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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: AmyDurdin on Wednesday 03 May 23 14:17 BST (UK)
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Hi I've got my family's RAF record from WW2. We don't know anything about what he had done, the document is a bit hard to understand there's lots of different squadron numbers.
Is it possible to tell from this what sort of role/job he had during the war?
Is it possible to see if he was overseas at any point? We believe he mentioned Belgium but we're not sure.
There's some special qualifications on there but its hard to read what they say.
There's dates on it from 1946 too, is there any clues what he would of been doing after the war?
thanks
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The Squadrons "Sqdn" were Airfield Construction Squadrons.
Entry dated Sep 1945 "AOSEA" = Air Operations South East Asia.
For further, see https://ww2memories.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/common-abbreviations-on-ww2-raf-records-as/
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from National Archives
5011 Airfield Construction Squadron, based in Southern England
5012 Airfield Construction Squadron, based in South-West England
5017 Airfield Construction Squadron, based in the U.K. then Germany
(records are not available online)
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The Squadrons "Sqdn" were Airfield Construction Squadrons.
Entry dated Sep 1945 "AOSEA" = Air Operations South East Asia.
For further, see https://ww2memories.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/common-abbreviations-on-ww2-raf-records-as/
South east Asia is completely new to us, he never mentioned this before. I see the date is after ww2 had offically ended. Is it possible this is to do with the Indonesian revolution/operations in Vietnam [45/46] which British forces were involved in?
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Unlikely.
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Unlikely.
Thanks for the reply.
I'm just wondering the record on 19/10/42 "11 wks sqdn 112 flt" what this means? I looked up 11 squadron which came up as a fighter squadron in Sri lanka. I'm not sure this would be right
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I think 11 wks Sqdn refers to RAF airfield constructiion services rather than a flying squadron, if you look under mustering wks also appears there.
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Okay sure that makes sense.
Does anyone know where I could find information on the locations/activities of these squadrons? Maybe a FOI request to MOD? I'm not sure how to find the information. thanks
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Here is a link to National Archives entry for 5012 as an example. There are details there of how to proceed. I have never done this myself so I can’t tell you exactly what to do or how much it might cost.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7161677 (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7161677)
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I would go for the stamp being ACSEA = Air Command South East Asia.
There is a similar career path explored in an old thread here http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?18237-Researching-my-father-s-RAF-record-Michael-O-Keefe-1797664 (http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?18237-Researching-my-father-s-RAF-record-Michael-O-Keefe-1797664)
A short history of RAF airfield construction and the various groups in RAF Historical Society Journal 51 https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-51.pdf (https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-51.pdf)
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I would go for the stamp being ACSEA = Air Command South East Asia.
There is a similar career path explored in an old thread here http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?18237-Researching-my-father-s-RAF-record-Michael-O-Keefe-1797664 (http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?18237-Researching-my-father-s-RAF-record-Michael-O-Keefe-1797664)
A short history of RAF airfield construction and the various groups in RAF Historical Society Journal 51 https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-51.pdf (https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-51.pdf)
Although in the link for the historical society you posted they didn’t talk or mention the squadrons I’m looking for; that was an extremely interesting read. And I feel it’s given me a greater understanding of the role. Thank you for sharing that, it was very helpful and interesting I enjoyed reading it.
And yes I think it may be south east Asia aswell. I’m hoping to try find out where exactly.
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Any one know what G3M in reason column means? Thanks
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My father-in-law was posted to 5012 sqdn on the same date to Singapore, via Suez cannel, he was a motor transport driver.
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Most references in Reason relate to the file index on other documents that formed the bulk of a service record.
G3M is one of those.
Exceptions are H, HH, HHH and@ which have specific meanings and not directly related to to other documents.
All attached documents to a F543 have either been detached or destroyed.
Ross
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Thank you so much, Best Wishes, Sue