R.F.C., R.N.A.S, R.A.F., REGISTER
1914 -1919
Background
The
main aim of my research project, which started in October 1983, is to try to
provide a central source of service and biographical information of all those
who served in the British and Commonwealth Aerial Forces during the First World
War which would be of benefit to Aviation Enthusiasts, Family History
Researchers, Medal Collectors, etc.
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I decided to take on this mammoth project because although material was available about early war flying, 'aces' and the types of aircraft flown, there was very little information was available about the men who had actually served. This is true of the ground crew and men in supporting roles, who are generally overlooked |
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Royal Flying Corps
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Unidentified R.F.C. Officer |
Unidentified
R.F.C. Other Ranks |
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Royal Naval Air Service
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Unidentified R.N.A.S. Officer |
Unidentified R.N.A.S. Other Rank |
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Royal Air Force
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Unidentified R.A.F. Officer |
Unidentified R.A.F. Other Rank |
The
Files
The most
complete records should be those held by the Ministry of Defence, however some
of these were destroyed during the Blitz in 1940, and other files were
accidentally destroyed.
The information
that is available was only released to next of kin after payment of a £25
search fee, though the next of kin requirement has since been waived, searches
will be done for a fee. However during 1997/98 some of the records were
released to the Public
Record Office.
For those records which are not held in the Public Record Office, to trace the 'Record of Service' with the Army and the Royal Flying Corps, including post War Army service you should contact;
Ministry
of Defence, Army Records Office CS(R)2b,
It
should be remembered that Army
Officers Records of Service (including the R.F.C.) have been
released to the Public Record Office in 1998, however these files are only 60-70%
complete, and are found under P.R.O. reference WO339.
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For
Commissioned
Service (i.e. Officers) in the Royal Air Force the Ministry
of Defence files were released to the Public Record Office in October 1997
and are held in AIR
76 RAF Officers Records files. However
if the Officer went continued to serve in the Royal Air Force after the war,
the Ministry of Defence have retained the files and the address you would
have to contact is; RAF Disclosures Section NG34 8HB For
further information, please check :http://www.raf.mod.uk/links/contacts.cfm |
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The Airmen's Documents for R.A.F.
Enlistment's were released by the National Archives in
September 1998 under reference Air
79 and are arranged in Service Number order, and will cover
numbers up to 329,000. An index
to these R.A.F. service numbers is in AIR 78 and is
held on 190 reels of microfilm. This index was filmed by the R.A.F. in the
early 1980's and covers all enlistment's up to 1975. However the National
Archives admit that 'it is of doubtful
quality in terms of comprehensiveness and legibility of some of the entries.'
R.A.F. 'other ranks' service after April 1918 might be verified, providing you either have the service number of the name can be gound on the index. However, there are some files which are not available, these 'Other Ranks' Records of Service are still held by the R.A.F. contact;
RAF Disclosures
Section, Room 221b, Trenchard Hall,
RAF Cranwell, Sleaford,
Records
for Officers in
the Royal Naval Air Service are held in ADM/273 at the
Public Record Office and 'Other
Ranks' in the Royal Naval Air Service were made available by
the Public Record Office on 1 April 1998. This latter category are in their
original form, covering service numbers F1 - F55000 which are held in 86
volumes in the Alphabetically Prefixed numbers series in ADM 188 class.
These records provide the date and place of birth, physical description, date
of enlistment, rating, descriptions of ships or stations served upon,
assessment of character & conduct and date of discharge
In the
course of my research I learned of the Muster
Rollwhich was compiled to show all the 'Other
Ranks' who were serving in the Royal Air Force on it's formation on 1 April
1918, which was arranged in RAF
Service Number order. This listing includes Service Number, Name &
Initials, Date & Terms of Enlistment, Trade, Rank & Date of Last
Promotion, it does not give Squadrons or Units attached to.
(Volume
1 SR 1 - SR 25)( 1 - 102940)
(Volume
2 102941 - 186817)(200001 - 223200)
(Volume
3 223201 - 254121)(401001 - 409095)
Note:
There are gaps of unallocated numbers in Volumes 2 & 3
I am
in the process of transposing this into an alphabetical card index listing. I
have currently Royal Flying Corps enlistment details up to the end of May 1917.
