Hudson Mary - RAF WWII Operational and Flying Accident Casualty Files in the National Archives

RAF WWII

OPERATIONAL

AND FLYING ACCIDENT CASUALTY FILES IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

In memory of

WOB & VMB

to whom I will always owe a debt of gratitude

OPERATIONAL

AND FLYING ACCIDENT CASUALTY FILES IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

EXPLORING THEIR CONTENTS

MARY HUDSON

RAF WWII OPERATIONAL AND FLYING ACCIDENT CASUALTY FILES IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Exploring their Contents

First published in Great Britain in 2020 by

Air World

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Mary Hudson, 2020

ISBN 978 1 52678 352 3

eISBN 978 1 52678 353 0

Mob ISBN 978 1 52678 354 7

The right of Mary Hudson to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Pen & Sword Books Limited incorporates the imprints of Atlas, Archaeology, Aviation, Discovery, Family History, Fiction, History, Maritime, Military, Military Classics, Politics, Select, Transport, True Crime, Air World, Frontline Publishing, Leo Cooper, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing, The Praetorian Press, Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe Transport, Wharncliffe True Crime and White Owl.

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact

PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

E-mail:

Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Or

PEN AND SWORD BOOKS

1950 Lawrence Rd, Havertown, PA 19083, USA

E-mail:

Website: www.penandswordbooks.com

The release of the RAF Second World War Operational and Flying Accident Casualty Files to the National Archives, which began in 2013, prompted the writing of this book. I spent my years with the Air Historical Branch handling RAF Casualty Files on a daily basis, studying them in depth during identity investigations or to enable answers to be provided to next of kin. In this I had the unstinting support of my friends and former colleagues of the Air Historical Branch, especially Graham Day, Clive Richards, Anna Gibbs, Stuart Hadaway and the inimitable Seb Cox, who are owed my thanks for numerous things. Thanks are also due in no small measure to Lee Barton and Mike Hatch for their much appreciated assistance along the way.

I also had the pleasure of working closely with staff from the MOD Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC) and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, in particular Sue Raftree of MODs JCCC and Nic Andrews of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission who contributed so much to my casualty knowledge and who have now joined me in retirement. My gratitude is also owed to Tracey Bowers of the Commemorations Section of the JCCC for her interest in, and support she has given, to this book.

The greatest debt of gratitude of all is owed to those who have fought and died, or been wounded or injured, in the air or on the ground, while serving with the RAF and Commonwealth Air Forces.

Per Ardua Ad Astra

Sebastian Cox, OBE BA MA FRHistS, Head of the MoD Air Historical Branch

The beautifully maintained network of Commonwealth War Cemeteries spanning the globe are familiar to many. Understandably, few of the thousands of people who visit these sites and pause perhaps to reflect beside the graves of fallen airmen, whether they are relatives, old comrades or strangers, consider how the individuals named on the headstone might have been identified and reached their final resting place. The answer, in part at least, is set out in the pages of this book. Mary Hudson explains in detail the fascinating contents of the RAFs casualty files which were, and still are, the key foundation documents for those who worked and still work behind the scenes on identifying the dead. The individuals concerned were, and still are, part forensic detectives, part experts in historical analysts and part bureaucratic toilers in the archives. Without their dedication to the task of identifying the dead many more gravestones around the world would bear the sad inscription Unknown airman, known unto God.

Whilst identifying the dead from the conflicts of the Twentieth Century was clearly always going to be a mammoth and difficult task the identification of the military airman is doubly so. In battles at sea those who perish are most often claimed by the ocean deep. On land, they were generally known to have died on a battlefield within a relatively small area and were usually quickly buried, often with some temporary grave marker in place. Airmen, however, ranged quite literally far and wide and often lost their lives anywhere between their base and some far distant target. Their aircraft may have descended at high velocity from several miles up in the atmosphere and buried itself and any occupants deep within the ground. As the War drew to a close the Royal Air Force established teams of searchers to comb the areas in which the RAF had operated seeking to find and identify the dead and relocate them to British war cemeteries, where the graves could be tended, and loved ones informed of a mans last resting place. Their efforts were carefully recorded in the casualty files providing the basis for an accurate picture of an often complex jigsaw to be pieced together.