No. 16 Squadron RAF, Navigator, 1945, Charles Herbert

[barriea]

My late father Charles MacKenzie Herbert (N.Z. 4211709) was in the RNZAF during World War II and trained as a navigator in Canada in 1943-44. He was in the RAFTP pool from 19/07/44, and went to England soon afterwards.
-My father told me his role was 'searching for German submarines over the English Channel'
-I have an RAF group photograph of him at St Andrew's University, March 1945. It is No.15 course A.C.O.S. and the caption beneath is: D Wing 16 Squadron A Flight. The men's names listed show 29 P/O or F/O (approx. 13 of these are New Zealanders); also a Sergeant Pettit, a F/Lt Hughes and a F/L Eberii.
-My father's service records don't enlighten me any further.
I want to find:
-information about what he (or others in his role) did while in the RAF, e.g. what he would have done on a typical flight
-what sort of aircraft they would have flown in
-any museum or library where I might consult log books or other relevant materials (I am coming to the UK in 2014).
Thank-you.

[malcolm_raf]

Hi

You could become confused here, the 16 Sqn referred to is not No 16 Sqn RAF, it is a subordinate part of D Wing of the Air Crew Officer's School at St Andrews.

He couldn't have been a navigator with No 16 Sqn as it operated single seat Spitfires on tactical recce missions not anti-submarine patrols, what other entries are on his record?

All the best

Malcolm

[Errol Martyn]

By "My father's service records", do you mean a copy of his RNZAF service record as held by the Personnel Records section of the New Zealand Defence Force at Trentham? If so I might be able to help if you were to copy the posting form(s) to me at errol DOT martyn ATT xtra DOT co DOT nz

Errol

[barriea]

Thank you very much for your replies Malcolm and Errol, and for the clarification about 16 Sqn (yes, I had become confused).
His RNZAF service record (as held by Personnel Records of NZ Defence Force at Trentham) includes nothing about his time in England. The 'Certificate of Service/Movements and casualties' ends when he was awarded his Nav(B) badge; and then moved to RAFTP on 19-7-44.
I'm not sure where to go from here. If I can't find specific information about Charles Herbert, I'd be happy to find information about other navigators on the anti-submarine patrols -- their duties on typical flights. Thank-you