UK Air Force photos from WW1

[hwlambert]

Were there any portrait photos taken of UK Air Force personnel in WW1 and if so where do I look for them? I am looking for:

Henry MANN b1893 Nottingham, Service #; 405574, enlisted 1915; transfer to RFC 6 Nov 1917 Private 1, Aerial Gunner; transfer to RAF 1 April 1918
And
John George MANN b1875 Nottingham, Service #: 121233, possibly enlisted 1917; transfer to RAF 1 April 1918; drafted to Inf. Base Depot but not to a Unit.

Thanks,
Heather

[Andy J2022]

As far as I am aware there was no official policy of photographing British soldiers either as individuals (for identification purposes etc) or in groups. However one of the roles of the RFC was aerial photography* and so they had trained photographers, cameras, photographic materials, dark rooms etc, meaning it was much more likely that informal group photographs might have been made of RFC personnel. For example I have copies of photographs of an RFC pilot taken next to and in his plane in 1917 which I doubt would have been taken by anyone other than a fellow serviceman. The main purpose of such photographs would probably have been to send home to their families, so that would be the best place to start looking for pictures of specific individuals.

Because of the unofficial nature of such photographs, there is unlikely to be a central archive of them and your best bet would be to search in all the main museums, such as IWM, National Army Museum and the RAF Museums for personal papers and scrap books

*The National Archive holds a lot of aerial photographs taken by the RFC.

[hwlambert]

Thanks Andy.
I will check out the National Archives and troll the internet to see what I can find.
Cheers