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  1. #1
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    Default RAF WW2 Service Record

    I have my late father's war record, much of which I've managed to interpret. He served as a RAF wireless operator in the North Africa, Greece, Crete, Middle East and the then Burma & India between 1940-1943, returning to the UK in early 1944 but it's after that period that I could do with some help please:

    Back in the Uk he was listed at No.2 Personnel Despatch Centre (that's at Wilmslow I think) and then onto something listed as IT (with a following unclear letter) number 18 and then onto number 70. They could possibly be Initial Training Wings so maybe he was training for something else or was acting as a trainer? Any thoughts please?

    Then in 1945 - allocated to two more Personnel Despatch Centres (1&5).

    Then 3 lines that I'm trying to clarify:

    Firstly I thought it read MAA7 which doesn't seem to be listed anywhere else on searching. However, what I initially thought was a 7 digit is oddly written with a line through the middle (continental style) so possibly it's an F so it may be MAAF which may refer to Mediterranean Allied Air Forces?

    Secondly, 55PTC which could be 55 Personnel Transit Centre which I've read was in Fort De L'eau (Algeria I believe, would could tie in with MAAF in the Mediterranean).

    Finally 10 Sigs Centre - I can't find anything about this other than a note in the National Archives that 'Telecommunications North Africa later became 10 Signals Centre' (but the record isn't digitised so I can't yet progress that).

    So those 3 lines on his war record seem to imply that he went overseas again for a few months - which seems to be confirmed by a subsequent entry - disembarked UK later in 1945.

    I know MAAF is the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces - does anyone know if any personnel records exist for that please?

    Finally, does anyone know where 10 Sigs Centre was based please (possibly somewhere in North Africa). Hopefully when the National Achieves re-opens I may be able to progress that there but in the meantime - any thoughts on any of the above would be appreciated.

    Many thanks!

  2. #2

    Default

    Sorry this reply is so late, somehow, I missed it when you posted it.

    My list of RAF abbreviations gives:
    ITS and ITW as Initial Training School and Wing, respectively.
    MAAF appears twice, as the Mediterranean Allied Air Command and the Malayan Auxiliary Air Force. From what you've said, the first seems the most likely.
    PTC - Personnel Transit Centre.
    The Signals Centres tended to be highly confidential - my Dad was at several of them, normally a unit within a base housing other functions as well. I knew about those sited on bases where we lived, but when I got Dad's records, he'd been on others for short periods. Looking at his records, there were periods when he was in a combined (army & RAF) unit, some of which were known by the army regiment number. I only have the small sample on Dad's records so I'm guessing on very little data, but the army numbers are below 100, the RAF ones are in the hundreds. You can't guess where one unit was, geographically. For example, 399 and 591 SUs were on the same base!

    I think that the best you can do for extra info about MAAF is to look for personal accounts - people writing articles about their experiences, books, that sort of thing.

  3. #3
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    Default

    Thank you Lesley, very helpful.

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