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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Buckinghamshire => Topic started by: otterlady on Saturday 19 February 11 22:49 GMT (UK)

Title: RAF at Medenham South Bucks.
Post by: otterlady on Saturday 19 February 11 22:49 GMT (UK)

HI MY FATHER WAS STATIONED AT RAF MEDMENHAM DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND I BELIEVE HE WAS A 'BATMAN' WHAT WAS THAT ROLE AND WHO WOULD IT BE FOR. ALSO WHAT DID THEY DO AT THIS BASE AS HE WAS VERY SECRETIVE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED THERE. IN THE MID 50'S HE WAS THEN A CIVILIAN 'BATMAN' WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE?.

MANY THANKS

SHEILA


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Title: Re: RAF AT MEDMENHAM SOUTH BUCKS
Post by: CaroleW on Saturday 19 February 11 23:14 GMT (UK)

A batman is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant

He may have carried on in that role after he left the forces - a sort of butler/personal assistant etc etc

Many batmen stayed with their senior officers in later life (providing the officer was wealthy enough to pay them)

If you Google the term - you will get a range of ideas about the role

Title: Re: RAF AT MEDMENHAM SOUTH BUCKS
Post by: otterlady on Saturday 19 February 11 23:30 GMT (UK)

HI CAROLE :)

THANKS FOR YOUR PROMPT REPLY WOULD LIKE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHERE HE WAS STATIONED BUT WE THINK IT WAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH PHOTOGRAPHIC/INTELLIGENCE

SHEILA

Title: Re: RAF AT MEDMENHAM SOUTH BUCKS
Post by: IMBER on Sunday 20 February 11 08:33 GMT (UK)

You may find this link useful:

http://www.bcmh.org.uk/archive/conferences/WebWomeninWar.pdf

RAF Medmenham was based around Danesfield House, more details below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danesfield_House

In the 1970s myself and others in the Royal Observer Corps used to be based with an RAF team in a bunker under this house just in case the Russians caused problems!  It's all gone a bit upmarket since then.

Title: Re: RAF at Medenham South Bucks.
Post by: otterlady on Sunday 20 February 11 12:29 GMT (UK)

HI THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY, I WILL HAVE TO SEE WHERE THIS TAKES ME. MY FATHER NEVER TALKED ABOUT WHAT HE DID IN THE 2ND WORLD WAR NEED TRY AND SOLVE THIS PUZZLE

THANKS

SHEILA

Title: Re: RAF at Medenham South Bucks.
Post by: newburychap on Wednesday 23 March 11 09:12 GMT (UK)

Google RAF Medmenham and you'll find information about the WWII activities. At the time the photo-interpretation activities would have been top secret.

As a batman your father would not have had much to do with the 'business' side, essentially he will have been a valet/gofer for the officer he was assigned to. A pretty cushy posting; perhaps he was quiet about it because he was embarrassed to have such an easy war, or to have been a personal servant.

Title: Re: RAF at Medenham South Bucks.
Post by: Bucksgirl on Wednesday 23 March 11 11:24 GMT (UK)

I would assume that in his role he may have been aware of many of the officers, their duties and the secret nature of the business carried out there.  This information would be very dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands, therefore his reluctance to talk about it was probably deeply ingrained. 

Working at such a place he would have had to signed the 'offical secrets act' whereby if he disclosed information 'useful to an enemy' would mean up to 14 years in prison.  I think this was actionable many years after the war ended.

Jenny