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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: fionah1973 on Thursday 06 June 24 21:33 BST (UK)

Title: My Grandads RAF Service
Post by: fionah1973 on Thursday 06 June 24 21:33 BST (UK)
Hi,

Can anyone please kindly assist me?

My grandad signed up for the Raf in 1941 aged 19

He was requested to  attend no 2 recruitment centre cardington between 9am.and 12 noon on 10 June 1942

The nearest railway station was Bedford lms

I have a driving licence saying mechanical technical driver and what he as an airman could drive

His id no was 1619066 John Thomas Jones

I know from photos he was in  Slyt but don't know when, also Hamburg

But not sure where else they went or based?

Unit serial no g 4

On one of the photos the vehicle id is bafo83 sylt  :

Thank you in advance
Fiona :)
Title: Re: My Grandads RAF Service
Post by: Biggles50 on Thursday 06 June 24 21:53 BST (UK)
You can apply for a copy of his service record.

You may be lucky and it has survived but either way you will be advised if it is available or if it was destroyed in WW2.

It can be a long wait, they do not respond very quickly
Title: Re: My Grandads RAF Service
Post by: Jebber on Thursday 06 June 24 22:43 BST (UK)
You can certainly apply for his records.

Biggles50 is confusing WW2 Recorded with those of WW1.
Title: Re: My Grandads RAF Service
Post by: Andy J2022 on Thursday 06 June 24 22:44 BST (UK)
You can apply for a copy of his service record.

You may be lucky and it has survived but either way you will be advised if it is available or if it was destroyed in WW2.

It can be a long wait, they do not respond very quickly
No WW2 service records have been destroyed. Maybe you are thinking of the large quantity of WW1 Army records which were destroyed by fire during WW2.
Title: Re: My Grandads RAF Service
Post by: ShaunJ on Thursday 06 June 24 23:17 BST (UK)
If you want to apply for a copy of his service records, here is the link: https://www.apply-deceased-military-record.service.gov.uk/
Title: Re: My Grandads RAF Service
Post by: Jomot on Friday 07 June 24 02:24 BST (UK)
No WW2 service records have been destroyed. Maybe you are thinking of the large quantity of WW1 Army records which were destroyed by fire during WW2.

I helped my Dad to obtain his RAF service record from the MoD a number of years ago, and although he enlisted a few years after WW2 I was surprised that it was just a typed summary as the original documents had been destroyed.  The covering letter from Air Command said this:

"Enclosed is a copy of your RAF Form 543 - Airman's Record of Service. Please note, the Form 543 was designed as a basic administrative aid to assist the personal administrators and it was not intended as a biographical document. 

All other documentation has been destroyed in accordance with the MOD's Document Retention Policy".


They were also unable to locate his medical records and again cited the document retention policies. 

Form 543 did give a summary of his unit and movements, but a lot of it looks like gibberish.  Fortunately Dad remembered exactly where he'd been and when, as otherwise I wouldn't have made head nor tail of much of it!
Title: Re: My Grandads RAF Service
Post by: tonepad on Friday 07 June 24 05:36 BST (UK)
Does the driving licence actually state mechanical technical driver or MT Driver?
MT Driver means Mechanical Transport Driver.


Tony
Title: Re: My Grandads RAF Service
Post by: fionah1973 on Friday 07 June 24 05:48 BST (UK)
Thank you all my grandad was really good and  kept all his documents

It does say mechanical transport driver

Please see attached