Fleet Air Arm - WWII

[Marmitegirly]

HI, we just unearthed my grandad's diary from 1945 when he was in the Fleet Airm Arm (he writes RNAS) and they started the year in Ceylon and ended it on the Ile de France ship en route home. Any idea where I can find out wha ship he was on at the start of the diary. They also went to Dehli. It also has a number LFX113993 and AM/L at the start. Many thanks in advance for any help.

[Art Smass]

Some genealogy sites like Ancestry.com provide access to some military records - not sure if they do WW2. I got my Grandfathers WWI posting history from that - included dates, ships, destinations etc. Might be worth a try.

There are also a few websites dealing with forces war records - try Google

Good Luck

AS

[4Greens]

FAA Museum at Yeovilton should be able to help.

[goudie]

Another useful link

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=royal+navy+fleet+air+arm+service+records

LFX113993 and AM/L
Could be his service no. and rank

[joy ride]

Were Trainee records kept? From a brief search it appears only Active personnel records exist. My Dad was a trainee O/N in the FAA, but while waiting in port for an aircraft carrier the war ended.

[Morris542]

Some genealogy sites like Ancestry.com provide access to some military records - not sure if they do WW2

I THINK the MOD still hold WW2 service records.

[Flap Track 6]

Marmitegirly, my late father in law was also Fleet Air Arm in Ceylon in January 1945. He was ashore with 879 Squadron RNAS and had arrived on the escort carrier HMS Attacker. The East Indies Fleet was being beefed up at the time in readiness for the retaking of Burma and Operation Zipper, the invasion of Malaya planned for August 1945. There were a lot of CVE escort carriers in the East Indies fleet at the time, with their associated RNAS squadrons.
I suspect your Grandfather arrived on one of the escort carriers and then his squadron disembarked ashore on arrival in Ceylon.

The FX & six numbers is his personal number. AM is air mechanic. My father in law had an FX & six digits number, about four thousand earlier than your Grandfather.

Firstly, apply to the relevant MoD department to get his record of service (the link goudie provided should help) . Don't expect too much from this other than his start and finish dates and dates when he was assigned to named units.

Once you have that, do what my wife and I did and make an appointment to spend the day in the archives at the Fleet Air Arm museum. They are tremendous people and will do all they can to help anyone looking to research their relative's FAA service.

Good Luck!