Royal Air Force

Records

• Royal Air Force British Library Help for Researchers

• Online Air Force Lists from the collection of the National Library of Scotland on Archive.org

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.

• 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

Also see

• Indian Air Force
• Medals
• Medal Rolls
• North West Frontier Campaigns

31 Squadron Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force

31 Squadron was the first operational military unit in Indian skies

"Upon its foundation, 31 squadron was sent to Bombay for war service in India, flying its first operation in its BE 2C aircraft early in 1916. In 1917, based at Risalpur, it was employed in operations against the Mahsud tribesmen of the north-west Frontier who, urged on by their Mullahs, had risen against the British Raj. The 31st helped put down the revolt by bombing and machine-gunning Mahsud villages and columns. In 1919, after quelling riots by Sikhs around Amritsar, the squadron was employed in Afghanistan where tribesmen had declared a new Jihad against the British. The squadron carried out almost daily bombing attacks, including one raid on the Afghani Amir's palace in his capital Kabul. The bombing helped to demoralise the Afghanis who sued for peace. ‘Peacekeeping' operations with new Bristol aircraft continued sporadically in the troubled north-west region where tribesmen continued their resistance to British rule. In the Second World War, equipped with Valencia and DC2 aircraft, the squadron countered the pro-Axis coup in Iraq in 1941, flying in material and evacuating casualties from Habbaniya airfield. In 1942, following the Japanese entry into the war, it performed the same funcrtion in Burma. Flying Dakota aircraft, 31 helped supply the first and second Chindit expeditions behind enemy lines launched from Imphal by General Orde Wingate. In 1943-44 the squadron maintained its vital supply role in turning back the Japanese offensives in the Arakan area. In the latter stages of the war, 31 was involved in the rescue and repatration of Allied Prisoners of War and Chinese ‘Comfort women' from Japanese captivity."

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.

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

• PAF Chaklala, previously RAF Chaklala. globalsecurity.org
• Parachute training in India by Ted Tegg BBC: WW2 People’s War
• An Account of a Parachute Hang Up during Parachute Training at Chaklala December 1944 paradata.org.uk

External links

• Royal Air Force: Contacts
• reddin68's photostream on flickr.com taken by a member of the 31 Squadron in the NWFP during and after WW1
• Photo Set: 31 Squadron RAF taken by Andy Andrews in 1923/24 in the North West Frontier, including some taken at Dardoni Flickr.com
• Photographs from the collection of Air Vice-Marshal Gerard Combe, at Dardoni on the North West Frontier c 1923 . Imperial War Museum, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• My Father: John G Walser He was in IndiaI 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. Scroll down for his account.
• 31 Squadron RAF raf.mod.uk. This first operational military unit in Indian skies was in action along the North West Frontier from 1916, assisting the army in dealing with tribal unrest. Its BE2c biplanes were employed on artillery observation, reconnaissance and ground attack.
• 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
• RAF on the NW Frontier Circa 1920's part of a thread from britishbadgeforum.com
• Photograph 1928: T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) as Aircraftman T E Shaw on the aerodrome at Miranshah Fort in Waziristan during his service in the Royal Air Force Imperial War Museums. Same photograph Archive 150 on Facebook with comments
• 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
• Photograph: Pack mule at Miranshah Fort, laden with a wireless transmitter set from 20 Squadron RAF (interwar period) Imperial War Museums
• The Bombing of Waziristan (c 1924-1939) by Graham Chandler Air & Space magazine, July 2011
• "“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, pages 61-82 (computer file pages 72-93) pdf, html version
• Air/Ground Cooperation between the RAF and the Indian Army in Waziristan 1936-1937 by Simon Coningham BCMH [British Commission for Military History] Summer Conference 2012–Indian Armies html version, pdf
• No XI Squadron, RAF saw service on India’s Northwest frontier, from 1929, and in Burma from September 1943.
• Film: India, North-West Frontier, 1937. colonialfilm.org.uk. Film shows various military scenes, including numerous scenes of the RAF in action, bombing, shooting and dropping leaflets in Waziristan
• Charles Frederick Langley was in India on the North West Frontier 1920-1923 with the RAF 27 Squadron based at Risalpur. Photographs Family website
• These photographs have subjects which are of a Military nature and were taken by Gordon Gibbons during his tour of duty in the Northwest Frontier of India, now Pakistan, with the RAF from 1937 to 1940. Bob Holland’s Raimpais website. Includes
  • Miranshah Fort, NWF 1939 "Because the fort was subject to continual intermittent sniper fire the aircraft were started up inside the fort and at the last minute the gates were opened and the aircraft took off. Upon return the aircraft had to land outside and quickly taxi up to the gates which were opened just in time for them to enter and then closed again to keep out any natives with bad intentions..."
  • Convoy Miranshah-Bannu road NWF "It was at this gorge that the convoy of 450 personnel were held up for 4 days by deadly accurate sniper fire coming from a cave high up on the cliff face. Finally the C.O. flying dangerously close to the cliff face was able to lob a bomb into the cave and kill the sniper..."
• 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.
• 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
• Mutiny In The RAF- the Air Force Strikes of 1946 by David Duncan. Originally published 1998. socialisthistorysociety.co.uk. The first chapter is titled "Mutiny in Karachi"
• 152(Hyderabad) F Squadron 1939-1967 Served in India from 19th December 1943 as part of Calcutta’s defence and later moved to the front. Disbanded at R.A.F. Risalpur in 1947
• ww2images photostream with "Tags –India" flickr.com Mainly images of aircraft.
• PAF [previously RAF] Peshawar globalsecurity.org

Historical books online

• "An account of the recent operations by the Royal Air Force against certain recalcitrant sections of the Mahsuds in March, April and May, 1925". London Gazette Supplement 20 November 1925.
• The RAF in India in 1930-31 page 30 India in 1930-31 archive.org
• "Report on Operations in Waziristan, 25th November 1936 to 16th January 1937 (1st Phase)" London Gazette Supplement 2 November 1937
• "Report on Operations In Waziristan, 16th January 1937 to 15th September 1937 (Second Phase)" London Gazette Supplement 18 February 1938
• "Report on Operations in Waziristan, 16th September 1937 to 15th December 1937 (Final Phase)" London Gazette Supplement 14 June 1938