RCG - are you sure that one and the same person - you have typed Davis, yet the image shows Davies?? Not saying it isnt just double checking TD
Having found the entry in the 1939 Register on FindMyPast I can see the problem Tracy has regarding the fold in the page, there is also a crease across the Chas but it looks like there could be a space between C and h. The ‘Co’ looks like ’60’ to me. First line:- “Secretarial Staff of the No.? “(could be 7) Second line:- “C has. 60. Womens Aux. Air Fo” (obviously Force) FindMyPast are rigid with their copyrights and will not allow posting to the web without prior permission, unlike Ancestry.
Can you email to me, jamesharvey1975 AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk and I'll take a look to see if I can decipher? Regards james
How about taking a different route? If Phyllis is describing herself as a secretary could we assume that she is working not too far from where she is living (OK, I know she could be on holiday at her family’s farm). So what RAF sites might there have been around Yeaton? 52.769147, -2.840631 in Google maps. Any suggestions?
Hi James, I have emailed them for permission to publish the part Tracy is stuck with, let’s see how that goes first.
Many thanks to everyone who has puzzled over this for me. To RCG unfortunately your proposed death of Phyllis presupposes two things: firstly that she died in Shropshire and hadn't moved elsewhere and secondly that she never married. I can't confirm or deny either assumption. if you search generally for Phyllis there are a number of records that could be possible if you ignore the foregoing possibilities. I am very encouraged by the reference that was posted tp Air 78/43 page 612 which obviously confirms the number that I had. I assume these records are at the National Archives - are they available or is this an extract from the records held by the RAF. Having re-examined the 1939 entry I think 60 could be a possibility. I wonder if there is any possibility of FMP re-examining their original record (if they have it) and folding the page back?
<RCG - are you sure that one and the same person - you have typed Davis, yet the image shows Davies??> Well spotted TD. Guess I had a spot of screen blindness. I guess I just looked at the birth year when the screen popped up and not realised that I had missed the E out. So I am in detention for the rest of the day. Tracy, Yes those air files are free to view, although they don't give a lot of info it doe's allow checking of service no's and name spelling. Name Range: Davies, H - Davis, Una | The National Archives
If she is on the 39 register in a viewable image then she must have passed away prior to 1991 The 39 register will also record her married name if she later remarried. Regards James
James, that cannot be guaranteed, I have examples of people who are visible in the 1939 Register but were a) born after 1915 and b) died after 1991.
Here you go © Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London,England. Ref: RG101/5208E/007/30 Reproduced with kind permission of FindMyPast.co.uk.
Ooh. A left-hander, I think. She (I think that it was a she) doesn't seem to join the lower-case letter after a capital, except the 'a' but if the the second letter of the smudged word is indeed an 'h' then it is quite different from the definite 'h' in 'the'...it has a loop at the top and the second part does not rise directly from the line in the same way. I can't think of an alternative though. A larger sample of the handwriting would be a bit cheeky, I suppose ?
Last part of top line - I keep reading it and believe that the 'last 2 characters' are Vo - could be short for Volunteer?? (and NOT 'No' as mentioned elsewhere) - does that make sense with the start of line 2?? TD
There are two 'Vs' on the page but neither has the lead in that this one has. However there is a capital 'N' in November which does. All the lower case 't,s'are straight with no curl and therefore the letter after the Capital 'C'doesn't compare but I don't know what else it can be.
Hmm - as Rich says more handwriting might help - if you write the word though I still think 'V' - anyway time for a beer TD
I'll go for the County of Cheshire AAF which was the No 610 (County of Cheshire) AAF. AAF Squadrons were absorbed into the RAF proper wef 3 September 1939, the day the war was declared on Germany. Until the threat of war, WAAF units were part time,ie volunteers, having the same status as the weekend flyers,the AAF squadrons. As the the tension between Germany and Poland increased leading to the invasion of Poland, WAAF personnel received mobilisation telegrams from 25 August to 2 September 1939 with the intention of having them in full time service before hostilities commenced. Since the 1939 Register was completed in the autumn of 1939,it would record Phyllis Davies in her trade as as a full time member of the WAAF. Secretarial staff covered both officer and airwomen in the "Administrative" trade.Prior to the call up,five trades existed for RAF ATS/WAAF personnel based on the Army alignment.It appears that Post 3 September 1939,the trade scope for WAAF training was increasingly extended to equal the trades covered by RAF ground personnel..
I suppose I should keep quiet today. But earlier on TD mentioned this lady. Name: Phyllis Davies Mother's Maiden Surname: Stone Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1920 Registration district: Ellesmere Inferred County: Shropshire Volume Number: 6a Page Number: 1316 Now looking at that writing my bad eyes are seeing G Gas. bit of googling and came up with this Shropshire's History Advanced Search | Shropshire's History Advanced Search And where is there a Gas Works Ellesmere.
That does look interesting and we have been led to Ellesmere before. Unfortunately there is also this lady. Name: Phyllis Davies Mother's Maiden Surname: Tutton Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1920 Registration district: Ellesmere Inferred County: Shropshire Volume Number: 6a Page Number: 1309 I continue to be hopeful that the service papers would have parents names in it.