George Arthur Longbotham, Flt Sergt, RFC

[LesleyS11]

My grandfather, George Arthur Longbotham (1885 - 1939) was in the RFC in WW1, transferred to the RAF on 1/4/1918. His service number was 5500. On his service record he enlisted on 16/05/15 and was sent to Clipstone camp, near Mansfield. His appointments were as follows:- 01/11/15 - I/AM (I have no idea what this means), 27/4/16 - acting Corporal, 1/7/16 - substantive Corporal, 1/7/17 - acting Sergeant, 17/7/17 - substantive Sergeant, 17/8/17 - Flight Sergeant, 1/4/18 - transferred to RAF as Chief Mechanic.
He embarked for France on 19/3/16 but returned on 24/9/19, possibly with the West Yorks Battalion, 3rd Volunteers.
By 1918 he was at the Technical Officers School of Instruction (TOSI) which was initially in Coley Park, Reading and later moved to Phyllis Court, Henley on Thames.
Before the war he was a cabinet maker / carpenter in Yorkshire.
I would like to find out where he might have been on his short tour of duty in France, why he might have come back so quickly, and what he was doing from 1916 to 1918.
Any suggestions on how to proceed would be most welcome.

[Lesley Robertson]

Welcome to the British Genealogy Forum.

What really interests me at the moment is when he left the RAF? If he served until 1921 or later, his records will still be with the MOD. You can buy a copy - have a look at the message at the top of the WW2 forum, there’s a message about how to do this. That should answer your questions.

[simmo1]

Hi

From National Archives - A.M.1. Air Mechanic 1st Class RAF
Does his service record not mention places?

regards

Robert

[LesleyS11]

Many thanks for both these quick replies. According to his online records my grandfather was deemed released in April 1920, so probably not held by the MOD. Sadly the only places mentioned are those in my original post.

And apologies, I have just noticed that the original second date on my original post is incorrect - it should read 1916 not 1919, so he was only in France for 6 months.


Regards
Lesley