RAEME History
The Corps of RAEME has had a short but glorious history. It
was only officially established in 1942 when the repair facilities of the
Ordnance Corps (AAOC) and the Service Corps (RASC) were combined to form the
Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Corps (AEME).
The 1st of December 1942 is generally acknowledged as the
Corps Birthday because this was the date of the Order declaring the creation of
AEME. In 1948 the dedicated performance of the AEME tradesman during
WW2 was recognised by His Majesty King George VI when he granted the Corps the
title “The Royal Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers”.
The Australian Army’s Corps of Royal Australian
Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME) provides maintenance support to the
Australian Army. The Corps provides repair and recovery support for all
equipment operated by the Army, including aircraft and watercraft.
In December 1981 approval was granted in
principal for the Corps to be granted a banner
and in November 1982 His Royal Highness, The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
agreed that the Banner be known as The Prince
Philip Banner. The ‘Prince Philip’ Banner was
presented to the Corps on 20 May 1986.
A RAEME soldier is known as a ‘Craftsman’. RAEME
Craftsmen repair and maintain equipment as diverse as tanks, trucks and armoured
personnel carriers, helicopters, radios, radars and computers, artillery guns
and missile systems. Among the wide range of trades available in the Corps are
vehicle mechanics, electronics technicians, aircraft technicians and armament
fitters.
For the purposes of identification in military radio parlance, RAEME personnel
are referred to as ‘Bluebells’. A RAEME Craftsman is affectionately
known as a ‘Crafty’ – only because of the ‘Oz’ military trait of abbreviating
everything, not because he is! (If that were the case, Crafties might be quite
rightly known as Genies, as that would be an appropriate abbreviation of
ingenious.
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