WAAFS

Discussion in 'The Women of WW2' started by Tracyfrom shropshire, Jul 15, 2017.

  1. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    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
     
  2. James Harvey

    James Harvey Senior Member

    My nan was born 1920 and joined WAAF in 1942 as Balloon command
     
  3. snailer

    snailer Country Member

    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.
     
  4. James Harvey

    James Harvey Senior Member

    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
     
  5. Tony56

    Tony56 Member Patron

    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?
     
  6. snailer

    snailer Country Member

    Hi James, I have emailed them for permission to publish the part Tracy is stuck with, let’s see how that goes first.
     
  7. 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?
     
  8. RCG

    RCG Senior Member, Deceased

    <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
     
    Tricky Dicky likes this.
  9. James Harvey

    James Harvey Senior Member

    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
     
  10. Tony56

    Tony56 Member Patron

    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.
     
  11. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    My father for one

    TD
     
  12. snailer

    snailer Country Member

    Here you go

    WAAF.jpg

    © 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.
     
  13. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    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 ?
     
  14. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    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
     
  15. 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.
     
  16. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Hmm - as Rich says more handwriting might help - if you write the word though I still think 'V' - anyway time for a beer

    TD
     
  17. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    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..
     
  18. RCG

    RCG Senior Member, Deceased

    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.
     
  19. 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.
     
  20. James Harvey

    James Harvey Senior Member

    It will list next of kin usually the father.
     

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