[PamsUncleBill]

I wonder if anyone can help me or point me in the right direction? I am putting together a family history book for my family and have got stuck on an uncle. I have the barest of information: DOB, Birth certificate, half a dozen photos, anecdote information - served in RAF WW2.
Photo of him in uniform with RAF uniform and corporal stripes. Information from 1939 Register with his address at outbreak WW2. Further anecdotal information that he was posted to Cambridge to construct dummy airfields around Cottenham (have looked these up and found the farm he was working on with arial photos of cropmarks of runways) and that he was also served in India (possibly Burma campaign)
Unfortunately no service record number - have applied for his service record with the info above but 4-6 month backlog and not sure they will even accept it without service number

I would be happy if I could even find out if he was ground or air crew and if possible which squadron he was assigned to, I mainly use photographic and pictorial information for the family, so that would give me enough chronology and information to put something together.

He did live in Heywood, Lancs in 1939 and is listed as a 'Grocery driver" at age 18, which makes me think he may have enlisted as an early reservist (possibly to get his drivers licence as that was unusual in our family at that time) Heywood did have a large RAF Maintenance Unit at Pilsworth very close by to where he lived.

I would be really grateful for any ideas about where I could go from here?

[Rob P]

For close relatives you used to be entitled to apply to RAF Innsworth, hand over twenty-five quid and get back colour photocopies of both sides of what I presume was actually a large manilla envelope or folder with all the key details of postings and the like neatly, or not neatly, annotated by some humble clerks back in the day. This may have changed (I think it has)

A quick Google brought up this site

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hel ... personnel/

Rob P

[JAFO]

From the photograph, he appears to be groundcrew. Nothing much else obvious, I'm afraid.

I used this to find a relative's service number. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2132

[CloudHound]

Have you tried Ancestry.com?

We found loads of military records, including the “Singed” ones that filled in gaps leading eventually to the Menin Gate.

If you haven’t but need help pm me.

[StratoTramp]

Ditto on ancestry. There is more data added month by month as more people research their own relatives. My mother got quite a lot of information on her uncle Cyril who was shot down over or on the way to Leipzig in a Lancaster.

[Cessna571]

There is a military forum over at pprune.org where questions like this are regularly asked and the depth of knowledge is amazing.

I have an old car that I was told was originally bought by an RAF Pilot in the 60s who had subsequently died in a crash.
I had the car and and a name.

Not only was it confirmed to me he did buy the car, but someone contacted me who had served with him.

For the avoidance of doubt, it is only the military forum at pprune that I would recommend.

[eltonioni]

When Ancestry ends or wants cash for not much in return try https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/ and https://www.fold3.com/

[PamsUncleBill]

Thanks so much everybody,

I have unfortunately drawn blanks with Ancestry, Find my Past, My Heritage and Fold 3 with regards to any military records, although I have been able to locate the civil records. I have applied for the service record (now £30.00) but not sure they will accept the application without the service number.

Another cousin has now located a handful of photographs kept by his brother, dated November 1944 - September 1945 at locations in Ceylon, which is extremely helpful and also quite exciting to have the photographs. One is enigmatically labelled " 183 Wing Ridgeway June 28th 1945" if that happens to mean anything to anybody?

Thanks for the signposting to PPRuNe though, I had not come across their forum and with post a thread there to see if I can get any further.

Many thanks again,
Pam

[Dave W]

No.183 Wing RAF seems to have been a Communications unit, in 1944 based at Ridgeway in Ceylon. Except that "Ridgeway" doesn't seem to be a place, although it is a person (Sir West R) associated with Ceylon!

That Wikipedia entry references this book, by Ken Delve (a respected historian of the RAF) but it would be a punt to spend £40 on it when it might say no more than wiki does!

[JAFO]

I have applied for the service record (now £30.00) but not sure they will accept the application without the service number.

Unless he was Cpl. Smith, J. then you should be able to track his service number down online.

I used this to find a relative's service number. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2132

[StratoTramp]

Maybe let us know how you get on.

Personal touch for remembrance. No pressure of course

[PamsUncleBill]

Have tried National Archives Air 78 with his name (William Humphreys) DOB (10th August 1921) am I doing something stupid? I still get nothing. Two possible service numbers from Forces war records for Padgate 1940 - one of the exciting new photos is of his passing out parade marked 'Padgate Feb 1940'

Have posted over on PPRuNe.org - thanks for that tip.

Really appreciating all suggestions x

[kanga]

.. his name (William Humphreys) DOB (10th August 1921) ..

Many English names have variant spellings. In the era of manual records, errors can be created by clerks or individuals, and then proliferated. It often complicates tasks of historians (including amateur ones like me!). Have you tried Humphrey or Humphries ? Also, do you have a Birth Certificate which might show other forenames: in that era, individuals often used ones other than their official or first official ones. Also again, dates could be transposed by clerks: have you tried 8/10 ie 8 October rather than 10/8 ?

There was a small RAF 'Communications' (Y Service) element at the shore station at HMS Anderson (near Colombo); AFAIK, it was usually known as 'RAF Anderson', but Y Service units often had deliberately obscure 'location' titles, some covering (and deliberately obscuring the fact of) several disparate sites. Most RAF Comms personnel on Ceylon would have been either on the several airfields (including one at the racecourse!) or flying boat bases providing air-ground HF/VHF, or servicing longrange conventional Air-Ground (mostly HF Morse and voice) signals, for which Ceylon was a major relay centre, with powerful transmitters and large receiver sites serving AHQ Ceylon. '183 Wing' might have been any or none of those! AHQ itself would also have had its own Comms personnel operating and maintaining field telephones and offline cipher systems. However, Y Service veterans were quite likely to have been more reticent than others about their wartime service.

Apologies if all this had already occurred to you .. HTH and good luck.

[Dave W]

Two possible service numbers from Forces war records for Padgate 1940 -

Have you put those Service numbers into the London Gazette search?

[JAFO]

@Dave W - isn't the Gazette only likely to have officers?