Stuart Hadaway - Missing Believed Killed: The Royal Air Force and the Search for Missing Aircrew 1939–1952

O ne of the problems facing the MRES was the lack of accurate information on the exact numbers of personnel that they were looking for. This severely inhibited their ability to plan ahead, or set meaningful goals. In 1945, both Europe and the Far East were in chaos. Displaced persons wandered in their millions. Many prisoners of war had been moved from their established camps, where the international authorities had been able to monitor them, as the Allies had got closer. In Germany this had sparked the Long March over the winter of 1944-5, where extreme weather conditions, lack of adequate supplies, German reprisals and even Allied air actions had all taken their toll in lives. The Allies now had no idea where these men were, or what their status was. In Europe many were behind Russians lines, who were proving reticent in listing and returning those that they held. It would take months to sort out which prisoners were alive and who had died in the moves and confusion, or whether aircrew lost in the final weeks of the war had been taken prisoner at all.

On the same day, 9 August 1945, Air Marshal Sir John Slessor, Air Member for Personnel, wrote two letters. The first, to Air Marshal Sir G. Johnson at HQ RCAF, estimated the missing toll to be 20,000 men.

The break down of missing personnel in proportions, which influenced the initial make of the MRES units was:

Perhaps because of the distances involved, the Far East was usually counted separately. In February 1946, the situation was stated as:

Only in late 1947 did clear figures begin to emerge. By now the vast majority of prisoners of war had been accounted for and brought home, and the list of the missing solidified. In October, Squadron Leader Sinkinson of the MRS reported to the Air Minister for Personnel that there were 42,000 personnel missing in all theatres, 37,000 of them in Europe. So far 16,000 had been traced in all theatres (15,200 in Europe) and 17,000 (40 per cent) were now presumed lost at sea. This left a nominal 9,000 still either unidentified or not yet found, of whom 8,400 were in Europe.

By 1949 the figures had been agreed upon. The final accepted number of RAF personnel missing at the end of the Second World War was 41,881 world-wide. By January 1951, when the Air Ministrys search operations were scaling down and grinding to a halt, the figures stood at:

This somehow left 1,974 personnel totally unaccounted for in the statistics, possibly bodies buried as unknown airmen, but they still stand as the most complete set extant to symbolise the achievements of the MRES.

In 1953 the Runneymede Memorial was opened to commemorate those RAF airmen and women who had no known graves. The list was not comprehensive, the Polish Air Force having its own memorial at Northolt, and further memorials for the missing of different theatres built elsewhere. Also, it has not been kept up to date. Even while it was being built, nine of the listed missing were found. Many more have been found since, although no accurate record of how many has been kept. The following list shows a breakdown of those listed:

Original Search Sections:

15th July: Decided to reorganise (SD155/1945/2044) under 28 Group, Technical Training Command as: