[updated:LAST EDITED ON 18-04-02 AT 10:22 AM (GMT)]Ladies and gents:
I have the names (and in some cases ranks, squadrons and dates) of five Indian pilots who flew with the RFC in France in World War One; and about fifteen Indian pilots who flew with the RAF, based in the UK, in World War Two. I’d like to find out more about them and their service.
Can anyone suggest, where can I find information on the details of their service, the units they served with, duration of service and fate? The Public Records Office at Kew? The RAF itself? Anywhere else?
The pilots who served in WW2 all arrived in the UK too late to see service in the Battle of Britain, so they won’t be on any of the BoB websites or lists.
And to get this out of the way, only one of this number was ever recorded as an “ace” (in the sense of shooting down five or more enemy aircraft); so most of them won’t figure in the books and websites on aces. Not all were fighter pilots; some served with Bomber or Coastal Commands.
Twelve of these twenty were killed in action or crashes during the respective wars …
Regards, and look forward to hearing suggestions,
Snoopy
By: Snoopy - 19th April 2002 at 06:31
RE:Info on named WW1 and WW2 pilots
Moggy and Kev35, thanks very much indeed.
I had tried the Commonwealth War Graves Commission before. It’s certainly moving to see the effort they have put in, and the messages; but I had only about a 50-60% success rate in finding the names I was looking for.
I will pursue the PRO and that CD-ROM, as suggested, and the RAF to the extent they’re affordable — I hadn’t realised that the PRO didn’t keep WW2 records. Thanks for the tips.
If anyone has any more suggestions, I’d be most grateful to receive them. Regards all around, and here’s to absent friends …
Snoopy
By: kev35 - 18th April 2002 at 12:44
RE:Info on named WW1 and WW2 pilots
Snoopy,
Just to add to what Moggy has said there is a CD ROM called Soldiers died in the Great War. This costs some £265 but is sometimes available at larger public libraries. On the CD is a section called Officers died which allows you to search for your man. There may be other information such as where they were born, lived and enlisted.
The PRO at Kew has all surviving service records from the Great War and those are available to search as microfilm copies which may be photocopied. Their website at www.pro.gov.uk can give you more details. I think service records from WWII remain in the hands of the RAF at Innsworthy I believe and I think there is a substantial cost for any search they undertake.
Hope this is all useful to you.
Regards
Kev35
By: Moggy C - 18th April 2002 at 11:01
RE:Info on named WW1 and WW2 pilots
If you haven’t already tried this Snoopy it is always worth checking on the Commonwealth War Graves site.
They have a database of KIAs which is searchable.
Moggy
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April 18, 2002 at 10:20 am