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.

• Royal Airforce records online at National Archives. Include officers' service records 1918-1919 and Women's Royal Airforce Service records 1918-1920. Free index search but there is a charge for downloading full record.

• 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

• Indian Air Force
• Medals
• Medal Rolls
• North West Frontier Campaigns
• Second World War

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.

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

• findmypast
• Royal Air Force: Contacts
• Royal Air Force Museum London . The website includes a ‘Research' category, which includes details of a Library collection, which contains a "substantial collection of periodicals produced by RAF stations and units, which provide a fascinating insight into service life" and Archives collection, including First World War Casualty cards (which extend to 1928, and cover all theatres of operation).
• Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation. The Site Map & Main Menu includes details, including units based there, of various RAF Stations worldwide, listed alphabetically. Not all RAF Stations in India are included, but of those available for India, the following is a selection: Agra Ambala Asanol Baigachi Bhopal Chaklala, Rawalpindi Delhi Dum Dum, Calcutta Kohat Kolar Karachi (including Drigh Road) Lahore Mauripur, in the vicinity of Karachi Peshawar Poona Ranchi Risalpur St Thomas Mount Secunderabad Trichinopoly Vizagapatam (retrieved 27 June 2014)
• Flightgobal Archive, the original pages of Flight Magazine from 1909-2005 which are fully searchable. Contains pages relating to “Service Aviation”. (retrieved 18 April 2014)
• 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
• 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.
• "No. 5 Squadron: A History of the “Fighting Fifth”: Part 2" by John Yoxall Flight Magazine 25 October 1957, pages 643-646. Details the Regiment in India from when it was reformed in Quetta February 1, 1920. It subsequently remained on the North West Frontier of India, and Burma during WW2. The history continues "Part 3", 8 November 1957, page 745. The regiment remained in India until July 1947 when the aircraft were handed over to the India Air Force, and was officially disbanded August 1, 1947. flightglobal.com. (retrieved 18 April 2014)
• 27 Squadron, RAF was in India and Burma most of the period 1920 to 1946. raf.mod.uk
• 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.
• 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
• Online Photograph album of views from Iraq, India and Egypt 1932 – 1935 The images relating to India are pages 20- 38. Also one page, 31, On the North West Frontier 1934 from another album. The photographs are thought to have been taken by T Fuller, who, while he was in India, was with 27 Squadron RAF, based at Kohat. Wolfsonian-FIU, (Miami Florida). To enlarge the images, click on "Page Turner".
• 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..."
• 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
• Galleries (photographs) from "Royal Air Force Commands" includes categories "India and the North West Frontier" [1930s] and South East Asia Command (SEAC) [WW2]. (retrieved 27 June 2014)
• ww2images photostream with "Tags –India" flickr.com Mainly images of aircraft.
• PAF [previously RAF] Peshawar globalsecurity.org
• "Few Snapshots from our Aviation History" by Dr Ali Jan August 31, 2009 khyber.org.
• SEAC Liberator Squadrons [WW2] from Robert Quirk’s website. (archive.org link). Covers operations of squadrons based in India.
  • Includes a link to pdf downloads of a report by Matthew J. Poole on the 26 July 1945 aerial collision between two RAF Liberators. (Version 6, 27 November 2008).

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

• With The Royal Air Force In India, [1919] Everyday life for members of 99 (Madras Presidency) Squadron RAF at Ambala, India, June-September 1919. A silent film from Imperial War Museums (retrieved 27 June 2014)

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.
• 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
• 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
• W/O Roy Woodcock was called up in July 1942. Later he was sent to India. Scroll down approximately half way for his account. war-experience.org (retrieved 27 June 2014)
• Recollections of Sgt Mike Hall, India, 1944-46 paradata.org.uk (retrieved 27 June 2014)
• 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

• "War Operations In India" page 268, War in the Air: being the story of the part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force, Volume VI by H A Jones 1937 Archive.org
• "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