RAF Radar Mechanic 1941-5

[curiousgeorge1]

I have the RAF service record for a radar mechanic. I am unfamiliar with service records.

I wonder if there is anyone around who has knowledge of the life of a radar mechanic. I have no reason to assume deployment was anywhere other than the UK. He does seem to have moved around a lot, as in months or even weeks at different locations. I wonder if this was the norm.

I am reluctant to post the entire record as I don't want to overwhelm if there are specific questions I could respond to.

Some locations mentioned which I have identified are Greystone, White Waltham, Poling and Malvern to name just a few.

Many references to MSSU, mobile signals servicing units. I presume these are exactly what they sound like.

Any information gratefully received

[Andy J2022]

Hopefully RootsChat member rafcommands will drop by shortly with a more detailed answer, as he is by far the most knowledgeable current member on RAF matters. But I think you are right in assuming that a member of a mobile servicing unit would be moved around between different locations. Radar systems were constantly being upgraded as the war progressed and this would have required radar mechanics to fit new modules or assemblies fairly frequently, in addition to the routine maintenance necessary to the equipment in specification.

[David Nicoll]

Hi,

 If he went to Malvern, this was probably, TRE for training. I suggest you try searching for TRE Malvern, there is quite a lot on line now.

[curiousgeorge1]

Thank you both for your replies

[David Nicoll]

This may be of interest. Following up as my father was at TRE and there is lots of new stuff about.

https://mraths.org.uk/?page_id=580

[rafcommands]

RAF Service Record Form 543 records the formations (units) posted to.

Indirectly this shows locations if posted to a Station eg RAF Poling. If the entry is a unit eg XXX MSSU then it does not detail where the unit was located or moved during the time a person was posted to it.

You need to look at the ORB (Form 540/541) at the National Archives to follow unit moves.

The exception to this is if the unit moved between home command and overseas or overseas between Air Head Quarters control.

Ross

[curiousgeorge1]

Thank you for these replies. I have no reason to think there was any posting outside the UK. I suppose I am surprised at the amount of moving around.

Perhaps someone could have a look and confirm that the movements in the UK were as expected.

RAFcommands I believe we have spoken in the past about James Battersby who appears on the Runnymede Memorial. You were very helpful.

[rafcommands]

Thought we had crossed paths before - nice to continue.

Between the wars Fighter Command in particular was leading the way in examining ways to maximise their force.

Treasury budget decreased and the cost of the more modern monoplane fighters was increasing as well as complexity reducing the flying hours between servicing.

Dowding was one of the rare staff officers that had a technical background that gave an understanding of equipment capability both current and projected.

To lessen the impact of reducing fighter aircraft numbers and decreasing availability due to servicing requirements he led the way in using RDF/RADAR to virtually eliminate need for standing patrols and vector his fighter force to where needed.

This step in diverting Fighter Command spending into ground equipment and systems RDF/Filter Rooms/Operations Rooms/Movement Control/Observer Corps rather than airframes was a force multiplier.

As a result there was an extensive equipment system that needed skilled technical support at the start of the war eg RDF and Chain Home. As war progressed the fixed installations grew in scope Chain Home not just east/south coast but all round UK and capability increased with addition of Chain Home Low and Extra Low stations.

Again the number of servicing staff trained was low so constant movement to where needed at the moment was the answer.

Once the RAF restarted expeditionary warfare then transportable versions of the fixed installations and support/operations rooms were needed attached to local combined arms formations.

Todays buzz words of flexibile agile etc all started to the technical RAF of the Dowding era.

Ross

[curiousgeorge1]

Thanks for this. Before I started looking more carefully I had no idea that the technology was so new and being developed so quickly. Fascinating.