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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: DevonJewel on Thursday 29 December 11 11:57 GMT (UK)
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Hi,
I'm trying to find information on Samuel Wilfred Giddy aged 28 who was killed testing a plane at Reading on 24 August 1930 - please can anyone suggest where I can find more info, sorry I don't know whether he was in the RAF or not.
Many thanks
DJ
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Hi,
There is a S W Giddy in the RAF Officers Service Records available on National Archives Online. Not sure if he is your Samuuel or how much info there is but only £3.50 to download if you think it might be him.
Cathy
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Hi cathy,
Thanks for yor reply, it sounds very promising.
I'm struggling a bit here. I've gone on Nat Archives/Documentsonline selected Air Force and put in S W Giddy and selected 1900-1949 and a whole list of things come up labelled family history followed by Other Records but I can't see RAF Officers Service Records - what am I doing wrong please?
DJ
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There's a chance the Museum of Berkshire Aviation might have some information. There was an airfield at Woodley (a couple of miles from Reading) where Miles and Handley Page aircraft were manufactured. It's where Douglas Bader lost his legs. Nowadays there's a housing estate on the old airfield but there's a small museum. Could this have been where Samuel Giddy flew from?
http://home.comcast.net/~aero51/html/
Heather
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Hi,
If you go onto documents online and put Giddy(no dates) in search box, top left, you ll come up with a list of several records.
Click on results for RAF Officers Service Records and that should bring you to S W Giddy.
Cathy :)
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Hi Heather,
Thanks for that suggestion. I've been on their website and sent an email asking if they might have any info or suggestions.
Will let you know if anything comes of it.
Many thanks DJ
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Cathy,
I'm embarassingly thick and can only see records for WWI
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/search-results-summary.asp?searchType=quicksearch&pagenumber=1&queryType=1&catid=*&query=S%20W%20Giddy
am I on the right page/area?
:-[ DJ
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From FreeBMD it seems he was born Q1 1902 at St Germans, Cornwall - if this agrees with what you know then it's possible he was old enough to have served in the RAF towards the end of WW1, particularly if he lied about his age ;)
Heather
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Right page, just enter Giddy and a search summary comes up,I think youre on the right track, he s under RAF Officers Service Records 1918-1919, my fault not specifying dates, Take no notice of the dates, I think possibly these are dates between which he might have joined (not sure) and he is definately there.
I had a terrible job finding everything when they changed the format a while ago lol so don t be embarrassed :)
Cathy
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DJ,
Samuel Wilfred Giddy was employed as chief instructor at Woodley aerodrome when he was test flying a privately owned Martinsyde single seater aeroplane when, during the test flight, it dived to the ground. He was pronounced dead by the time that he reached hospital. An Inquest was held on Wednesday 27th August and a verdict of accidental death was given. One of the reasons given for the crash was a "wing flutter" on the aircraft which led to the pilot losing control. His funeral took place in Plymouth. Lastly, Samuel was a stand in pilot for the "Crazy" squadron based at Hendon.
The above was gleaned from two articles published in The Times (25th August re-accident and 28th August re-inquest).
OR.
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There is also a small story on the front page of the Daily Express for 25 August 1930 - but this does not add any further detail to that provided by OR above.
Purp
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to: Purp and Old Rowley,
What fantastic people you are! VERY many thanks.
You've solved my queries in minutes - and by Googling Woodley airfield and Douglas Bader I now know a lot more history as well.
Thanks again.
DJ
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Can I take it that you have his marriage info already?
Regards
Malky
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To Mary Curtain, yes, but thank you for taking the trouble Malky.
DJ
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A brief personal appreciation from the archives of Flight magazine
http://www.flightglobal.com/
pdfarchive/view/1930/untitled0%20-%201109.html?search=giddy
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And - a reference to his job as Chief Instructor at the Phillips and Powis Flying School - from the same source
http://www.flightglobal.com/
pdfarchive/view/1930/untitled0%20-%200521.html?search=giddy
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That's brilliant SueK50. Many thanks.
Wonderful to think there is so much info out there if you know where to look! Thank you.
One Newspaper article says:
he was a stand-by pilot for the RAF "crazy" squadron at Hendon. I did try Googling that but found nothing - any ideas? Presumably something like the Red Arrows ?
DJ
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If you link to :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Whittle
and scroll down to the paragraph, "Development of the turbojet engine" and have a read. There is mention of the "crazy flying" there.
Regards
Malky
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Wow, he moved in "high" circles. It gets more and more interesting.
I've just found a book entitled History of the RAF aerobatic team from 1920 listed on the Internet - I wondered if S W Giddy might be mentioned in there. Would I need to start a new thread?
DJ