RAF Regiments

[Rosemary Wibberley]

My Father in law served in the RAF from 1943 until 1947 and I am trying to find out which squadron he was with. We know that he went to Aden after training. I have his war reciord from the RAF disclosure unit but it doesnt seem to state any squadron etc. Does anyone know where I go from here? Thankyou

[Malcolm33]

   Aden Veterans Association - http://www.adenveterans.org.uk/html/point_of_contact.html may be able to help.

    Peter Pickering also runs some great web pages and a forum on those who served in Aden.  You will find him on face book under Aden in days of Empire or have a look here - http://adenairways.com/

    I served in Aden from March 1952 to March 1954 so just a bit too late to have known your father-in-law.     If he was really in the RAF Regiment then he would most likely have been at Singapore Lines which were close to Khormaksar Airport.    Apart from that RAF station the rest of us were spread out all around Tawahi (Steamer Point) and all the way up the hill side of the mountain Hamil Khan.   

    If you want to know what life was like in Aden even for a schoolboy then read Garry Kilworth's novel Standing on Shamshan.   Garry's father was at RAF Khormaksar and he went to school there.   Later on he joined up himself and was sent to Aden during the trouble years of the early Sixties.

      I have many pictures taken in my years there and the attached was taken from the stop of Shamshan looking down towards the Isthmus and Khormaksar Airport.

[Malcolm33]

    If you father was not in the RAF Regiment then what was his trade?    That would be a big help in identifying where he was in the Colony.   e.g. a Medic would have served some or all time at No.7 RAF Hospital up on the hill above the Signal Tower.

[Rosemary Wibberley]

Hi Thanks both. He was a rear gunner in a lancaster  with a new zealand crew I believe. His war record states he was a flight mechanic and flight sergeant. He arrived in Khormaksar in July 1946 and was there for a year.

[DeeBoneham]

Hi Rosemary
There is an RAF Regiment Museum based at RAF Honington.  You might want to contact them. http://www.rafregiment.net/RAF_Regt_Museum.htm might help. If your rellie was a Flight Mechanic was he airframes (FMA) or engines (FME).  If he was FME he might have been attached to a Regiment Squadron to look after their vehicles By the way Flight Sergeant was his rank and the Flight Mechanic bit was his trade
Regards
Dee

[Rosemary Wibberley]

Thank you all for your help. I think I have now ascertained that he trained as a rear gunner but as he went to Aden in 1946 at the end of the war he was probably never on active service. His trade was FME so he probably went to Aden as that. if so it must have been his operational training unit that had New Zealanders in. In Aden would he have maintained other aircraft that we're being used for transport etc?  Does that mean he was in a regimental unit rather than a squadron? Sorry to ask so many questions but thanks for any help. Rosemary Wibberley

[GrahamSimons]

Looks like this Wikipedia article might point you in the direction of units serving in Aden.
The RAF Regiment is a distinctive organisation tasked with the defence and I would have thought that transfer between the squadrons of the RAF and the RAF Regiment would be unusual to say the least.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Khormaksar
http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafregiment/history/

[DeeBoneham]

Hi Rosemary
It was actually fairly common for Air Gunners to transfer to the RAF Regiment after the end of the war.  One of my 75ers wanted to stay in the RAF post war but they did not offer him aircrew because they were moving into the jet age and only needed pilots and navigators.  He therefore became an RAF Regiment officer.  The RAF Regiment still use squadrons so he might have gone to say for example  2798 Squadron, RAF Regiment (who were in Aden in 1946).  As an FME he might have been attached to a regiment squadron but be on station strength so would not have that squadron listed on his service record.  If you email me his service record Rosemary I can check more for you
Dee

[Marpatch]

Hi. My father was a member of the RAF Regiment in 1942. He was stationed in Hampshire, his job was protecting the airfields. He was a gunner on a Bofors gun. I am unable to find his service records but am wondering if anybody knows anything about his unit.