Searching for an airman, with only a name...

[thewideeyedowl]

'From airhead to Top Gun' is the title of a blog post at The National Archives (TNA). It shows how to search for an RAF pilot if you have no more than a name as the starting point: http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/airhead-top-gun-researching-second-world-war-raf-pilots/.

It's amazing what can be done in these circumstances and the blog shows how to work backwards to build a picture. Should be required reading!

Owl

[helachau]

"Helped by the fact that our man had an unusual name, we quickly discovered he was a Pilot officer in the 77 Squadron ( had our man a more common name the process of identifying the correct individual could have made our search somewhat more dificult)".

How/where did they quickly discover.....?