DO YOU RECOGNIZE HIM ?

Hi just wanted to say THANKYOU 😀 to all of you for your help. I’ve passed on your comments to the family, who are very grateful and thankyou.
Fred is looking into all other leads.He sent me this e-mail today.
Mary, my wife, has researched the firm of photographers who took the picture, to discover, according to Leeds City archives, they traded between approximately 1940 and 1956 and then went out of business. There is no trace of their records.
I contacted Thomas Docherty of 72 Squadron Association who has said he will publish the photograph in their next Newsletter which, unfortunately, is not until December, to see if any of their readers recognise Mike.
Mary has tried the local Ashington Newspaper but without luck. There is a local “historical” magazine which she has contacted and the Editor says he will publish the story and photographs of both Winnie and Mike to see if that jogs any memories. The problem is there are not many people of that time left, and if their memory is as good as mine, we are in trouble . . . Please pass on my many thanks to everyone for their help and comments.

Many Thanks
Fred….
cheers rob, your all stars 🙂

and no it’s not someone in Fancy dress, and I think you should show a little respect don’t you ?
Rob……

To be fair RobAnt, did put a question mark after ‘fancy dress’

In written communications these nuances are important, hence the development of the ‘smiley’ emoticon

Moggy

Sorry, wasn’t meaning to be disrespectful.

But I don’t think he’s been positively ID’d yet, has he? So maybe he did maybe he didn’t? Either way, I was merely clarifying something which hadn’t been actually said.

The guy in the photograph is wearing the uniform of a RAF Officer carrying the rank of a Pilot Officer. Pilot Officers are not necessarily pilots – it is a rank, not a job description. He could easily have been in any of a multitude of jobs within the RAF.

No way that guy was a Warrant Officer of any kind.

Of course, this may be someone in “fancy dress”?

Interesting to note that Pilots are (or maybe were) employed in the “General Duties” branch, rather than a specific trade.

Yes I think we’ve worked that out now, The family member who sent me this did not know anything about the R.A.F Ranks and some esle said he was a W/O, and no it’s not someone in Fancy dress, and I think you should show a little respect don’t you ? this man died fighting for his country.

Rob……

The guy in the photograph is wearing the uniform of a RAF Officer carrying the rank of a Pilot Officer. Pilot Officers are not necessarily pilots – it is a rank, not a job description. He could easily have been in any of a multitude of jobs within the RAF.

No way that guy was a Warrant Officer of any kind.

Of course, this may be someone in “fancy dress”?

Interesting to note that Pilots are (or maybe were) employed in the “General Duties” branch, rather than a specific trade.

No Bacon’s, Leech’s, Sway’s, Sway-Taylor’s or something Michael something Taylor’s listed at www.CWWG.org

FO Mee doesn’t quite fit the details, but he’s by far the closest match so far.

[QUOTE=Dave Homewood], Was Bunny the nurse??
Hi Dave yes Bunny was the nurse the lady he was going to marry before he was killed in August.
Rob….

I think as well as the forementioned assumptions, it also has to be remembered that in those days a great many men used their middle name as their “popular” name, and many others (especially in the services) simply went by a nickname. Mike or Michael may not be the name on his official records. I mean, his friend Bunny obviously also used a nickname and they were probably on very matey terms. Was Bunny the nurse??

I think what people have read as ‘Leeds’ could be ‘Leech’ possibly too. Maybe that’s his surname. Or perhaps ‘Bacon’, or maybe ‘Taylor’. Or I guess ‘Sway’ may be his surname? There are a lot of possibilities.

Hi to All, many thanks for all your help on this. I just been told that “Mike” was due to get married to a Nurse working at Ashington Hospital Northumberland, can some tell me what airfields were in that area apart from Acklington, also how far there are apart ?
cheers
rob…….

Sway

However I would agree with Steve on the photographer’s studio being (probably) called Sway / Taylor (was there a place called Sway? Photographer called Taylor?). good luck.

JDK,

Thought that rang a bell.

Sway, in the New Forest, 4 mile NW of Lymington.

Spent a holiday there in the early 1960’s.

So RAF Beaulieu very close.

Mark

That guy was not a pilot at the time the picture was taken. Doesn’t mean he didn’t become one later.

