 31 March 1933, and in December joined the battleship HMS Rodney in the Home Fleet and West Indies for four months' training.
On return to England in 1934, he passed his Board of Trade examinations in London. "When we had passed, our brand new Board of Trade Certificates of Competence were useless. In the depression of the early Thirties there were so many ships laid up that jobs afloat were virtually unobtainable."
Keen to learn to fly, Lamb joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1935 and flew for RAF Coastal Command for three years. The RAF controlled British naval aviation up to 1938. When the Fleet Air Arm was constituted in 1938 Lamb transferred to the Air Branch of the Royal Navy, becoming a sub-lieutenant (aviation) on 13 June 1938 with seniority dated 28 October 1936 He was promoted to lieutenant (aviation) on 28 October 1938. On 27 February 1939 he joined Torpedo Strike Reconnaissance Squadron 822 on the aircraft carrier HMS Courageous in the Home Fleet.
Read more about this topic: Charles Lamb (Royal Navy Officer)
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