My late father, Dennis Fortescue, service number 590811, served with the RAF in Quetta soon after the earthquake in 1935 and then moved to Kohat, where he served during WW2. He was Mentioned in Despatches during that time and also served in Burma, but would never talk about his time there. I have requested his service record and hope to get more details from that document, but, in the meantime, does anyone know about the involvement in Burma of the RAF personnel from Kohat? Thank you in advance for any information!
Hi Susan Welcome - we have RAF specialists and Far East specialists who will be along Well done for requesting your fathers service records they are the prime documentary point from which to start your research. I dont know about Kohat, but briefly found - RAF Kohat - 1941 (Frank Powley's Collection) RAF Squadrons September in 1939 – aircraft equipment, bases 27 Kohat (India) Wapiti 28 Kohat (India) Audax Wonder if hes on any of the photos?? - World War II Royal Air Force Photographs South East Asia RAF Kohat India 1941 | eBay enjoy the journey TD
Strongly recommending "copying" those images as it's a sold item and they may drop off the system soon...! Good luck with the hunting and beware of the "event horizon" that is research...!
I have received my father's service records and am busy reading them. The records show that he was Mentioned in Despatches, which I knew, but towards the end of his life my father stated that he was Mentioned in Despatches twice. I would like to know which is true, and also for what reason he gained this award. There are some dates written after the item in his service record: London Gazette 14.6.45, 9.5.47 and 13.6.47. Then there is an illegible reference to a page then Book 22. Please can anyone help to cast light on this issue? Thank you in advance!
Page 3666 | Supplement 37179, 13 July 1945 | London Gazette | The Gazette - looks like his number changed to 56834 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37993/supplement/2845 Can find those 2 but not the third perhaps someone better at LG searches can find it TD Mentioned in dispatches - Wikipedia In my experience, this is most often written up when someone has over a period of time done exceptional duties, its not normally used for specific actions as Gallantry medals are - to provide some difference between MiD's and Gallantry medals TD
Thank you so very much! I can see now that his number changed when he was commissioned. I think the service records that I received cover his entire career. There is a possibility to fill in a medal form and I wonder if that might provide more info about a possible citation - but it seems only to be for people who want duplicate medals.
The reason an MiD was awarded are notouriously difficult to find, if the actually exist at all today, perhaps have a word with the medal office? TD Post his service records so that members can read them in context and perhaps others will have opinions from their experience
I can see from my father's service record (relevant part attached) that he was in India from 1938 to 1942. He served with 28 Squadron. It is really hard to read the entries as they are very faint. Please can anyone help with the abbreviation AP Lahore, and to decipher the entries following that up to his admission to Doncaster Royal Infirmary in 1942? Also he told me that he served in Burma and I can see that 28 Squadron did indeed serve in Burma - but there do not appear to be any entries on his service record. Thanks in advance!
Hello Sue, I don't know if this will help but I found the following out: 28 (AC) Squadron RAF - based at Lahore from February 1939 to 28 January 1942 equipped with Hawker Audax September 1941 re-equipped with Westland Lysander II aircraft 28 January - 8 February 1942 - based at Lashio in Burma 8 February - 23 March 1942 - based at Magwe in Burma March 1942 - Asansol in Bengal, India March - 3 April 1942 - returned to Lahore 3 to 17 April 1942 - Ranchi in India 17 April - 31 August 1942 - returned to Lahore 31 August 1942 - September 1943 - Ranchi in India December 1942 re-equipped with Hawker Hurricane IIB Now, if I read the Service Record correctly it may be that he returned to the UK in May 1942 as in July 1942 he is with 25 O.T.U. (Operational Training Unit) RAF and this was based in RAF Finningley in Yorkshire, not far from Doncaster. Looks like he returned to 25 O.T.U. in March 1943 and then went onto 18 O.T.U. which I think was in Warwickshire Hope any of this helps! Rob G
Thank you very much Rob, that is really useful. I hadn't realised that 25 O.T.U. was in Finningley. That is where he met my mother, who was in the W.A.A.F. and they married in 1946. I think he must have caught malaria while serving in India and Burma and that might have been why he was admitted to Doncaster Royal Infirmary.
Looks like he moved to 31 Squadron in mid-41. The Squadron operated DC-2s and Valencia transports in India/Middle East around that time.
