When the Commonwealth forces were fighting on the Burma border against the Japanese forces, a tiny force of Indian Air Force Squadrons operated alongside their Royal Air Force counterparts in the air offensive. Many of these units were understaffed and…
Working on our CWGC Database, I had to spend hours on the NA Site searching for ORBs for squadrons and then drilling down to the month and year for the Summary of Events or Records of Events file. Few people…
The photos in this album come from a contributor on a facebook group. The fascinating set show the demolition of a Sunderland that was being salvaged – the aircraft’s serial appears to be NJ177 and the location is believed to…
Click on the image below to go to the interactive map showing the country wise totals for war graves and memorial commemorations. The small size of Malta and Singapore makes them almost invisible even though they account for nearly 6000…
Over the past week, Several features were added to the RAF CWGC Database on the site. Start with this link
http://www.rafcommands.com/database/…lno=&qt=&cur=0
1. Date Search now supports Month (YYYY-MM) in addition to Year and Actual Date
2. Results now show Trade (in Yellow box), Aircraft type and serial number, and references.
In the latest update to the SEAC Aircraft Losses Database, the records of Westland Lysanders in the Indian theatre have been added. A total of 62 incidents are recorded between 1941 to 1943 Lysander II 62 The first Lysanders arrived…
Ross McNeil’s posts at http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?13206-RAF-Manpower-and-Deferred-Service Another table from the AHB Monograph on RAF Manning. This table gives snapshots of the number of Officers and Other Ranks serving in the R.A.F. Strength of Officers and Other Ranks (R.A.F. And W.A.A.F.) – September…
In 2012 the MoD undertook a consultation into the views of interested parties in releasing RAF Casualty Packs from the period 1939 to 1945 to public access at The National Archives. These are now known as the AIR81 series .…
This recent original photograph printed on Air Ministry paper went on auction on Ebay and went for record prices originally reserved for something with ‘Spitfire’ in its description! The photo shows a Hawker Tempest Mark II landing at Safdarjang airfield…
A few years ago, (actually couple of decades ago) I asked myself – I wonder how many aircraft were lost by the RAF and Commonwealth Air Forces in the SEAC Theatre (- The Indian Subcontinent – covering present day India, Burma, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ceylon). There were no published figures, nor reference material available. The data exists, but is scattered among countless books and sources – not consolidated in one single location.
This gallery contains 2 photos →
© IWM (CF 175) © IWM (CF 176) by Matt Poole, Chris Johnson, Paul Kadwill and Rajeshwor Yumnam The Imperial War Museum website has incorrect captions to two still photos in its collection – CF 175 and CF 176 (seen above)…
1 MAY 2016 • 6:20PM Wing Commander Arthur Gill, who has died aged 100, was one of the few survivors from his squadron after the Japanese overran the Dutch East Indies; he went on to become the RAF’s leading dive-bomber…
Previously we have posted some logbook pages from Flight Lieutenant Raphael L Goldestein, who served with No.28 Squadron on the Burma Front during 1945-46 at http://www.rafcommands.com/archives/logbook-pages-of-flt-lt-raphael-goldstein-no-28-squadron/ Now we have updated the gallery with several photographs from his collection – these show Hurricanes…
RAFCommands contributor and Author Matt Poole writes about his first published book : RAF Liberators over Burma – Flying with 159 Squadron By Bill Kirkness DFM and Matt Poole Fonthill Media, November 2017 – http://fonthillmedia.com Hardcover: 224 pages with 53 black-and-white photographs Publisher: Fonthill…
Photos and Original Text by Philip Jarrett , Aeroplane Monthly (December 2001) – Blue Text is our research TO SUPPORT the large number of RAF and Indian Air Force squadrons flying the Hawker Hurricane in the campaign against the Japanese…
If you look at the top right portion of the “Research Section” above on the home page, you will notice that the SEAC Aircraft Losses link is active. This new section on the website – covers the Harvard and Hurricane…
To be Sold on: 1st & 2nd March 2017 : The outstanding Second World War Wing Leader’s D.S.O. and Bar, fall of France 1940 D.F.C. group of seven awarded to Group Captain A. F. Anderson, Royal Air Force, late Royal…
This book aims to record as many patches as possible from the flying units together with a brief resume of each unit, where known. Phil Camp has collected more than a 1000 patches of the Indian Air Force in an…
With a heavy heart, the members of RAFCommands bid farewell to Bill Walker. Bill was an authority on RCAF aviation history and maintained a site on Canadian Military Serials at http://www.rwrwalker.ca/ . The Forum condolence thread is at http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?20821-Bill-Walker . He passed…
What you see here are three booklets of the “Air Route Information – India” booklets issued sometime in 1945 in the far east. These booklets are a collection of loose sheets tied together with filing thread – the sheets composing…
Robert Brody has published a new book “Runways to Freedom”. The book is about the Tempsford Squadrons – “Runways to Freedom”, is based on years of extensive research and many conversations with veterans and family members: this is the true…