Whilst
I am still in the process of compiling a master biographical index of all those
who served, you will appreciate that sometimes the details I can supply may
only be minimal, but they are the starting point for further research.
As any
additional information comes to hand this is added on to the records, there are
several sources of information that can be consulted to expand the details I have,
i.e.
Absent
Voters Lists. An act of Parliament passed on the 6th February 1918 allowed
service men to register in order to obtain a vote in the constituency of their
home address. The first lists were published on the 15 October 1918 from
applications received up to 18 August 1918. The second list was published on
the 15 April 1919. The details that appear were those supplied by the men
themselves, and not by their dependants. Men had to be over 21 years of age to
vote, therefore men under 21 in the armed forces were not included in this
source.
Town /
District / Trade Rolls of Honour and Records of Service,
School
Registers, Rolls of Honour and Records of Service,
Contemporary
Local Newspapers,
Back
Issues of 'Flight' & 'The Aeroplane',
Journals
of Cross & Cockade Society,
Extracts
from Who's Who, Memoirs etc.
Although
there are missing numbers on the RAF Muster Roll and I have kept a log of
these, some can be for casualties. I have records, extracted from the
Commonwealth War Graves Registers of all RFC, RNAS & RAF Casualties and I
have been through 'Soldiers Died in the Great War' and extracted lists of all
those noted 'formerly RFC'
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I have listings of those members of
the ranks from the Royal Flying Corps who were discharged and granted the Silver War Badge 'For
Services Rendered', each badge was stamped with a number on
the reverse, this number did not relate to their service number, but
was based upon batches of badges allocated by the War Office Currently there are no available records of the 13,000 Silver War Badges issued by the Royal Air Force, which have an RAF prefix on the number stamped on the reverse of the badge |
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Some
of the gaps in the 'missing' numbers extracted from the R.A.F. Muster Roll have
now been filled in.
I have
yet to find a single source which specifically lists the men who transferred to
or from the Royal Flying Corps. Some of these details can be found from the
individual index cards in the Index
to the Medal Rolls of the British Army Soldiers and RFC/RAF Airmen who received
service medals, this master microfiche index is arranged in
alphabetical order is held at the Public Record Office under their reference
number WO/329.
In
addition to the files on Other Ranks, I have compiled a good deal of
information on Officers, which, on the whole, are much easier to find, i.e.
Copies of Army,
Navy
and Air Force
Lists.
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I
have Record of
Service Sheets for all Royal Naval Air Service Officers and Officers attached
to the R.N.A.S., I have also completed a biographical card index of Casualties to the Royal Naval Air Service. |
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Unidentified R.F.C. Officer
Prisoners attending the Funeral of Captain Albert Ball VC,DSO,MC 56 Squadron,
R.F.C., Laventie, France 9 May 1917 I have compiled comprehensive
listings of all R.F.C.,
R.N.A.S., R.A.F. Prisoners of War and Interned Prisoners,
covering both Officers & Other Ranks. |
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I have also extracted names of
members of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force from the official War Office Weekly Casualty listing and the Air Ministry Casualty listings,
starting from 31 July 1917, I have not been able to trace
copies of the earlier daily listings which should run from August 1914 to the
end of July 1917 |
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I
always welcome any information, no matter how trivial it might seem.
Any
information, the loan of documents or photographs etc is also useful and
greatly appreciated. Any material loaned to me would receive great care and
would be returned as soon as details had been included on the Register.
If you
would like me to advise you on avenues of research, to check my records, or
would like to pass information on to me, for inclusion in the register, please
write to;
David J. Barnes, R.F.C., R.N.A.S., R.A.F. Register
c/o
Or you
can email me at:
(Remember: Copies of any service records, research
notes or the loan of documents or photographs etc would be greatly appreciated
in order to update the R.F.C., R.N.A.S., R.A.F. Register 1914 - 1919)
“Information
shared is never lost”
Copyright
© 2013 David J. Barnes