Thanks Atcham.
Your posting at least tells me that the concept of runway identification already existed before the publication of QDM's. I had tended to assume the latter evolved into the former.
Would it be true to say that the publishing of QDM values from 5/3/44 also triggered the change of the runway ID from 1, 2, 3 etc to two digits reflecting the nearest QDM?
Sorry to be pedantic here but the docs I have show QDM's (015, 195 etc) but make no reference to the actual runway ID (01/19). It's because of this that I question when actual painted ID's came into operation. Looking at a few late WW2 airfield photographs very few runways seem to have any painted marks at all!
JB