An Uncle in the RAF in WW2
Please forgive the length of this post. I have been delighted with the response of this and two other forum(s) which have been incredibly helpful and have enabled me to develop a narrative of sorts to tell his story. I hope to eventually have access to his service record which might refine and clarify the details but would very much welcome any corrections or further suggestions. Otherwise I just wanted to thank everyone for their enormous help and support.
His name was William Humphreys
He was born born 10th August 1921 at 21 Queen Street Heywood Lancs
Father John Cannon Humphreys, Tanner in a leather works
Mother Annie Humphreys formerly Hickford
When WW2 declared 1 September 1939 Bill was 18 years and two weeks old
When 1939 register was taken four weeks later he was still living with with parents JC Humphreys and Annie Humphreys at 5 Heywood Hall Cottages Heywood Lancs, profession given as grocers driver.
He was known to have served in the RAF. Several photos have fortunately now surfaced:
Photo 1: Marked ‘February 1940 Padgate’ presumably passing out parade. Padgate being a small RAF station near Warrington used as a basic training camp for servicemen. Basic training was usually 12 weeks, which would have meant commencement November 1939 to pass out in February 1940. Possible service numbers would have been in the range 96500 to 1149977.
Four possible service numbers in this range at Padgate under name of William Humphreys: 978384, 1057547, 1145663, 1117491.
There would seem to be three possibilities:
1) Bill enlisted as a young Reservist and gained driving training/ possible driving license (although licenses discontinued 1939-45) Heywood (Pilsworth) had a large RAF Maintenance Unit, No 35.
2) He was amongst the huge influx of RAF volunteers simply attested as recruits and then sent back to civil life with a lapel badge to be called up at later date;
3) With his driving experience he may have been recruited as motor transport (Trade group V - “Little needed to be become an efficient airman”)
We now have seven photographs after the passing out parade at Padgate. The uniform indicates ground crew and he he gained two stripes during his service. Just two photographs have (barely) discernible insignia:
The two officers in the passing out parade.
The photo of Bill on the motorbike in Colombo (although very poor quality)
Two broad periods of service have emerged:
Period 1: From passing out at Padgate February 1940 until November 1944 when we have a photograph in Bombay. We know that Bill was deployed to Mitchell farm Cottenham, Cambridge involved in constructing a a decoy airfield, where he met his future wife who lived on the farm. These ‘decoy airfields’ were established both across Cambridge and the rest of the country in an attempt to mislead the bombers of the Luftwaffe.
I understand that these would have come under the 180 Signals and Communication Wing, built and maintained by a secret ministry unit with no official title, referred to as ‘Colonel Turner's department’. Arial photos of crop marks outlining the ‘runway’ of this decoy airfield are in the archaeological record.
Photo 2: was taken possibly towards the end of this period in the garden at Heywood with his brothers, possibly 1944 before he was sent abroad.
Period 2: Possibly starts from a Photo (3) dated 1 November 1944 marked Bombay, India. From this time, for at least 14 months, until the last photo marked January 4 1946, Bill served in the Far East.
I understand that the RAF Third Tactical Air Force was formed December 1943, to provide close air support to the 14th Army, enabling British forces to proceed against the Japanese in Burma. At this point the 183 Signals and Comms Wing controlled the airfields in Ceylon where he was based.
Photo 4: Marked Pettah (Colombo, Cylon) January 1945
This was found with several undated photos of airfields (one identified as Ratmalana) and aircraft including Dakotas, Lancaster bombers (one Lancaster bomber having engine swapped out), Lord Louis Mountbatten’s Avro York.
Photo 5: Marked 183 Wing Ridgeway, June 28th 1945. I understand “Ridgeway” to be named after a person rather than a location to avoid identification.
Photo 6: Marked September 1945 Ratmalana, Ceylon (Bill on motorbike with blurred shoulder badge)
Photo 7: Marked September 1945 Mount Lavinia (recreational photo on a beach)
Photo 8: Marked December 30th 1945 Colombo, Ceylon
Photo 9: Marked January 4, 1946 N’ Eliya (Nuwara Eliya, Ceylon)
I understand Ceylon was a major signals and communication centre with powerful transmitters and receiver sites servicing long-range conventional communication and the vital development of radar at Mount Lavinia.
However, I suspect that Uncle Bill was deployed not in a technical position, but in a more practical one, in the construction and development of the several permanent and temporary airfields required, in this theatre of war. After the war he seemed content to settle on the farm in Cambridge on which he had been stationed, and spent the rest of his working life as a farm labourer.
He was married on the 16th of September 1948 and died on the 12th of June 1978.