Hiya trying to understand my grandfathers military records. His name was Alexander chalmers i think corpral . I know he was in 221 squadron and it says 251 wing.. What's the difference? There's loads of place namers but Im clueless any help or ideas will be good.. Got loads of military terms to get through..
McB - first suggestion is for you to add everything you have to this thread - scans of any documents you have plus any photos etc. This will cut out a lot of guesswork on our part plus avoid wasted effort. In quick terms a Wing is a parent unit to a Squadron - individual aircraft are commanded by a Pilot Officer or Flying Officer (or a SNCO pilot, or a higher ranked officer) two or more aircraft make a flight (normally commanded by a Flight Lieutenant) two or more flights make a SQN (normally commanded by a Squadron Leader) two or more Squadrons make a Wing (normally commanded by a Wing Commander) two or more Wings make a Group (normally commanded by a Group Captain) two or more Groups make an Air Command (normally commanded by an Air Commodore or higher)
As of May 1944 221SQN wasn't part of 251WG (I don't know if it was part of the WG at some earlier time) - he might have been posted to the Wing from the Squadron (or vice versa). We really need to see what you have to know where he was and when. May 44 - 251 Wing (F) (Sqn 237, 238, 451 RAAF) Spit IX Poretta (RAF)
Hi, just uploading the pics my mum took of the documents, they were too big to be taken at once so shes taken two pics per page..
A few things ive pulled from them that im interested in understanding w.o.m as a trade what does that mean? Engagment - d of p.e ? What does the annual filming mean? Im guessing A.C 2 A.C 1 LAC T/Cpl is his promotions. Also looking at where he was based, from training to squadron.. Any help would be brilliant - my dads informed me it tells him nothing more about his dads war, i think its full of information just we dont understand it fully..
Hi, WOM - Wireless Operator Mechanic d of p e - duration of present emergency annual filming - yearly duplication of card onto microfilm Yes - progression of rank from AC2 to temporary Corporal. Ross
so what job did a wireless operator mechanic do? Is that why he moved round a lot? from the little i know 221 squadron wasnt in iraq like his records show.. Does answer some of my questions..
I'm sorry by the quality of the pictures is too poor to make out much. WOM was mostly a ground trade who serviced and repaired all w/t equipment on an aerodrome eg aircraft sets as well as ground stations. No.221 Sqn is shown as a Headquarters Holding (HH) so is an admin parking spot for an airman before posting ie he is not owned by the unit, only administered by them for pay, training and messing, the man is owned by the relevant Air Headquarters and can be posted or used as they dictate. Not sure because it is very faint but No.59 OTU seems to be in the pre No.221 posting list, The position of trade training in the posting lists and cross reference to musterings will clarify. HE is his posting to Home Establishment and was when he was reassigned to UK based force. Ross
Ok, So Posted as holding to No.221 Sqn in UK prior to posting to Middle East (29/9/41) with No.251 Wing when it reformed as a fighter defensive wing. The wing was based at Abadan when it arrived (27/4/42) to protect the Basrah area. The next batch of entries are admin name changes with little location change until 1/10/42 when No.251 Wing was renamed RAF Station Abadan.1/10/42. Again this is an admin name change rather than physical move. Two more locations with dates which I cannot make out before UK return. So looks like not to many moves to locations which is consistent with a main repair ground trade. Ross
hi, i dont know much bout war in the middle east, i know a lot about the home front, malta and africa but middle east is lost on me. So what was going on in iraq at the time, what kind of planes might he of been working with?
Don't really have the time to produce potted campaign histories on demand. As I've tired to explain a WOM would work on what ever equipment was on or near the base, mostly as bay repair. Ross
oh no wasnt asking for mega detail just little bit of detail, im trying to find things out myself but im not getting anywhere..
Struth McB - I just googled "raf" "Abadan" 1942 and got this info within seconds about a SQN that was based there in that time frame - 123SQN http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RAF/123_wwII.html Aircraft began to arrive in October when one flight was equipped with Gladiator biplanes which were to be used for army co-operation from Abadan. Hurricanes arrived in November 1942 and were used for defensive patrols. Aircraft October-November 1942: Gloster Gladiator II November 1942-August 1944: Hawker Hurricane IIC May-October 1943: Supermarine Spitfire VC Location September-October 1942: Hadera October 1942: Habbaniya October 1942-January 1943: Detachment to Abadan October-November 1942: Doshan Tappeh November 1942-January 1943: Mehrabad January-May 1943: Abadan
And before the question gets asked - here are a couple of photos of a Gloster Gladiator as flown by 3SQN RAAF (from the AWM collection) Those aircraft were turned over to 123SQN RAF in October 1942 as above http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/043189/ http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/MED0068/ Western Desert, North Africa. c. 1942. Back to earth in a Gloster Gladiator aircraft, serial no. K8038, the pilot of the meteorological observation flight is rushed by car to the 'Met' Office where the recordings he has obtained will be speedily put to valuable use. Note the notepad used to record his observations which is strapped to his knee.
Okies cool i was properly being too complex with my searches. What confused me is squadron paying him as it were never did iraq .. So i got confused.. My dad remembers his dad saying he worked onspitfires and they used to see German planes flying over them.. But thats the only thing he ever shared..
Okies cool i was properly being too complex with my searches. What confused me is squadron paying him as it were never did iraq .. So i got confused.. My dad remembers his dad saying he worked onspitfires and they used to see German planes flying over them.. But thats the only thing he ever shared..
So he is based at one base for the war, whose name changes and his job is ti service any squadron based there?
Not quite & Yes If I'm reading the pages right (as Ross tried to & which you should be able to do better than us as you can see the original copy rather than a small scan) he was at Abadan, Mehrabad & Tehran before returning to the UK. Once again googling RAF & Mehrabad shows it being used by 74SQN RAF for a chunk of time. I have no idea who was in Tehran but it looks like he stayed in the Iran / Iraq (Persian) area until the end of the war. When he got back to the UK and while he was waiting for his discharge it looks like he was at ATDU - (sigh) most probably Aircraft Torpedo Development Unit Now for the yes part - he was a specialist Wireless Mechanic. He couldn't fly a plane and pilots couldn't fix radios etc. At whatever base he was on, with whatever squadron operating there with whatever aircraft type, he fixed their communications equipment. Plus as Ross said, he would have worked on any other ground based gear needing his specialty. If the enemy flew over, then he got bombed or shot at. But otherwise he did his part to win the war by doing what he had been trained to do.
WOW that is amazing to think of where he was during the war and all the skills he got from the war, yet went back to being a clerk after the war and never really spoke about it. Im loving learning all about it, even if i can be a bit slow working things out... Even more amazing he ended up in weston super mare about a hour from where i grew up!
