RAF Radar Mechanic 1941-5

[curiousgeorge1]

Thanks again.

One more question if I may. I'll try to make it the last one.

He qualified as a radar mechanic in Dec 1941 when he was promoted to AC1. Was this likely if he was at either Skegness or No 1 Balloon Centre leading up to this date.  If read it correctly Skegness was basic training and Kidbrook was more associated with barrage balloons.

Once again, I appreciate all your help

[rafcommands]

In special qualifications you get the date he passed his trade exam 5/12/41.

This was the point he remustered in trade to Radar Mechanic - The cropped parts of the posting record you have uploaded does not include dates so I cannot confirm where his trade training took place but I suspect it was at No.1 BC.

Kidbrook pre-war was an RAF Depot where a multitude of tradesmen passed through in a similar fashion to Uxbridge - 1938 and Munich Crisis saw the RAF expand RAFVR and depots were planned as the embodiment centres for kitting reserves on call up and bringing them up to current advances in trade since they had left RAF.

In London the biggest RAFVR intake was to the Balloon Squadrons and so No.1 Balloon Centre became the largest permanent formation at Kidbrook and this was a handy formation to provide messing, training, admin, pay etc for the early odd bod war intakes.

As war went on the training functions at Kidbrook were used as cadre to spawn off specialised Schools of Technical Training/Recruit Centres for establishment at new locations for the duration.

Ross

[curiousgeorge1]

Thank you for this, you have helped me confirm the correct rabbit hole.

Most sources point to 1 Balloon Centre as being purely barrage balloons but I have my man there from 16 May 1941 until he goes to Kilkeel in February 1942.

As you point out he passed his trade exam in December 1941 so the dates point to him having qualified at the Balloon Centre.

I don't have any dates to differentiate between Skegness & Kidbrooke.

He left Cardton in April 1941, briefly passed through Skegness and by May 1941 he was at the Balloon centre where he qualified in December and was posted to Kilkeel February 1942.

Thanks again for all your help. I was thrown off track by the Balloon Centre but you have come up with a plausible explanation.


Added

After a little more digging,

"A very important unit based at Kidbrooke was No 2 Installation Unit. From 1939, this was responsible for constructing, maintaining and repairing all of the Chain Home radar station masts around the UK coasts throughout WW-2"

[rafcommands]

If you look at units created at Kidbrooke then lodged in the early years you will find No.2 Installation Unit.

This was the embryo unit that built, calibrated and maintained the Chain Home stations on the surrounding coast.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_ep=2%20installation%20unit&_dss=range&_ro=any&_st=adv

He was not destined to be posted to this unit but it shows RADAR trades located here which also will have included instruction in the early embodiments.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Kidbrooke

Ross

[curiousgeorge1]

Thank you for your patience.

Happy to put this one to rest.

It has been a fascinating foray into the rapid development of radar during WW2. Sounds like it could have been a logistical nightmare, keeping up with new technology, expansion of stations and implications for maintenance & repair and oversight.

[Andy J2022]

Just in case it's of intertest, by looking back to 2008 on Google Streetview you can see the remnants of the RAF Balloon Command buildings at Kidbrooke, here on the North side of the A2 Rochester Way Relief Road which was built in the late 1980s. The buildings were all knocked down about 10 years ago and today it's a light industrial estate.

[MollyC]

Andy, please will you post the Streetview link to this?  I do not know the district at all but I would like to see the buildings because I suspect that the same style will have been used across the country.  I have found some similarities in plans of these sites on postwar revisions of the OS 6-inch, but they are without labels because they were disused.

[rafcommands]

Molly

RAF Museum has airfield/depot record plans for all RAF Stations - you can view them at the Hendon Reading Room for non active Stations.

Usually there is a general layout with annotated index to both use and drawing number of each building.

For example - Ibsley Aerodrome
https://nfknowledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/371.jpg

Ross

[Andy J2022]

Andy, please will you post the Streetview link to this?  I do not know the district at all but I would like to see the buildings because I suspect that the same style will have been used across the country.  I have found some similarities in plans of these sites on postwar revisions of the OS 6-inch, but they are without labels because they were disused.

Molly, the streetview link is embedded in the word 'here' after Kidbrooke. If you mean  a link to google earth (that is to say, the satellite image of the site) then I don't think these are available going back in time like the streetview images.  Perhaps someone can correct me if I am wrong about that.