Hi- Long shot- but I'm trying to find out the full name of this guy; His name was Cruickshank and I believe (not sure) he was an Aussie navigator in 283 Squadron RAF. I know he served on Malta. Don't know his first name, he was nicknamed 'Rocky' and he survived the war, returning to Australia afterwards I have some photo albums and there are some nice ones of him which might make nice additions to someone's family history stuff. If this is familiar to anyone or- even better!- if you're related, please PM me! Best wishes for a happy christmas
Hi, His name is mentioned in the book titled Escape to Freedom by Terence Prittie and Bill Edwards. He was a POW at the time and worked on the famous kitchen tunnel in the Warburg camp. No first name mentioned, only Lieutenant Cruickshank. Stefan.
Ethan, There are only two Cruickshanks from Adelaide, both airmen, on the Australian Nominal Roll. 407413 Douglas Lloyd Cruickshank, and 04978 Robert Giles Cruickshank. Both Flight Lieutenants.
HA96- many thanks but it must be a different fellow, 'my' Cruickshank wasn't POW. Alan- Thank you very much! I wonder if I can find where those two served.
The only possible way to find out, is to request their Service files to be opened for viewing, on the NAA site.
Hi ethan Might be worth contacting : 1. http://www.aircrew-saltire.org/lib102.htm Malta Memories with No. 283 Squadron, R.A.F 2. If you have any info on when he was in 283 Squadron then you could apply for documents from The National Archives (link for all 283 Docs - http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Result/?discoveryCustomSearch=true&_q=283&_ser=AIR+29&_ser=AIR+27&_ser=AIR+28&hdnsorttype=Reference&image1.x=50&image1.y=16&image1=GO ) They are starting points at least TD Edited to add link - http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/283squadron.cfm Edited to add - 283 Squadron it appears where based in Malta - April 1944 until March 1946
For what it's worth, CRUICKSHANK, ROBERT GILES has two service numbers on the nominal roll - O4978 indicates that he must have served in some capacity (re-enlisted) post-1950 when the RAAF adopted a new numbering system and replaced the wartime series. During the war, his number on any offical documentation would have been 417162 "The only possible way to find out, is to request their Service files to be opened for viewing, on the NAA site." - this costs around $20 per file (last time I checked) and takes a few weeks for the digitized documents to appear on the NAA website. Using the link provided by TD above, one way of narrowing the possibilities down might be to purchase one month's worth of the ORB for 283SQN via TNA - this only costs a few quid and happens pretty much immediately. According to TD "283 Squadron appears were based in Malta - April 1944 until March 1946" - if you pick a month around the middle of that time, all things being equal, then "your" FLTLT CRUICKSHANK should be mentioned. cheers & good luck
I couldn’t help myself (being from Adelaide) so I downloaded the 283SQN appendix for June 1945 to March 1946 and it looks as if Flight Lieutenant Robert Giles Cruickshank is your man (see attached). PS – can I suggest that the title of this thread gets tarted up a little – something like “283 Squadron Malta - looking for identity of Australian RAAF officer from photo”
From Google & newspaper entries (via NLA) we can ascertain that Robert Giles Cruickshank was an accountant in Adelaide post-war and that he died in 1994, aged 71 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that as from 1st April 1950, Robert Giles Cruickshank has been admitted as a member of the firm of Muecke Pickering & Co. practising as Chartered Accountants, at Trustee Building 22 Grenfell Street. Adelaide. The partnership will continue at the same address and under the same name as heretofor. Dated this 1st day of April. 1950. C. W. L. MUECKE. D. H. PICKERING. R. G. CRUICKSHANK. http://www.centennialpark.org/deceased-search/deceased-search.html?view=site&PIDNO=233551&lname=&fname=&year=&exact=&maplinkid=65832&viewtype=detailed&limitstart=0&limit=25 The attached photo provides details on his wife's name plus his children
Looks like your long shot paid off ethan! The knowledge of the people on this site just amazes me. Hope you find the family and can pass on the photos. Good Luck, Parnel.
