Royal Air Force

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Records

The Lists were initially published on a monthly basis. Currently available (at April 2012) are
  • 1919 February-August, November, December
  • 1938 January-September, November, December
  • 1939 January (catalogued 1929), February-December
  • 1940 February-June, August, October, December
  • 1941-1943 January, March, May, July, September, November
  • 1944 January, March, May, July, October
  • 1945 January, April, July.
  • Royal Air Force Muster Roll 1918 held on subscription website findmypast (See external links section).
  • RAF Records Office for personnel enquiries can be contacted at:
RAF Disclosures
Room 221b
Trenchard Hall
RAF Cranwell
Sleaford
Lincolnshire
NG34 8HB
Telephone 01400 261201
a. Extension: 8161/8159 for Officers
b. Extension: 8163/8168 for Other Ranks
See the web page Requests for personal data and Service records (gov.uk) for forms to download. Veterans:UK
Also refer to the equivalent section on the Fibiwiki page British Army for some hints which possibly also apply to Royal Air Force records such as requesting FULL records.
  • The Royal Air Force Museum, London, refer External links below, holds some records including First World War Casualty Cards, which extend to 1928 and cover all theatres of operations. It is intended to digitise these records.

Also see

31 Squadron Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force

31 Squadron, formed in 1915, was the first operational military unit in Indian skies. During the First World War it was operational in the North West Frontier region of India . During the Second World War it saw action in Iraq and Burma. [1]

North West Frontier

India’s North-West Frontier (now modern-day Pakistan) was divided into three areas for the RAF. The northern area comprised the region to the north of the Khyber Pass up to the foothills of the Himalayas – referred to as the ‘Roof of the World.’ The second or central area lay south west of the Khyber Pass roughly between the rivers Kabul and Kurram. This was universally mountainous, criss-crossed by deep valleys and dried up water courses. The third region was the southern area which lay to the south west of Kohat, from the Kurram River down towards Fort Sandeman and Baluchistan. This was dominated by Waziristan, the storm centre of the frontier and stronghold of tribal resistance.[2]

Also see North West Frontier Campaigns

RAF Chaklala

RAF Chaklala was located in part of Rawalpindi. During World War 2, from 1942 RAF Chaklala was the location of a Paratroopers Training School[3]

External links

This collision is the subject of this article by DN Singh July 25, 2011, which appears to use details from the report by Matthew J Poole. The article briefly mentions the Air Fighting Training Unit - 228 Group and the Tactical & Weapons Development Unit based at Amarda Road, Orissa and the names of surrounding airfields- Dalbhumgarh, Dudhkundi, Salua, Digri, Salbani and Chakulia

Individuals

  • Charles Frederick Langley (born 1889). He was in India 1920-23 with the Royal Air Force. His final posting was the RAF base at Risalpur, the new home for 27 Squadron. He was in charge of the base’s three pigeon lofts containing several hundred birds and one of his jobs was to teach the pilots how to handle and release the homing pigeons from the aircraft.[4]
  • John G Walser MC was in India from 1922 to the end of 1925 with the Royal Air Force, including a posting to No. 31 Squadron which was stationed at Dardoni, in Waziristan. He wrote letters to his family detailing his experiences[5]
  • Listen to the 1975 Interview with John William Easton, British NCO who served with 1 Wing, RAF at Miranshah Fort, 1928-1930 including contact with T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). Imperial War Museums
  • Memoirs: Malcolm Macdougall. He was posted in January 1938 to 20 A.C. Squadron, Northwest Frontier, where he spent two years at Peshawar and one year at Kohat, with occasional detachments to Miramshah (Miranshah?). In 1941 he was posted to 27 Squadron Risalpur which later went to Singapore and Malaysia, then Ceylon. Website of RAF Cranwell Apprentices Association, 29th Entry.
  • Listen to the 1977 interview with Wilfred Randall Page British aircraftman and photographer served with RAF in GB 1933-1935; served with Photographic Section, 28 Sqdn, RAF at Ambala and in Waziristan, India, 1935-1939 Imperial War Museums
  • Listen to the 2008 interview with Gawain Thomas Alexander 'Gavin’ Douglas , born 1914. British officer served in India, with British and Indian Army, 1935-1940; trained as pilot with RAF in India, 1941-1942; served as flying instructor with RAF in India, 1943-1944, served with 28 and 60 Sqdns, RAF in Burma, 1/1945-5/1945; commanded 34 Sqdn in Burma, 5/1945-10/1945; commanded 28 Sqdn, RAF in Burma and Malaya, 1945- 1946; commanded 152 Sqdn, RAF on North West Frontier of India, 1946-1947 Imperial War Museums.
  • A Story of War Colin Diarmid Campbell Dunford Wood, kept war diaries continuously from early 1939. Initially with the 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment in Waziristan, he later joined the Royal Air Force, flying in Iraq, India and Burma (where he flew the last Hurricane out, before the advancing Japanese) and Europe.
  • The Mumblings of Edward Sparkes Contents page Flt Lt Edward D S N Sparkes was in the RAF and arrived in India in the latter part of 1943 in the chapter Ashore in Bombay. He subsequently joined X Squadron Royal Indian Air Force and served in Burma until he was invalided back to England in 1945.
  • Listen to the 2003 interview with Jack Gabbutt, British NCO photographer served with 681 and 81 Sqdns, RAF in India, Burma, Malaya and Java, 1944-1947 Imperial War Museums
  • Last stop Karachi 1946! by John ‘Dusty’ Miller Part 1, Part 2. He was a driver in the RAF and was in India 1945-1947, his last posting in Karachi. www.qissa-khwani.com.

Historical books online

References

  1. Naval and Military Press publication History Of No.31 Squadron Royal Flying Corps And Royal Air Force in the East from its formation in 1915 to 1950
  2. "“Good God, Sir, Are You Hurt?” The Realities and Perils of Operating over India’s Troublesome North-West Frontier" by Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Roe Air Power Review Volume 14 Number 3 Autumn/Winter 2011 Centre for Air Power Studies, Royal Air Force, page 78 (computer page 89) pdf, html version
  3. Paratroopers Training School indianairforce.nic.in
  4. Charles F Langley D C M and Photographs (retrieved 18 April 2014)
  5. My Father: John G Walser Scroll down for his account of this period. Family website, now archived, (retrieved on 18 April 2014)