OCTU 73 - H8026***
RNZAF 05 - H1018*** :) and years to go yet :)

423xxxx - South Cerney/AOTS '66

PMRAFNS Cranwell 1982 520****. Still remembered tot his day, in fact went to the International Bomber Command Memorial in Lincoln the other day and the tour guide an ex-nav asked had anybody served and what wa their number, came straight out without a thought.

As an aside the memorial may close after Christmas due to Covid a=which has depleted their reserves.

Using the simple example indicated at https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/...pplement/10419 announcing the appointment of General Nick Carter 505216 as CDS suggests that the elderly gentleman concerned was pulling your plonker - quite hard !:eek:


Absolutely correct, since Service Numbers were only considered necessary for Royal Navy and Royal Marine officers following the introduction of computerised pay accounts.

Jack

Jack, glad to know it wasn't because in the 80's we were all oiks lacking Mog's and JE's social connections.:)
For what little it's worth mine was C0 or CO (never been quite sure) followed by five numbers and a letter.

Computerised pay accounts reminds me of bring told by the relevant pusser shortly after arrival at BRNC, that if I moved my account to N?????t's Dartmouth branch I would be paid a day earlier.

277**** issued Sept. 1955. Not forgotten, despite just celebrating my 86th ( deferred Nat. Svc. )

No 5200xxx
I was recruited in Salisbury Rhodesia in 1960. Enjoyed a 3000mile steam train ride over 2 or 3 days covered in soot from the steam engine, no air con in those days from Salisbury to Cape Town. Then a lovely cruise over 2 weeks with Pretoria Castle (Union Castle line) to Southampton. Very depressing arrival in Feb 60 to mist, smell of coal smoke, dirty train and bloody cold weather. Very hard for a colonial boy. Joined 147 course at South Cerney and then 35 years of thorough enjoyment in the truckie fleet.
Not many around, I am sure, with the 5 million sequence.

Royal Navy officers didn’t have ‘service numbers'
 

This was indeed true from at least the 1930s until 1966.
My father was commissioned in 1938, having joined BRNC Dartmouth in 1934 (age 14), and retired from the RN in 1966. His records have his name, no number. When he applied for an Australian War Veteran's Pension - it has some additional benefits to the Age Pension - the folks at Veterans' Affairs in Canberra were quite discombobulated by an ex-serviceman with no Service Number (:eek:). This was last year, so I guess it may be that nobody in the office had dealt with an application from a WW2 veteran before!

My late Father a founder member was 178XXX.
Fast forward forty years and I was 519XXXXX, two extra XXs.

4230*** South Cerney 1960.

My brief time in the RN, Dartmouth 63-64, I had no number ... but I still have the payslips (£0/15/0 per day) and Tax/NI paperwork.

5200xxx was the number given to this old codger when starting a University Cadetship in 1968. Long afterwards a letter was added at the end. Jumped ship on 38th birthday to go to Saudi.

As an aside, there was (is?) the unusual 9xxx numbering for WRAF Graduate Entrants. Obviously not a lot of them!

352**** in 1956 but I believe that this was reserved for ex-ATC cadets joining the Service. (as was a 4** number for ex-CCF cadets.). Never forgotten, even now !!

Bill

ExSp33db1bd
The book "Stand by your beds" by John Hamlin lists National Service numbers.
Yours falls into the batch 2700000-2787999 allocated July 1953 to Feb. 1956. 88,000 in all and all non ATC.
I was 5011609 in the batch May 1956 to an unknown date. ( I went in 1 May 1957 ). A total of 1334 in that batch and all ex-CCF(RAF). Not until I read that book did I have it confirmed that there had been separate numbers for ex cadets - although it had been rumoured.

I had 2, as a VR Cadet on the UAS I was 26xxxxx, then when I was awarded a cadetship I was changed to a 520xxxx.
IIRC there was the non PC joke about the similarity between RAF Police Dogs and Members of the WRAF, answer 6 digit service numbers!
Takes cover!

I actually helped with the move from South Cerney to Church Fenton.

Due to posting, I sadly had to give up my dog for adoption ... so he became 8988 Air Dog "Defa".

He then failed the course due to 'lack of determination' and was re-homed to a family.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....47bdb6610.jpeg

Historic paperwork! I still have all/most of my P60's and the first of those from my RN days which showed a service number was for the tax year 1972/73. Never had a reason to remember the number though.

Thanks for all the amusing posts sadly doesn't get me any closer to who the button stick was originally issued to, never mind onwards & upwards, rgds PH.i