But for him to be killed in 1940 he’d had to have done his training pre-war. The RAF would not recruit a guy with defective eyesight for pilot training pre-war.

Are we sure about the name ‘Mike’ being his first name?

Could he have been a Fred Michaels, or Jim Michaelson?

Too many facts are being bent to fit him to P/O Mee. I’m not remotely convinced.

Moggy

Has anyone looked at the Cemetery at Acklington for an RAF casualty named Michael?

Now the dates have changed I’ll check men of the BofB to see if there are any possibles there. I think I’ll draw a blank as it seems likely he was not a pilot but I’ll give it a whirl.

Regards,

kev35

Warrant Officers called ‘Mike’

Slight point of pedantry here, but the chap in the photograph is not a Warrant Officer, he’s a Pilot Officer at the time of the photo as denoted by the Plt Off braid around the sleeve of his tunic.

His visible age would also make the rank of Warrant Officer unlikely; a Warrant Officer is the highest non-commissioned rank in the RAF, and even in hose days was only reached after some years of service. Pilot Officer is the most junior commissioned rank.

F/O Mee mentioned as being in combat with 46sqn on 28-May-40, flying Hurricane II, based from Bardufoss, Norway.

He is also said to have landed his Hurricane on HMS Glorious on 7th June and been on board when she was sunk on 8th. He is likely to have been killed in the sinking.

http://www.geocities.com/acrawford0/263_1Sqn.html

Excellent point Steve.

The Squadron ORBs I’ve looked at often had postings in / out – Warrant Officers called ‘Mike’ in the period would be a small possible selection! All we need is someone to check the ORBs for the squadrons based there for the period. Easy. Now, where’s Doctor Watson? 😀

A slight digress, it was not uncommon for pilots to wear glasses, I know of one who not only wore glasses but contact lenses as well. It was known that he would go out wearing the contact lenses and come back wearing glasses.

In a letter about this pilot Peter Brothers told me that he had a disconcerting habit of tapping his contact lens with the tip of a pencil, while trying to think.

“Yorkshire = Britains Texas” Very true…! 😀

Thanks James, that all makes sense too. So really, there are more and more avenues opening up, one of which might provide Black Panther’s contacts with the information they need.

One more thing that I wondered – the family say he was killed soon after leaving Acklington. I’m wondering whethere there may be any records of postings away from Acklington during 1940; presumably ‘Mike’ being an Officer, his posting would be more likely to be recorded in that way than an Airman would. Even if he’s a ground Officer, surely he’d be attached to a Squadron, and therefore the posting would be noted in the ORB…? If the ORB’s give names for all postings, then those names could be x-ref’d against CWGC graves…

Just a thought…

Hi

A little if I may help – I had a dig around the CWG site without luck. From my experience of helping people with family history research, a good caution to bear in mind is NOT to try and chop off the bits that don’t fit to get the possible too fit. Steve’s thoughts are good, but I’d disagree for a couple of reasons:

All we know is the he appears to be a Warrant Officer called Mike, and came from Yorkshire, probably the Leeds area.

A Yorkshire accent is both notably and clearly ‘Yorkshire’ today. Back then it would have been more so. Yorkshire (Britain’s Texas! 😀 ) has always been very fierce in it’s distinction. ‘came from Yorkshire’ means Yorkshire born to me. On the other hand, ‘came from Kent’, say, could be he was in County of Kent Sqn, or was living there. So, if they think he came from Yorkshire, he probably did.

Rank, Glasses, Wings. Right into 1940 the RAF was still slow in broadening it’s selection criteria. Steve’s theory is possible, I’d guess, but unlikely. There were a lot of ground RAF people killed in 1940, and it’s easy to overlook that (not that I’m saying we have!) I’d pursue a ground role first.

However I would agree with Steve on the photographer’s studio being (probably) called Sway / Taylor (was there a place called Sway? Photographer called Taylor?). The City Libraries (Leeds, http://www.leeds.gov.uk/ York http://www.york.gov.uk/) would be well worth contacting to see if they a) know of such a studio b) have any photos by them.

good luck.

Hi Steve, thanks for that, I’ve e-mail the family with what you said, I know it’s hard just working from a picture & a name “Mike” but thanks 😀 to all of you for your help on this matter.
cheers Rob……

Steve

I’d support your deductions here.

tc