A Cry For Help!
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A Cry For Help!
A request for help please…
My father (83) is suffering from dementia. I am endeavouring to fill in some gaps in his service life to try and stir some memories for him.
This is a pretty long shot, but having trawled tinternet with little joy, I was hoping that some of the historian types amongst us may be able to help.
He joined the RAF just before the end of the war, and as far as I can gather did some FT at Horsham St Faiths as NCO pilot. From there he went to South Africa (1944) and continued FT on Harvards at Standerton before going to OTU and converting to Hurricanes at Waterkloos. Any suggestions on where to find more detailed information on this would be gratefully received.
I think the most interesting bit is probably when he converted to Dakotas and flew with 62 Sqn (1945), specifically with No 5 Searcher Party. As far as I can gather this entailed working with Gurkha ground units on searches for downed aircraft in the Burmese jungle. He thinks they were based at Mingaladon, which ties-in with what little I have managed to find so far.
I will be contacting PMA, but imagine that their info will be of a service record nature rather than the detail I am trying to find.
Yours in hope - Al.
My father (83) is suffering from dementia. I am endeavouring to fill in some gaps in his service life to try and stir some memories for him.
This is a pretty long shot, but having trawled tinternet with little joy, I was hoping that some of the historian types amongst us may be able to help.
He joined the RAF just before the end of the war, and as far as I can gather did some FT at Horsham St Faiths as NCO pilot. From there he went to South Africa (1944) and continued FT on Harvards at Standerton before going to OTU and converting to Hurricanes at Waterkloos. Any suggestions on where to find more detailed information on this would be gratefully received.
I think the most interesting bit is probably when he converted to Dakotas and flew with 62 Sqn (1945), specifically with No 5 Searcher Party. As far as I can gather this entailed working with Gurkha ground units on searches for downed aircraft in the Burmese jungle. He thinks they were based at Mingaladon, which ties-in with what little I have managed to find so far.
I will be contacting PMA, but imagine that their info will be of a service record nature rather than the detail I am trying to find.
Yours in hope - Al.
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Can't help much, but the base in SA is Waterkloof, not Waterkloos. It's still in use and is near Pretoria. You might get more replies in the History and Nostalgia forum.
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What you need are the Operation Record Books (F540) of your father's units. These are held in the National Archives at Kew in the AIR/27 series
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
A quick check of the catalogue shows the 62 Sqn records are AIR/27/2427 but I can only see those from 1946 onwards - I must be doing something wrong. I will have another look when I get home
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
A quick check of the catalogue shows the 62 Sqn records are AIR/27/2427 but I can only see those from 1946 onwards - I must be doing something wrong. I will have another look when I get home
