David McCartney RAF Pilot

[redgav]

Hi everyone,

My name is Gavin and I am looking for any information on my Great-Uncle David McCartney. He is a family mystery of ours that we have been unable to resolve.

To cut a long story short. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland to Joseph and Catherine McCartney in July 1914. He was the eldest of ten children.

I was told by his youngest sister Nora (my grandmother) that he came back to the family home and for sometime afterwards walked out of the house and never came back. We do not know why or what was the reason of him leaving. Probably some family row or dispute that we do not know. All of his siblings and his parents are no longer here with us.

I was told that he was an RAF Pilot during WWII and apparently married a Vicar's daughter somewhere in Great Britain. A family friend (of whom I do not know) also saw him somewhere in Britain but he point blank refused to be found.

I've found no records of him on this website or any other such as Ancestry. Hopefully a fellow Pilot/Veteran on this site that may have known him could help.

I would be highly grateful.

Gavin

[Ladkyis]

Hi Gavin,
First let me say welcome to British-Genealogy.com. You thought you were still on the Forces War Records site didn't you? well we are owned by them but we are not restricted to military research on this forum, in fact we have more family historians than military researchers.
Secondly you are not allowed to name potentially living people. We are all about finding information on dead people and we leave the living to tracing agencies like the Salvation Army. I can see that the person you are seeking was born in 1914 so he would be 100 years old if still alive. You are fortunate because 100 years is the cut off point for the Moderators on this site and your post would have been deleted if he was born later.
I am sure that the expert researchers who are members of this free forum will soon be on the case and will give you loads of help

[Lesley Robertson]

It might be worth posting a query to Forces Reunited...
Also, do you know if he stayed with the RAF after the War?

[arthurk]

I drafted a reply to this yesterday, but when I tried to post it the original message seemed to have disappeared. Now that it's back I'll try again.

Since the GRO death indexes for some periods include a date of birth, I tried searching for a McCartney born in 1914, and came up with David Bertram McCartney, death registered in the Bristol district, June quarter 1979; date of birth given as 9 July 1914.

The birth information in these indexes is what was provided to the registrar after the person had died, and may not necessarily be correct. But if this looks a likely match to you, you may want to get a copy of the death certificate, and it may give you the name of his next of kin (if they registered the death) and his usual address.

If you're new to ordering certificates and need help, just ask, but beware of the certificate ordering links at Ancestry: unless they've changed them recently, they involve paying someone a substantial fee to do what you can do for yourself much more cheaply.

Arthur

[redgav]

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for all your help. Yes I do now understand about not entering about possibly living people on this website and yeah I did think this was still forces war records lol.

Hi Arthurk. That's very useful information that you gave myself. I'm not sure if its him. I have actually came across David Bertram McCartney on ancestry.co.uk. I will have to check with family members. Again thank you so much

Gavin

Hi Lesley. We do not know if he did stay with the RAF after the war as he walked out of the family. Still a huge puzzle to why he walked out. But thanks for your help anyway.

[brentor boy]

At a quick glance I can see no David McCarteny born in England 1913/15 to match with the Bristol death which leaves open the possibility that he was born elsewhere in UK.

It may be of no relevance but a David B McCarteny married Lily E Federolf in Sheffield area in Oct-Dec 1958. If you are willing to gamble £9.25, the marriage certificate would/should give details of the groom's father.

[bluecrog]

Thanks Brentor Boy.

With yourself unable to find a record in England around the time he was born. It does make me think that it may be him. Because we know as a family that he didn't want to be found. So he could have said Bristol to avoid being found.

I will certainly have a look at the marriage in Sheffield. Hopefully he stated his parents but I'll still keep looking.

Thanks again for your help.

Appreciate it.

Gavin

[arthurk]

So he could have said Bristol to avoid being found.

He could have gone to Bristol to avoid being found, but there's no hiding from the registrar (usually). Deaths are registered in the district where they happened - and in this case it wasn't him doing the saying as he was already dead.

Arthur

[bluecrog]

Lol thanks again.

Yeah. God knows where he is. Probably changed his name and everything. Who knows. I'll get there. Hopefully

Thanks again

Gavin