RAAF Trade Apprentice Nicknames
Intake nicknames were given to the incoming intake of any year by their immediate predecessor intake. Any name could be given but invariably it followed some naming scheme allowing the first letter of the intake name to spell a word down through the years. This naming convention only occurred at RAAF base Wagga.
Hidden Words
Rumour has it that the very original apprentice intakes had intended to spell words with the first letter of each intake. The Anzacs had intended to spell A-R-S-E-H-O-L-E-S in this way but were foiled when the powers that be cottoned on to the scheme. So 4 Intake was changed to Dewdrops. However later in the Apprentice Scheme many 'words' were spelt including T-W-O-T, B-A-L-L-S, S-H-A-G-S, H-O-R-S-E-S, S-P-I-D-E-R-S and S-T-A-L-L-I-O-N-S